Tackling the Dimensions of Corruption in Nigeria

Tackling the Dimensions of Corruption in Nigeria

Victor E. Dike

The problem of corruption in Nigeria is not new but high profile corruption is growing in leaps and bounds as recent events in the society show. Sadly, after years of independence Nigerians (leaders and followers) still believe that public money belongs to the “white man” and therefore should be looted by any person who has access to it. Thus, in a notoriously corrupt society such as ours many people are ready to offer and receive bribes and compromise their official position. This mentality is impacting negatively on public policies and the growth and development of the society.

Since independence in 1960 Nigeria has been hit by corruption from all fronts. The menace has reached an alarming proportion since the reprise of civil rule, as those elected to govern the society are looting the treasury with impunity. Electoral corruption is rampant because quite often voters are coerced and intimidated and people are killed or maimed during elections. And the losers are often declared winners. Thus, bribery, fraud, embezzlement of public funds, extortion by the police and custom officers, favoritism and nepotism are rife in the society. The growing dimensions of bureaucratic and political corruption are taking greater toll on the nation as those entrusted with making political decisions (formulating and implement the laws of the land) are very corrupt. Any person who has been following the political trends in the society knows that the Presidency and State Governors are immersed in endless corruption scandals. Nigeria has not been rocked by this much high-level corruption. It is the same character and story from Abuja to State capitals. The National Assembly is stinking and the Judicial System is tainted by corruption thereby making it difficult for an ordinary Nigerian to receive justice in court.

Nigerians are suffering today because those in the position of authority are mindless looters. A World Bank Report indicates that about $170 billion stolen from the public treasury are stashed in foreign banks. Nigeria has been competing with Bangladesh and Haiti for the first position on the Corruption Perception Index. As if these are not enough reasons for concern, recently, an official of the EFCCC revealed that $100 billion has been pilfered from public treasury by political leaders since the return of civil rule in 1999. And since independence, in 1960, Nigeria has reportedly lost $500 billion to corruption (Vanguard, Sept 22, 2006). However, the figures could be very conservative given the upsurge of corruption in the society!

Media investigations have revealed that Chief Obasanjo and Mr. Atiku have been operating some hidden accounts (the Marine Float account, etc) using individuals as fronts. As a ploy to exonerate himself from the scandal, the President is telling Nigerians that Mr. Atiku is the only corrupt official at the presidency while Mr. Atiku who made some revelations of Chief Obasanjo’s personal interests in the account appears to be saying that he is not as corrupt as the President who has bought Nigeria through Transcorp in the “bogus” on-going privatization scheme. It is no longer news that Chief Obasanjo bought 200 million shares of Transcorp and built a Presidential Library and Bells University, among other scandals too many to recount here, while in office. With all these conflict of interest involvement his supporters have the nerves to say that OBJ is not corrupt?

Meanwhile, the Marine Float account has implicated Samuel Ogbemudia who seems to have admitted that he received a sum of N40 million from the account that he reportedly spent on PDP’s related party activities? The National Chairman of the PDP, Ahmadu Ali, received N5 million from the PTDF (Punch, Sept 23, 2006) and the Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye informed the nation that he contributed N100 million from his state’s ecological fund for which he has been charged of being corrupt to the account. With all these revelations is Chief Obasanjo not more corrupt than the poor citizens he been harassing in the name of anti-corruption crusade?

However, as Dike (November 18, 2003) noted, corruption is not peculiar to Nigeria or any ethnic group and the continent of Africa. Corruption is a worldwide phenomenon that cuts across faiths, religious denominations; it occurs in every political and economic systems and affects both young and old and man and woman alike. This does not, however, mean that the magnitude of corruption is the same in every society. Therefore, corruption, which occurs in varied dimensions in Nigeria, has contributed immensely to the poverty of a large segment of the Nigerian population. Because of the widespread of “petty” and “grand” the international [and local] business community regards the whole of Africa as a “sinkhole that swallows their money with little or no return” (Callaghy 1994). In every society those who have been pathologically conditioned to being corrupt would not be contented with their regular monthly pay check. In Nigeria and other Third World Nations some people who claim to represent the voice of the Almighty could be preaching the gospel of faith and good citizenship and brandishing the Holy Bible or the Koran with the right hand while looting any public fund entrusted in their care with the left hand. Thus, the society should fight the menace with whatever instrument available.

