Ex-National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Executive Secretary Chidi Odinkalu; Mrs Funmi Falana (SAN; Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) Chairman Olanrewaju Suraju; Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition Beauty Narteh; and Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau Director-General Martha Chizuma yesterday demanded the setting up of the International Anti-Corruption Court (IACC) in Nigeria and other countries.

According to them, the court will help to stem the growing cases of corruption. They made the call at a conference on the International Anti-Corruption Court and the public presentation of a compendium on 100 high profile corruption cases in Nigeria (special edition with some West African cases.

The summit was organised in Lagos by HEDA in collaboration with Integrity Initiatives International (III) and with the support of MacArthur Foundation. Odinkalu decried the high regard accorded to corrupt rich people in Nigeria and warned that corruption has debilitating effects on society.

He said: “It is important for everybody here to take the setting up of the international anti-corruption court seriously.”

Falana said: “We have come to discuss the necessity for an international anti-corruption court which will highlight the areas and of course direct our searchlight, not just to a country where the money is being taken from but also to the country where the money is being deposited.

“Because if there is no receiver, the taker will be reluctant to take. We are not just talking about our money being taken away here, we also want to see how we can repatriate the funds that have been taken away from the country that it has been taken to.

“We hope this court will be put in place and it will be an international one just like the International Criminal Court.”