A Political scientist, Professor Hassan Salihu, x-rayed the war against corruption in the country and concluded that the Nigerian environment makes corruption inevitable.

He asserted that Nigerians have been pauperized and forced to device means of surviving.

In an exclusive interview with The Herald in Ilorin , the don regretted that the government has not developed the culture of dealing with corruption in concrete terms, adding that the country is still lagging behind in the battle against the menace.

He said: 'The truth of the matter is that corruption is rampant, very endemic, cancerous and infectious in the country."

On the recommendation of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on fuel subsidy regime, Salihu posited, "Allegations have been made; the next thing people expect is prosecution.

But I read in the paper that the prosecution will not come so soon. And judging by the Nigerian society, by the time you sweep something under the carpet, it might never come out again. That might be its permanent abode. Maybe it will be different now, I don't know.

"We have not developed the culture of dealing with corruption in concrete terms; in terms of having a functional anti-corruption agency, political will and capacity to deal with the issue of corruption decisively".

Salihu, who teaches in the Department of Political Science, University of florin, frowned at a statement credited to the Minister of Justice and Attorney Genral of the Federation, Mr. Bello Adoke, on the prosecution of the alleged culprits in the fuel subsidy scam, saying such utterance was capable of dampening the morale of the people in terms of assessing the war against corruption in Nigeria.

It would be recalled that the Minister had last week, while reacting to a two-week ultimatum given the Federal Government to commence the trial of culprits of the fuel subsidy scam by Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, said the government would not prosecute the indicted people soon.

The don, who also attributed the increasing wave of corruption to high level of poverty in the country" warned that the more the nation is .in corruption, the more the nation will remain underdeveloped.

Speaking on the ways of stemming the tide in the country, the don challenged political parties to make the issue of fighting corruption a cardinal policy.

He said the House of Representatives report on the fuel subsidy regime should be an eye-opener and a wake up all on the part of government to realize that the menace is endemic.

By Ahmed Abdulfatai (The Herald)