The Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Mathew Kukah, has advised the federal government to negotiate with looters of the nation’s treasury in order to recover stolen funds.
Speaking on Friday at the 29th and 30th Convocation lecture of the University of Jos, Kukah advised the government of Nigeria to change its tactics in the anti-corruption fight.
The cleric disclosed that some countries had negotiated with corrupt officials to recover stolen funds and it worked for them.
Kukah said: “Fighting corruption as a whole is beyond just recovering stolen funds, although it is necessary to punish treasury looters and corrupt officials, to solve the whole problem would involve tackling it from the roots and that means the institutional framework.
“Investigate what they have stolen, then call them and negotiate how much of it can be recovered, while you put frameworks in place to holistically solve the problem.
“Corruption is not only a Nigerian thing. Former presidents of nations like America, France, Israel, South Africa, among others, have been removed due to corruption charges. Yet, their countries are working.”
