A man walks past an anti-corruption billboard sponsored by the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, December 13, 2006. OPEC, the producer of 40 percent of the world’s oil, convenes this week in Abuja, Nigeria, its first conference in Africa’s largest oil-producing nation since 1972. Photographer: Suzanne Plunkett/Bloomberg NewsActing United States Special Representative for Religion and Global Affairs Amy Lillis held a roundtable discussion in Nigeria on Thursday with members of the Religious Leaders Anti-Corruption (RLAC) working group, the U.S. Mission in Lagos said in a statement.
The Religious Leaders Anti-Corruption (RLAC) working group, the Mission said, “was formed in 2016 by Muslim and Christian religious leaders with the primary goal of addressing how faith communities could take a leading role in anticorruption advocacy in Nigeria”.
The group has since developed partnerships with leading anticorruption voices in civil society in order to fight corruption at all levels in Nigeria.
The statement said the Special Representative Lillis pledged the U.S. government’s continued support to the religious leaders as they work to find lasting solutions to stamp out the scourge of corruption.
“The moral standing of religious leaders, and the capacity of religious institutions to reach a broad cross-section of Nigerian society, make RLAC’s work essential to the future of anticorruption advocacy,” Special Representative Lillis said.
“It is my pleasure to be here to support this next stage of the Religious Leader Anti-Corruption working group. Religious leaders are an essential component of the multi-faceted fight against corruption in this country.”