The biggest challenge is to say no to corruption as a common man, says MAJU vice-chancellor
DG TDAP Nusrat Iqbal Jamshed said corruption begins from the moment when a person fails to say 'no' to it
PHOTO: MAJU
KARACHI:
A man barges inside the room of the vice-chancellor of a university and locks it from inside. He tries to coerce the vice-chancellor to sign the fake invoice, but the latter refuses.
The man plunges the sharp knife he held into the vice-chancellor's chest. Blood oozes out but he ignores that he is hurt and somehow manages to get hold of the knife after a scuffle.
This is one of the chronicles of Dr Abdul Wahab who is currently serving as the vice-chancellor of Muhammad Ali Jinnah University (Maju). He shared this anecdote while addressing a seminar titled 'Controlling Corruption in Pakistan', organised by the students of Maju on Thursday.
The purpose of sharing the story was to convey how he has always fought the menace of corruption. According to Wahab, this was the reason why many government institutions did not like him. He narrated how when he joined the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), it was the most corrupt educational institute and was under a debt of Rs1.6 million. "The institution did not even have the money to pay salaries to its teachers and staff," he said. "And when I left the institute there were Rs20 million in the reserves."
According to Wahab, the biggest challenge that we as common men face when trying to avoid corruption is the lack of will and courage to say 'no'.
Shedding light on his tenure at Karachi University (KU) as vice-chancellor, Wahab said that the varsity was under a debt of Rs6 million at that time. "Even the renowned United Bank Limited was also involved in corruption with the university employees," he said, recalling how Rs2.5 million had been misappropriated due to the bank's corruption. "After that I ordered not to submit any pay order in the bank but directly to the university's admin office."
He claimed that there was no corruption during his tenure at the varsity. "Soon after the implementation of this decision, Rs5.5 million, which was the exact amount to be collected from the fees of students, was gathered by my staff," he said.
Taking his point forward, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan senior director-general Nusrat Iqbal Jamshed said that corruption begins from the moment when a person fails to say 'no' to it. He added that we don't say 'no' because we are afraid.
"We fear that we may be thrown out of our job," he said. "If a policeman approached a fruit vendor and asks for 2kg of fruit [free of charge], the vendor would never say 'no' to him." He added that he would not say no because he does not have the courage and will to raise his voice against corruption. "We need to make that vendor powerful [enough to say no] in order to get rid of corruption."
According to him, no matter how good the laws and system were, justice is demolished once corruption becomes rampant. "Corruption eats everything," he pointed out. "It throws merit out of the window and society loses morality."
A man barges inside the room of the vice-chancellor of a university and locks it from inside. He tries to coerce the vice-chancellor to sign the fake invoice, but the latter refuses.
The man plunges the sharp knife he held into the vice-chancellor's chest. Blood oozes out but he ignores that he is hurt and somehow manages to get hold of the knife after a scuffle.
This is one of the chronicles of Dr Abdul Wahab who is currently serving as the vice-chancellor of Muhammad Ali Jinnah University (Maju). He shared this anecdote while addressing a seminar titled 'Controlling Corruption in Pakistan', organised by the students of Maju on Thursday.
The purpose of sharing the story was to convey how he has always fought the menace of corruption. According to Wahab, this was the reason why many government institutions did not like him. He narrated how when he joined the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), it was the most corrupt educational institute and was under a debt of Rs1.6 million. "The institution did not even have the money to pay salaries to its teachers and staff," he said. "And when I left the institute there were Rs20 million in the reserves."
According to Wahab, the biggest challenge that we as common men face when trying to avoid corruption is the lack of will and courage to say 'no'.
Shedding light on his tenure at Karachi University (KU) as vice-chancellor, Wahab said that the varsity was under a debt of Rs6 million at that time. "Even the renowned United Bank Limited was also involved in corruption with the university employees," he said, recalling how Rs2.5 million had been misappropriated due to the bank's corruption. "After that I ordered not to submit any pay order in the bank but directly to the university's admin office."
He claimed that there was no corruption during his tenure at the varsity. "Soon after the implementation of this decision, Rs5.5 million, which was the exact amount to be collected from the fees of students, was gathered by my staff," he said.
Taking his point forward, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan senior director-general Nusrat Iqbal Jamshed said that corruption begins from the moment when a person fails to say 'no' to it. He added that we don't say 'no' because we are afraid.
"We fear that we may be thrown out of our job," he said. "If a policeman approached a fruit vendor and asks for 2kg of fruit [free of charge], the vendor would never say 'no' to him." He added that he would not say no because he does not have the courage and will to raise his voice against corruption. "We need to make that vendor powerful [enough to say no] in order to get rid of corruption."
According to him, no matter how good the laws and system were, justice is demolished once corruption becomes rampant. "Corruption eats everything," he pointed out. "It throws merit out of the window and society loses morality."