55 years after, corruption bars Nigeria from Eldorado
bane of development in Nigeria, 55 years after independence,
CHARLES ABAH and CHUX OHAI write
In Nigeria, corruption exists in different forms and corrupt
practices come in different shades. For example, a policeman
on duty who receives money from a motorist that has just
broken a traffic rule and allows him to go scot-free is guilty of
corruption. The motorist is equally guilty of bribery for twisting
the judgment of a man in a position of trust with a monetary
offer.
In countries where such anti-social behaviour is abhorred, the
offending traffic warden may be dismissed from the police
service, while the motorist could be jailed for offering bribe to a
law enforcement agent and for abetting corruption.
There have been cases of public officers illegally appropriating
properties and funds meant for the public for private uses. In
official and legal circles, this is regarded as a fraudulent and an
unethical behaviour. When a government official diverts the
resources meant for public use, he denies thousands – even
millions – of other people the services or other benefits that they
were supposed to provide.
The law frowns at misappropriation of public funds as much as it
forbids those in positions of authority, especially in the public
sector, to use their positions to favour their close relatives or
friends even when they do not merit it.
Politicians that are in the habit of buying votes from the
electorate, intimidating and cajoling voters into voting for them
or offering electoral officers special incentives in return for
victory over opponents in the polls, may also be guilty of
corruption.
Also, telling lies to gain an advantage over somebody else,
institution or something is sometimes regarded as an act of
corruption.
Corruption in high places
Nigerians have witnessed several cases of corruption against
high-ranking government officials in the past. Some state
governors have been indicted at home and abroad for allegedly
looting the treasuries of their various states or for being
connected with scams and missing cash involving hundreds of
millions of naira.
The most common subject of debate is tendency among some
state governors, ministers and other highly-placed public officers
to divert money meant for the development of their
constituencies into personal bank accounts abroad.
Two of the most celebrated cases of corruption, in this regard,
are the ones involving a former Speaker of the House of
Repreentatives, who was compelled to quit office due to a N628
million scam, and her immediate successor. The latter was also
accused of misappropriating capital budget funds totaling about
N9bn.
Corruption is believed to be rife at the local government level.
Chairmen of councils or leaders of caretaker committees
appointed in the interim are accused of gross misappropriation
of public funds. Evidence of this lies in poor infrastructure and
absence of any form of physical development in many LGAs
across the country, despite the large budgetary allocations
received by the leadership each year.
Weak institutions
Even as many seem to agree that past administrations did not
do much to put a check on the monster, some discerning
analysts have put the blame on the activities of the prosecuting
agencies, such as the Economic and the Financial Crimes
Commission, the ICPC, Code of Conduct Tribunal and the courts.
According to them, these organs are at best dogs that can only
bark but do not have sufficient liveliness to bite. That people
hold this view is not surprising. There have been numerous
examples of botched high-profile cases that the citizens feel the
prosecuting agencies either have failed in their responsibilities to
pursue or are intimidated by the personalities accused of soiling
their hands in the public till.
The former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, who currently is
serving a jail term in the United Kingdom, over allegations of
corruption, is one of the easily-cited examples. Despite the huge
corruption allegations slammed against him in Nigeria by the
EFCC, the politician literally walked out free from the courts.
The poor handling of his case, many say, points to the un-
seriousness of the authorities and the prosecuting agencies as
well as the huge mockery the anti-corruption battle has become
in the country.
Apart from the Ibori saga, steps taken by the prosecuting
organs in other cases preferred against such notable Nigerians,
as former governors, Orji Uzo Kalu, (Abia); Jolly Nyame,
(Taraba); Chimaroke Nnamani, (Enugu); Joshua Dariye,
(Plateau) and Saminu Turaki, (Jigawa) did not go down well with
many Nigerians.
They also allege that the cases involving former state governors,
such as Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State; Boni Haruna, (Adamawa
State); Abubakar Audu, (Kogi); Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and
Timipre Silva, (Bayelsa) betrayed the unpreparedness of the
prosecuting organs and past administrations to fight corruption.
Although the list seems endless, the cases of former governor
Danjuma Goje of Gombe State, Senators Evans Enwerem,
Chuba Okadigbo, Ita Giwa, Ibrahim Mantu, Rowland Owie,
Ayoola Agboola, former Oyo Governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala,
former House of Representatives Speaker, Dimeji Bankole,
Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, daughter of former President Olusegun
Obasanjo, cannot be wished away, too.
Many Nigerians also frequently refer to the court injunction
perpetually restraining the prosecuting agencies from trying a
former governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili. Such a ruling,
they say, makes mockery of the commitment of the authorities
to wage a war against the vice.
Another demonstration of a weak legal institution manifests in
the case concerning a Director, at the Police Pension Office, Mr.
John Yusuf, involved in apolice pension scam. Yusuf, who was
convicted for fraudulently converting N2bn police pension funds
to his private use, bagged only a two-year jail sentence with an
option to pay a fine of N750, 000.
An Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Abubakar Talba,
on January 28, 2013, found Yusuf guilty on the ground of
criminal misappropriation and stealing charges slammed on
him. The EFCC had dragged him to the court under section 309
of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Laws of the Federal Capital
Territory, Abuja, Nigeria, 2007.
