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The Fight Against Corruption By Ahmed Borodo
Today, Nigeria celebrates a renewed battle against corruption since the regime of late General Murtala. This is not to underscore the superficial efforts made by past administrations. Of course one cannot forget the so called efforts made during late General Abacha’s regime, especially with regards to failed Banks. And what turned out of it was that the perpetrators are now free. Over the past weeks, since the entire saga began, we seem to have all forgotten the state of our economy nay the hard times Nigerians are undergoing. Obasanjo has now become a messiah, and the Nigerian press is now making a day out of it.
While we rejoice in the renewed battle against corruption which has become so endemic and cancerous in the minds and activities of most Nigerians, and agreed that the present measures being undertaken will send a warning signal and deter many from indulging in corrupt practices, we most not be carried away by the present turn of events. This is because; corruption can never be stopped by using short term punitive measures. In fact, such measures as being undertaken by this administration seem to only score political points which will be cheap in the long run. If you look at the history of punishments meted out by this administration, and in fact previous administration, you will find out that most offenders go Scot free at the end of the day. What happened to Makanjuola, and the Ministers involved in the ID card saga?
I am of the firm belief that on daily basis, Nigerians will even be made smarter by prevailing events. Punitive measures against offenders will never solve the problem. The Guardian Newspaper in its Sunday 3rd April 2005 cartoon page captured this fact by depicting how the Nigerian Police has become smarter. It is a fact that the police man on the road has now become smarter by not collecting bribes. While driving on Abuja-Kaduna road recently, I noticed that the police men asked commuter drivers to drop money on the road using a sign with their hands. This happened on almost three occasions. I later on discovered that the police employ this tactic because when you drop the money on the road, nobody can prove that the policeman has collected bribe. It is on your volition that you offered to drop the money on the road and God bless your soul if do not drop the money on the road! Moreover, corruption has become so institutionalized in almost every sector of the country. For a Vice Chancellor to be alleged to contribute funds meant for the betterment of his university shows the kind of degeneration and desecration things have gone in our dear country. What morality do such people now have to challenge their students when they indulge in vices on campus? Perhaps our President needs to also find the morality to challenge his public servants when it was recently discovered that his in laws were favored in the allocations of government houses. Only God knows other things they have benefited from. I wish you will remember that just recently, during the last regime, Ghana must go bags were displayed in the House as bribes offered to members by the executive.
Have we also ever asked ourselves why despite the existence of the Nigeria Police whose constitutional responsibility is to tackle or handle any kind of criminal activity, we still have some agencies like EFCC and ICPC being created? Let’s also bear in mind that these agencies result in further depletion of the country resources when such resources could be diverted to the betterment of the Nigeria police for better productivity, definitely these agencies were created because of the following two reasons. Either the government can no longer rely on the police, or because the government has an agenda to settle scores. Dear reader, I digress.
I have always maintained that rather than fighting corrupt public officers, the onus on the government is to identify the root causes of corruption in Nigeria. Although some of the factors or causes of corruption are glaring. While corruption has become attitudinal amongst many people, it is safe to assume that people resort to corruption because they have no option. The bottom-line is that the past and present administrations have done little to better the lives of its citizens. A civil servant after putting in many years of public service will one day wake up to realize that he has nothing to show for those years, not even a car or a house, but debts and children he cannot cater for. This is the sad story of most Nigerians. And while many will deploy all form of restraint to refrain from being corrupt, many others will not give a hoot because that is what many do, and this leads to attitudinal indoctrination that corruption or going through the back door is the only way out. Talking about going through the back door also reminds me on how elections are conducted in the country. We all know that it is simple to secure one s vote by giving him money. In the last election, a two hundred naira note will by you a vote. How can you now protect the sanctity of y our office, and play the role of a messiah when you and I know that that you bought your votes. What morality do you have to ask your people to avoid corruption? What morality do we also have as a people when we collected money to vote for you? (Please this is just a generalization!)
I honestly support President Obasanjo intention to stem corruption, but I have a problem with his approach. It is not about bringing people to book, this can bring him down from the way things are going. Stemming corruption is about finding out why are people corrupt in order to tackle the problem. It is about erasing that attitudinal thing in most Nigerians. It is about making life easier for the generality of Nigerians. It is about giving Nigerians a decent source of livelihood.
Ahmed Borodo can be reached on ahmedborodo@hotmail.com
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