Decentralization Of The Anti-Corruption Fight In Nigeria: A Review Of The Lagos State Public Complaints And Anti-Corruption Commission Law

The Lagos State Government, in an attempt to decentralise the ﬁght against corruption in the country, recently established an anti-corruption agency tasked with the responsibility to investigate any alleged corrupt practices or ﬁnancial crimes emanating from administrative actions taken by any Lagos State Government’s ministry, department, agency, parastatal, local governments, statutory corporations, public institutions, companies owned by the State Government, and any oﬃcer of the above-mentioned bodies, agencies or ministries.

The anti-corruption agency is also empowered to investigate any oﬀence under the criminal laws of the State – especially as it concerns corruption and ﬁnancial crimes, abuse of oﬃce, obtaining property by false pretence, receiving stolen properties or fraudulently obtaining properties and similar oﬀence, fraudulently dealing with properties by debtors; and oﬀences relating to the administration of justice.

In April 2021, the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, signed into law the ‘Lagos State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission Law, 2021’ (the “Law”).

This newsletter examines the legality of the Law, its key provisions as well as its eﬀectiveness from an anti-Corruption and compliance standpoint.

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