Chairman Ribadu has been chasing around the corrupt politicians as many of them have been interrogated and millions of dollars worth of their properties confiscation. However, this has not been deterred the die hard from stealing because as he intensifies his quest to tame the menace the incidence of corruption in the society the corrupt leaders’ would devise other methods of beating the system. Some of them are using their wives and concubines as courier to ferry public money across the ocean or through bogus business organization.

When the so-called anti-corruption crusade started Nigerians thought that the President was serious about it but the growing dimensions of grand corruption in the presidency is becoming more worrisome than the regular petty corruption where some unpaid poor civil servants would steal a few thousands of Naira to make ends meet. If the highest government officials who are involved in the so-called anti-corruption crusade are corrupt is there any hope that the EFCC could monitor the growing menace of political and bureaucratic corruption in the society? Since many government agencies are corrupt Nigerians are increasingly distrusting political institutions and the persons associated with them. Skip While some individuals are skeptical about the war on corruption the nation should not use this shortcoming as an excuse to withdraw its support on the quest to tame corruption in the society.

Why is corruption a viable enterprise in the society? The causes of corruption are myriad and they have political and cultural variables. It appears that Nigeria’s culture and social practices and values encourage corruption. However, some research points to social diversity, ethno-linguistic fractionalization and different religious traditions (Lipset and Lenz, 2000). The political system and the culture of a society could make the citizens more corrupt than others. Some of the fundamental factors for the growing dimensions of political and bureaucratic corruption in the society include obsession with materialism, compulsion for a shortcut to affluence, glorification and of ill-gotten wealth by the general public; the brazen display of wealth and conspicuous consumption. The culture of late payment, delays or refusal of payment for services already done is a serious problem that could lead to corruption. And some people get into dubious activities, such as ritual murder and human trafficking for money-making to acquire traditional titles and bogus academic degrees. Because of corruption many high-ranking officials have demonstrated a taste for luxury cars and mansions their regular salary would not sustain.

Lack of ethical standards in government and business organizations in the society is another problem. The issue of ethics in public sector and in private life encompasses a broad range, including a stress on obedience to authority and on the necessity of putting moral judgments into practice. Thus many officeholders in the society do not have clear conception of the ethical demands of their position. Some of them think that official position is a license to steal public money with impunity. Other factors are poor reward system and greed; Nigeria’s reward system is among the poorest in the world; it is society where hard work is not properly rewarded but rogues are often glorified. Peer and community and extended family pressures and polygamous household are other reasons. The influence of extended family system and pressure to meet family obligations and for the upkeep of chains of concubines is a big obstacle to national growth and development.

Ineffective institutional control, which makes it difficult to keep track of people’s financial activities, breeds corruption. Unreasoned and anti-business policy could force some business persons involved with importation to bribe corrupt custom officials to clear their goods. Hindrance to economic opportunity is another serious problem; any culture that stresses economic success as an important goal but restricts access to opportunities could push the citizens to corrupt activities. To survive people have to make a living! Nigerians are achievement oriented but they have low access to economic opportunities. The lukewarm attitude of the officials who enforce the laws of the land could cause the people to engage in corrupt behavior, knowing fully well that they would get away with it. Corrupt in the society is unavoidable because morality is relaxed.

