Abuja, Nigeria – The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Jos, has cautioned against implementing the death penalty for corrupt public officials, stating that such a measure would not effectively combat corruption in Nigeria. Instead, the institution recommended embracing behavior-change strategies as a more viable approach to reduce graft.
Prof. Ayo Omotayo, the Director-General of NIPSS, shared this perspective during an interview with journalists while validating the curriculum focused on institutionalizing behavior-change approaches to combat corruption in both the public and private sectors in Nigeria.
Omotayo pointed out that Nigeria already has robust anti-corruption regulations and campaigns in place, which have yielded some positive results. He emphasized that resorting to capital punishment for corruption was not something NIPSS advocated for.
He stated, “Killing people for corruption practices is not something that we at NIPSS want to encourage. If we can reduce corruption to 50 percent levels, our society will be okay. So, corruption in Nigeria has not reached a point where we should be executing people.”
Omotayo further elaborated that the existing legal framework and legislation aimed at preventing corruption were in place, but they had not proven entirely effective. Therefore, a shift in approach was necessary. He emphasized the importance of changing people’s attitudes and behaviors toward corruption.
“We have come to the conclusion that we have all the laws and legislation to ensure that we do not have corruption in Nigeria. But all of these have not been effective enough,” Omotayo noted.
In light of this, NIPSS believes that promoting behavioral change by encouraging individuals to adjust their attitudes is a more promising avenue for combating corruption, rather than relying solely on punitive measures.