Professor Ebenezer Obadare, serving as Nigeria’s expert witness in an arbitration over the Mambilla hydro‑electric project, has rejected the claim that alleged bribe payments by Leno Adasanya’s Sunrise Ltd were a legitimate expression of “Nigerian culture.”
Arbitration dispute
The dispute centres on accusations that Sunrise Ltd paid government officials to secure favours for the Mambilla project, a massive power‑generation scheme in the country’s northeast. In its defence, the company reportedly framed the payments as customary practice, invoking cultural norms.
Obadare countered that cultural traditions cannot be invoked to excuse bribery or corruption, emphasizing that Nigeria’s legal framework expressly prohibits such conduct.
“Nigerian culture cannot be used to justify alleged acts of bribery or corruption,” the professor said.
The case highlights the broader challenge of separating entrenched informal practices from the rule of law in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, where corruption remains a persistent governance issue.
<small>Source: Premium Times Nigeria — read the original story there.</small>
