TUESDAY THOT:
Towards Greater Transparency and Accountability in Nigeria: Publish
their Properties, Publicize Their Taxes, Prepare their Statements,
Prosecute their Indiscretions
By
Mobolaji E. Aluko,
Ph.D.
Burtonsville, MD,
USA
April 12, 2005
I won’t name names,
but ever so often, one prominent member of our Nigerian society or the
other, often a former head of state, former state governor or
minister/commissioner/head of a state agency, even a family member of
a person in high place, is accused of being corrupt, of living beyond
his or her means – or some other charge. The current government is
then asked to “go after them” or else is accused of being chicken, of
double-standards and of protecting rogues.
In these days of
strident anti-corruption stance of the Obasanjo government, these
accusations and counter-accusations go on and on, without resolution
but with increasing vigor.
There is no doubt
that there are MANY people in Nigeria society, particularly former or
present military and civil servants, with computable total incomes and
other benefits, who seem to be living well beyond their means, and who
draw suspicious looks thereby. Nevertheless, under the well-tested
maxim that you are innocent until pronounced guilty, it is odious and
quite slanderous – and libelous when written down – to accuse people
blatantly without proof.
And suspicion has
never been proof.
However, in the
interest of transparency and accountability in the country, an
ever-continuing suspicion undermines trust of persons and confidence
in government, and it cannot simply be swept under carpet. Hence I
believe that government should take certain PROACTIVE measures to
restore trust and confidence between government and its citizens.
I am therefore
proposing four measures to begin to put our hands around this
suspicion/trust/confidence triangular miasma in a systematic and
non-witch-hunting manner.
As one goes around
the country, one is sometimes impressed at the gargantuan private
living structures put up amidst other squalid buildings, even in the
remotest of villages. The latest Ikoyi scandal shows that there are
many Nigerians willing to buy houses cash-down at stupendous
amounts.. Decked with satellite dishes and the latest information
technology accoutrements, their floors are finished with marbles,
their doors are oak-heavy, and their china are from China.
One is impressed.
I have often
wondered: how much are these properties valued at ? Can we not
institute property taxes on these houses, and STRICTLY make those tax
incomes to be used for providing roads, water, schools, and other
essential services for those living in the vicinities of these houses,
just like it is done in other developed parts of the world ?
All we need to do is
walk around the country, town by town, local government by local
government, state by state, jotting down the addresses of these
well-developed real estate properties, publish them and ask those who
own them – individuals and companies – to step up and admit ownership,
else they will be declared as “abandoned properties” to be turned over
to the state.
By the way, all the
present National Assembly members and other public officials were
expected to declare their assets – which include real estate – before
they assumed their current positions, so we can start by taxing their
known properties.
In every town, local
government and state, there will be found at least 10, 100 or 1000
people respectively who can be considered PROMINENT, either because
they have privileged present positions or have had those in the past.
I really do not
think it cruel and unusual intrusion of privacy to ask that the taxes
– over the past five years - of 50,000 of Nigeria’s most prominent
persons be published, is it ?
After all, many of
these persons are politicians who are REQUIRED by electoral law to
show their tax clearances: so we could actually start by PUBLISHING
the taxes of ALL of the present National Assembly members: that is a
penalty for “winning” - or winning - the elections !
Despite the
prevalence of “Ghana-Must-Go” bags in Nigeria, much of the kinds of
money that we talk about are not movable in such bags without them
causing hernia: bank transfers are involved. As a matter of urgency,
movement of money in banks for:
Should be reported
to the Central Bank within two working days of the transaction,
including the OPENING of such accounts.
Furthermore, I
believe that INACTIVE money sitting in accounts say beyond six months
in a year should also be taxed at some agreed rates – say 10%.
If we are to get a
handle against financial crimes in Nigeria, the thorough cleansing of
banking operations is a BIG step in that direction.
I have exactly five
of these in mind:
In the best of
liberal democracies in the world, virtually all of the above steps are
found, and Nigeria should be no different if we wish to get out from
the current stink which envelopes us.
I believe that we
Nigerian citizens should be STRONGLY pushing for a selection – or all
- of these measures rather than pointing at one or two people who
should be picked up under the cloud of our deepest suspicions. If
certain steps are applied across the board, then no one person can cry
“Foul!” for them being applied to him or her.
Finally, it is most
unlikely that if you have no sizable property to tax, no taxes to pay,
and no sizable bank transactions to show, a financial indiscretion can
be charged against you – or else you are a perfect invisible magician.
I rest my case for
now.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SUNDAY MUSINGS: 17 Ways of Stopping Financial
Corruption in Nigeria – A Summary
December 05, 2004
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