Chief Kanu Agabi, former Attorney-General of the Federation, has called for the creation of a National Integration Commission to advance national unity and combat corruption. He made the appeal during a convocation lecture at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in Abuja, themed "Nigeria Against Corruption." The event preceded the conferment of qualifications on 24,575 graduands. Agabi linked corruption to the appointment of unqualified individuals in government, attributing this to national disunity. He argued that a lack of integration fuels insecurity and weak governance.
Agabi stressed that Nigeria's education system requires sweeping reform to instill ethical values and practical skills. He criticized the current model for promoting elitism and disconnecting graduates from their communities. According to him, universities should produce self-reliant citizens who contribute meaningfully to development. He associated the country's economic dependence on foreign goods with educational failure and urged a shift toward self-sufficiency.
The former Attorney-General blamed military rule for entrenching authoritarianism and encouraging corrupt political practices. He said the legacy of unconstitutional governance continues to influence electoral malpractice and power grabs. Agabi also lamented the collapse of traditional institutions like the village system, which once promoted accountability and morality. He linked this decline to rising urban poverty and social vices.
He pointed to executive-legislative conflicts as a driver of corruption, warning against legislative overreach into executive functions. Agabi emphasized that both arms must respect constitutional boundaries. He called for free elections, reduced political stakes, and the review of immunity clauses for public officers. No individual, he stated, should be above the law.
Chief Kanu Agabi calls for a National Integration Commission while admitting the state he once served failed to uphold constitutional limits, yet offers no explanation for how a new body would avoid the same fate. The 24,575 NOUN graduands receiving certificates face a system he describes as corrupt, elitist and broken—where self-reliance is demanded of them but never practiced by leaders. His critique of imported goods rings hollow when the nation's ports remain open to foreign products under the very policies successive governments, including those he was part of, have upheld. The village system he romanticizes did not prevent his own rise through elite institutions that now alienate the youth he urges to return to tradition.
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