Transparency crucial to stop corruption – US envoy

The federal government can run a more effective anti-corruption crusade if it goes about it in a more transparent way, the Deputy Public Affairs Officer, United States Consulate-General Lagos, Mr. Frank Sellin, said Tuesday.

Delivering the lead speech at a Media Tweet-a-thon organised by International Press Centre (IPC) with the theme: International best practices in transparency in government and the role of the media, Sellin called for the protection of whistleblowers and provision of the right tools for anti-graft agencies.

He said: “Transparency is a crucial way to break the chain of corruption. That’s why the US government strongly supports open government.

“Governments become unstable when they muzzle the media. They become blind to the problems of the people and the solutions.

Sellin added that corruption affects all countries and Nigeria has to look for its own formula to tackle it.

One such formula is to make government accountable to the people.He said: “When governments don’t answer questions, people will talk about it anyway. Silence encourages speculation without facts.”

The consular officer recommended that the government should do all it can to defend media and judicial independence as well as limit secrecy.

“Bad governments,” Sellin said, “survive in the dark.”

He lamented that most of the publications in the media about the $2.1billion arms scandal are based on information released by the government and not what the media obtained by investigation.One of the lead discussants at the event, Mr. Martins Oloja, Editor, Guardian Newspaper, said governments tend to hide things, so journalists must stay vigilant.

“The health of a democracy depends on the amount of quality information available to the citizenry.”

Emphasising the place of funding in journalism, Oloja added: “There can be no editorial independence without financial independence.”
The Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, who delivered the welcome and closing remarks, said the media tweet conference marks the commencement of a one-year Media and Transparency Watch project.