But as people hold this opinion about the agencies, the latter
have always insisted that they have done pretty good in the fight
against corruption. For instance, the EFCC will readily point to
the many cases it has prosecuted as pointer to its seriousness
in the crusade.
Obasanjo, Jonathan eras
Although the Obasanjo administration inaugurated many of the
existing anti-graft agencies, many Nigerians hold the view that
the administration then, more than anything, used them as
instruments of witch-hunt and victimisation. According to them,
the former president used the agencies to harass and intimidate
those whose political and ideological leanings differed from his.
Also they insist that the trials of Alamieyeseigha, Okadigbo,
Enwerem, among other cases had deep political colouration.
Interestingly, even as the Obasanjo administration takes a lot of
bashing for this, there is no denying the fact that the era also
witnessed the delisting of Nigeria from the comity of the non-
cooperative nations in the fight against corruption and money
laundering by the Financial Action Task Force. The FATF is
responsible for combating money laundering and financing of
terrorism.
The immediate past administration of President Goodluck
Jonathan, many analysts similarly claim, was not assertive in
the war against corruption. Many insist that the EFCC, ICPC and
CCB were rendered ineffective for the almost six years that
Jonathan held forte as the president.
Strategising for robust prosecution
On why there seems to be no huge success in the war against
graft, a Lagos lawyer, Mr. Malachy Ugwumadu, links the
impediment to many factors, including lack of political will and
ideological contradictions.
The disposition of the law enforcement agents as well as lack of
incentives for them and the culture of impunity by the political
class, he notes, are some other inhibiting factors to the fight.
Ugwumadu, while urging President Buhari to maximise the
support he has received so far from the citizens to fight the
“virus”, advises him to distance himself from the operational
assignments of the anti-corruption agencies. He also
recommends that the prosecuting agencies need better funding
in order to guarantee their independence.
He adds, “President Buhari needs to exploit the moral rectitude
that led him to victory. It was his integrity and character that led
to his electoral victory and he must bring this to the table.
Therefore, in doing this, there should be no sacred cow. Any
accused person, whether in the PDP or the APC or in the civil
service, must be ready to face prosecution.
“Again, apart from creating an enabling environment for training
the operatives, there is the need to offer them better incentives.
“Finally, the judiciary must be disposed to the fight against
corruption. Members of that arm of government must be ready
and willing to assist within the confines of the law and not to
allow reactionary lawyers to bamboozle the prosecuting
officials.”
Also, another Lagos-based lawyer, Fred Agbaje, blames past
governments for the ever-worsening incidence of corruption in
the country.
He says, “Past governments only succeeded in sowing the
seeds of corruption. These seeds have germinated in an
alarming and embarrassing proportion. It is now that President
Muhammadu Buhari is trying to take some meaningful steps to
arrest the negative developments caused by corruption.
Otherwise, the previous governments, including the ones headed
by former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, the late Umaru
Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, paid lip service to this
problem.
“This is why, under these men’s watch, corruption became a
monster. It became a major industry that employed more than
90 per cent of Nigerians. With that kind of massive employment
created by corruption, it became very difficult to fight it.”
To make matters worse, Agbaje notes, the anti-graft agency
saddled with the responsibility of fighting corruption became
overwhelmed by the social malady at a point.
Arguing that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
itself has lost the fight against corruption, even as an allegation
of corruption continues to hang on the leadership of the
commission, he says, “With that kind of situation, what do you
expect to come out of the fight against corruption, particularly
by an institution that was created to do so? Of course, with that
type of moral baggage hanging on the EFCC, it will be difficult to
fight the monster.
“Let us see what comes out of the Saraki’s case. I am saying
here that Nigerians will be so shocked, despite all the media
hype about the matter, when the tribunal decides to dismiss the
case for want of hard-core evidence to substantiate the
allegation. It will be waved aside, jus the same way the case
against Femi Fami-Kayode was thrown out.
“I don’t expect anything good from the present leadership of the
anti-corruption agency. They just woke up only when Buhari
assumed office. What had they been doing all these years?”
Calling on the Federal Government to put in place a strong
legislation that will provide support for the anti-graft agencies,
he describes the present crop of leaders for the National
Assembly as lacking the moral fibre to lead an effective fight
against corruption.
He says, “Are the present leaders of the National Assembly the
ones to pass laws for an effective fight against corruption and
good governance? How many of them have clean hands? Is it
the likes of former state governors who were in office for eight
years and during that period looted their state treasuries that will
now pass laws for an effective campaign against corruption?
“I feel sorry for Buhari because at the end of the day, his body
language will become a failure. Without effective legislation, his
body language will amount to nothing. After he completes his
tenure and leaves what comes next? How are we sure that the
person that succeeds him will continue the fight?”
Death penalty for corruption
In line with calls from many Nigerians for a very stringent
penalty for people found guilty of corruption, Agbaje hints that
he might favour the death penalty.
He says, “I am not against the death penalty, if it will solve this
problem, as we have witnessed in China; by helping to reduce
the incidence of corruption to the barest minimum, so be it!
“Although some people have argued that despite the death
penalty for armed robbery in Nigeria, robbers are still operating
in the country, nobody wants to die. A looter will want to stay
alive to enjoy his stolen money. But when you introduce death
penalty and even make the money useless to his family, they
will think again.”
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