House Advocates Mandatory Counselling, Training For Corruption Convicts

A Bill for an Act to Amend the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 to provide for Compulsory Counselling and Training for Convicts of Corruption Related Offences and for Related Matters (HB.1574) has passed Second Reading.

While leading the debate on the bill, Mr. Akiolu Kayode said that the Bill seeks to amend section 67 of the Principal Act by expanding it.

“Mr. Speaker, and my Honourable Colleagues, I stand to present the lead debate on “A bill For An Act to amend the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 to provide for compulsory counselling and training for convicts of corruption-related offences; and for related matters.

“Section 67 in the Principal Act is the same as section 67 (1) in the amendment bill which is its substitute. However, the new section 67 has three provisions that are not in the old section 67 and these are found at subsections 2, 3 and 4,” he said.

He said that by the additional provisions, magistrates and judges shall not only sentence convicts of corruption-related offences to imprisonment and/or fines; they shall also impose on them a mandatory period of counselling and training.

“The counselling and training will be designed and delivered by the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN) and, to achieve their desired impact, shall run for a minimum of four weeks. The compulsory anti-corruption counselling and training of persons convicted of corruption-related offences are in recognition of the strong connection that exists between mental disposition and the primitive accumulation of wealth. 

“It is similar to what psychologists and psychiatrists call kleptomania, which means an impulse control disorder that results in an irresistible urge to steal,” the lawmaker said.

He argued that the anti-corruption counseling and training will be designed to wean convicts of corrupt tendencies and even turn them into anti-corruption campaigners.

“This dovetails with the reformative mandate of our criminal justice system, which is not focused on punishment alone. And, as subsection 4 suggests, magistrates and judges may order convicts to pay for their own anti-corruption counseling and training to avoid putting any extra financial burden on the government,” he said.

He noted that the government therefore stands to lose nothing but to gain everything.

He stressed that if passed, the bill will boost the fight against corruption.

“I therefore urge you to support it for the benefit of our country that continues to reel daily from the effects of corruption,” Mr. Akiolu added.

Confidence Okwuchi