Fighting corruption in Nigeria: The journey to date
Introduction The main “thread” of the narrative of my presentation is that, prior to the advent of the Muhammadu Buhari Administration, the problem of corruption continued to fester and its control largely half-hearted and utterly ineffective. Virtually every category of our leadership is implicated as shown by a recent official release that between 2006 and […]
Introduction
The main “thread” of the narrative of my presentation is that, prior to the advent of the Muhammadu Buhari Administration, the problem of corruption continued to fester and its control largely half-hearted and utterly ineffective.
Virtually every category of our leadership is implicated as shown by a recent official release that between 2006 and 2013 alone, N1.34 trillion was stolen by just about 50 people: N146.84 billion by 15 former State Governors; N654 billion by 11 businessmen; N524 billion by 8 bankers; N146 billion by 12 federal and state civil servants; and N7 billion by 4 former ministers.
In addition, we have the $2.1billion Dasuki Armsgate that is sucking in more and more of our so-called leaders; we hear of about $46million carted away from the Central Bank in suit-cases or “Ghana-Must-Go” bags; we hear of an official handing over $2million in cash to a Bureau de Change for conversion into naira for “investment”; we hear of a Badeh, a former Chief of Air Staff/Chief of Defence Staff removing about N538million monthly for fourteen months from the funds meant for security; and we hear of Justices, our so-called “lordships”, turning their residences into bank-vaults!!!
For instance, applying the World Bank rates and cost, one-third of that looted N1.34 trillion by just about 50 people between 2006-2013 could have provided 640 kilometers of roads, built 36 ultra-modern hospitals (one per state), built and furnished 185 schools, educated 4,000 children from primary to the tertiary level (at N25million per child), or built 20,000 units of two-bedroom houses.
The Buhari administration’s fight against corruption: Efforts and achievements to date
About one-and-half years ago, President Buhari just before his inauguration, pledged to root out the cancer that has been ravaging the polity and to encourage all and sundry to play active roles in the fight against corruption. Though the Administration is still less than two years old, it is not out of time to ask: how far with the work in pursuit of that pledge?
Straightaway, it is true that Buhari is “fantastically committed and determined” to fighting corruption and his Administration can be credited with some direct and consequential efforts and achievements, thus:
The President’s “leadership-contagion”, arising from his antecedents and image, pronouncements and certain administrative measures, has served to constitute a certain dosage of psycho-social deterrence against actual and potential corruption among many public officers, the early re-institution/enforcement of the Treasury Single Account, (TSA), to stifle corruption in MDAs by blocking that corruption-avenue, reduction of the number of federal ministries to reduce cost of governance by ensuring proper coordination of duties and reducing avenues for corruption, recovery of assets (about 240 to date), increased public-awareness of the enormity and deleterious effects of corruption perpetrated by government and public-officials and other individuals and even a certain observable restraint on the part of the judiciary in granting “useless” injunctions and justice-destructive adjournments.
Outstanding challenges: “More rivers to cross” in the fight against corruption in Nigeria
Considering the “long life”, depth, and extent of the problem of corruption in the country, the efforts and “yields” of the Buhari Administration in the fight in less than two years must be considered credible and relatively commendable.
However, looking at a vision of the “promised land” in our fight against corruption, there is much more to be done as there remain persisting obstacles: A dominant “ethos” which “legally”, “democratically” and effectively puts “individual” interests over and above “collective” interests. For instance, the allowance legislators pay themselves, their purchase of exotic costly vehicles in a country that is virtually “broke”, or the “approved” humongous severance/pension pay and allowances for ex-Governors, a short-sighted, alienated and largely-irresponsible political class and “collaborative” elites.
While President Buhari has become the poster child for fighting corruption and maintains a reputation as an anti-corruption warrior nationally and internationally, it is not a one-man “fight.” Worse, it is not a “battle” but a “war” with series of battles, requiring each and every stakeholder to play a sincere and functioning role continuously as we cannot expect corruption to let go of its loot freely.
Imperative of a complimentary approach/instrumentality: A Presidential “truth and restitution” Task Force on corruption
Our dominant prevention and control policy/strategy against corruption has been the “legalistic/technical” approach, preferred by and beneficial to lawyers and perpetrators of corruption alike.
Thus, while the strategy may do for “common” crimes such as theft, burglary, assault or murder, it is inappropriate for the crime of corruption for four reasons: the consensual nature of the crime; the usual conspiratorial circumstances of its perpetration; the socio-economic/political status, and means of its perpetrators; the class interconnectedness of its perpetrators and the “brass” of the enforcement and judicial agencies; and the diffuseness of the victimization/absence of direct of identifiable victims. Besides, the strategy hardly covers other types of corruption that are not financial.
Thus, for a considerably-improved outcome in our fight against corruption, it is imperative to adopt a strategic approach that complementarily tilts more towards the “social-scientific” than the “legalistic”, a complementary approach that takes into account important variables such as the nature of the crime, the subtlety of its perpetration, the usual status of its perpetration, its society-damaging consequences over time, and the inherent “deficits” of the currently-dominant legalistic/technical approach.
Along the lines of the saying that it is insanity to keep doing the same old things and still keep expecting different outcomes. Hence, the suggestion for the structured emplacement of such an approach/instrumentality as a rational foundation for a paradigm-shift in combating corruption.
The work and decisions of the Task Force (hereinafter referred to TF) would be fact-based and non-judicial, membership would be made up of Nigerians of proven-integrity who have never been found wanting before, and which membership would include representatives of professional/youth/women/occupational/civil-society organizations and would publicly advertise to encourage and invite “whistle-blowing” with promise of protection of identity and a 10% reward from any actually-recovered stolen funds arising there-from.
Expected outcome
There will be more credible and observable effectiveness of the fight against corruption as well as relative minimization of the “wrecking” legislative and judicial shenanigans that currently obtain and sustain the prevailing untoward “corruption-environment” which says that corruption pays if you have the “enabling” political/economic status and/or the associated financial means to hire high-flying lawyers or to compromise investigation and/or prosecution by anti-graft agencies.
Bringing past corrupt officials to account will help in sabotaging the mindset of impunity among both the public and private sector elites as well as convince the population-at-large that the government is actually sincere about fighting corruption, with consequential widespread integrity-dividend.
Concluding remarks
I am not unaware of certain general inherent advantages of the legalistic strategy of processing corruption nor of its very occasional “successes” rather, it is just that the strategy and its operators on the whole, and in our particular development-setting, make the medicine more sickening and counter-productive than the ailment it is prescribed to heal. Hence, my advocacy for a complementary social-scientific approach.
The history of failed-attempts on the matter should not be allowed to repeat itself; the lesson therefrom must not be lost on us.
Professor Odekunle was pioneer Director, United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime, (UNAFRI), Kampala, Uganda and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He is member, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, (PACAC), The Presidency, Abuja, Nigeria.