The effects of corruption on national development are myriad; reduces public spending on education, reduces level of investment as it adds to investment risk (Lipset and Lenz, 2000); and government officials would shift government expenditures to areas in which they could collect bribes easily. Poverty in Nigeria is often tied to corruption because resources for social development and job creation programs are diverted into private bank accounts (Mauro 1997). Corruption has turned politics a lucrative business venture in the society because anything spent to secure a political office is regarded as an investment that matures immediately one assumes office. Corruption upsets ethnic balance and exacerbates problems of national integration because if a corrupt, but popular ethnic leader is replaced in his or her position, it “may upset ethnic arithmetic” and the cohorts may revolt in any attempt to bring them to justice often causing social conflicts and possible loss of lives. Corruption undermines effective governance, endangers democracy and erodes the social and moral fabric of nations.

Why has corruption blossomed in the society despite all efforts to tame it? Corruption has defied all measures adopted to combat it in Nigeria because those fighting the corruption-wars are also corrupt. As it were ‘when water chokes you, what do you take to wash it down?’ However, some human ailments could require many doses of medicines to be treated; similarly corruption that has eaten deep into the fabric of the society would require doses medicine to control. There is no simple and single remedy for corruption and no corruption-infested society could tame corruption overnight as it has been ingrained in the fabric of the society. However, real and serious war on corruption should begin with sound re-orientation of the general population to a better value system; and the people should learn to live under the rule law. To avoid the nation from being mortally wounded by the menace the National Assembly should hasten and expunge the immunity clause from the Constitution because it has made the corrupt executives sacred cows. And to make any impact on the war against corruption the gods must face justice and stripped of their ill-gotten wealth.

And parents should begin again to teach good values to their children at home because there is no substitute for good parental education. The practice of virtue is the ultimate solution to behavioral change and reduction in corrupt practices. Adherence to ethical standards in decision-making must be the foundation of the nation’s policies because without ethics in the conduct of the affairs of the nation the war on corruption would not be successful.

Taming corruption in Nigeria would be impossible without an effective checks and balances for monitoring individual and business activities. The society should fortify its institutional checks and balances without which the on-going democratization process would not be sustainable. Making good policies with vigorous enforcement could deter corrupt behavior; the Nigerian police should be well trained, well equipped and well paid and on time too. If the police and the court would understand and operate within their limits things might improve in Nigeria.

Many high-ranking government officials in Nigeria have absolute powers and we know absolute power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it. So those in the position of authority should not be allowed absolute power. To tame corruption in the society Nigeria must operate a genuine democratic system in which the electorate could hold the political leaders accountable for their actions. To accomplish this, the electorate must have political education and socialization to identify and reject corrupt leaders during election. This is where the crucial role of the media comes in, as it should educate the people of their rights as citizens to expose corrupt officials. And the life and property of individuals who expose corrupt officials must be protected against retaliation.

The society must develop a culture of relative openness, in contrast to the current bureaucratic climate of secrecy. The only way to ensure the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria is for the leadership to muster the political will to sincerely tackle corruption head-on. The current process of democracy that promotes moneybag and political contractors, thugs and intimidation, stealing and buying of votes are ant-democratic governance.

Nevertheless, no matter how thorough a nation’s development plan might be any society that neglects the importance of good leadership in any strategic planning would not succeed in the execution of its plans. And that’s Nigeria’s Achilles’ heel! Therefore, good leadership should be the starting point in any strategy. The people should work together to support the EFCC and the agency should be institutionalized and empowered to question any person who aspires to lead Nigeria: Police IGs and Commissioners, Ministers, Local Government Chair, Governors, National Assembly, Presidential aspirants and university administrators. For effective war on corruption branches or units of the commission should be established in every state and local government in the federation and a special court established in every state for expedited trial of any person or group fingered for corruption. For effective war on corruption the EFCC must be truly independent because he who pays the piper dictates the tone! However, tackling the growing dimensions of corruption will remain a daunting task without effective anti-corruption strategies, good governance, transparency, accountability and respect for rule of law.