Senator Gbolahan Joseph Dada (APC-Ogun West) has advocated capital punishment for corrupt officials in the country.
Mr. Dada, who made the suggestion during interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday, said “corruption is the bane of this country and the only way out is heavy penalty, even death sentence, for those found guilty.
“The only way you can stop corruption is through death sentence”.
Mr. Dada noted that there were so many laws that should be promulgated at this stage of Nigeria’s development, pointing out that England did so too at a stage in her life.
He accused civil servants of being the major culprits, pointing out that they had access to public funds which made it easy for them to steal from the national treasury.
“This is why some of them, after stealing so much money from government, set up personal businesses but collapse soon after because they only know how to steal, not to create wealth.
“Wealth creation is a process that must be sustained but you go bankrupt the day you are taken away from the source where you steal,” he said.
The lawmaker said about 1.2 million houses built with stolen money in Lagos and Abuja were in the market for sale with nobody to buy them.
“That is why you find houses everywhere unoccupied because they steal this money and they ask the contractor to go and build houses for them. Go to Lekki, you will find them there and here in Abuja.
“If you borrowed money from the bank will you be able to lock up the houses unoccupied,” he asked.
Mr. Dada implored the Federal Government to impose property tax on all unoccupied houses in the country, promising that he would soon sponsor a bill to identify who owns each building in the country using modern platforms on the internet.
These include Bank Verification Numbers, E-passports, GSM numbers, company registration numbers, national identity card numbers, driver’s license and DNA, to know who owns which building in Nigeria.
Mr. Dada said corruption has devastated the country’s economy so much that the only way to stop it is the death penalty.
He said although the developed nations would frown against it, people should read the history of England.
