Written by: Don Okereke
Food
for thought:
‘’Dear Government…I’m going to have
a serious talk with you if I ever find anyone to talk to.’’ – Stieg Larson
What Is Corruption?
For the sake of clearing any iota of ambiguity and
to disabuse the minds of proponents of the retired debate in Nigeria who
contend that stealing is NOT
corruption, a definition of corruption suffices. Transparency International
(TI), the global anti-corruption watchdog succinctly defines corruption as ‘’the abuse of entrusted power for private
gain. It goes further to say that corruption can be classified as grand, petty
and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it
occurs’’. Etymologically, www.vocabulary.com
holds that corruption originated from a Latin word – com, or ‘’with, together’’, and rumpere,
meaning to break. In other words, corruption is an action, outcome that breaks
trustworthiness, good reputation. It further says that corruption encompasses a
wide range of actions and inactions such as (1) Lack of integrity (especially
susceptibility to bribery); (2) moral pervasion (the quality of not been in
accord with standards of right or good conduct, (3) use of a position of trust
for dishonest gain, (4) inducement of a public official to violate duty and (5)
the process of decay; putrefaction.
Is Stealing,
Corruption?
Nomenclature side, contrary to the philosophy of the
old order that STEALING is not CORRUPTION, the foregoing definitions of
corruption in the opening paragraph holds that stealing is an offshoot, variant
of corruption; one is tantamount to the other. Stealing and other social vices
can only ensue from a perverted (corrupt) mind. STEALING and CORRUPTION are
birds of the same feather and MUST be treated as such.
Is Nigeria Synonymous With
Corruption?
There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria is NOT
synonymous with corruption. A recent United States investigation into the
activities of the global football body - FIFA has shown that corruption is a
global problem. FIFA President Sepp Blatter and his co-travelers currently enmeshed
in a multi-million dollar bribery/corruption scandal are not Nigerians. The distinguishing
feature in the strand of corruption in Nigeria and what is obtainable in other
parts of the world is that this societal malaise is somewhat done with impunity
and laissez-faire in Nigeria. Again, because of the weak institutions and lack
of political will inherent in Nigeria, higher ratios of perpetrators waltz in
Nigeria than in Western countries. For instance, an American firm – Kellogg
Brown & Root (KBR), a Halliburton subsidiary was indicted for masterminding
a $180 million bribery scheme to procure $6 billion in natural gas deals in
Nigeria. The US authorities swiftly prosecuted and jailed the former CEO Albert "Jack"
Stanley of KBR but his powerbroker
Nigerian accomplices are scot-free.
That is not to say that some big players, untouchables
don’t slip away from been prosecuted for blatant corruption, larceny and
unethical practices in the Western world. In what was likened to ‘’impunity of
the global big players’’, not too long ago, HSBC agreed to a
record $1.9 billion USD settlement with United States authorities after the
bank admitted violating the United States Bank Secrecy Act, the Trading with
the Enemy Act and other U.S. laws intended to prohibit money laundering.
Also
recall that the FBI at one time deposed to an affidavit
which reveals how one of Mexico’s most violent narcotic-trafficking drug
cartels was laundering money into the U.S. through accounts with Bank of
America. Sometime in 2010, Wachovia was ordered to pay a $160 million ‘penalty’
when they ‘failed’ to detect and investigate the use of their accounts by drug
traffickers to launder money into the U.S., including a transfer of a whopping
$378.4 billion. In the United Kingdom, Standard Chartered was fined $327 million USD for
violations of sanctions laws involving transactions with Iranian entities. In Italy,
the Vatican Bank came under serious media fire when information emerged
that Italian prosecutors suspect it of laundering money for Sicilian Mafia
Godfather on the run, one Matteo Messina Denaro. The Institute for Works of Religion,
commonly known as the Vatican Bank, refused to disclose details of an account
held by a catholic priest (Father Ninni Treppiedi) in connection with the money
laundering and fraud investigation.
Does
it not smack of corruption that the aforementioned financial institutions and
their high-flying executives involved in the aforementioned deals wriggle out,
are protected from jail terms despite staggering evidence against them? Is it
that those institutions and the perpetrators are above the law? Is it that
these Western governments prefer to elicit humongous sums of money as ‘fines’,
‘out-of-court-settlement’ (or whatever it’s called), from these institutions/their
executives than to prosecute/convict them? Will the same practice be tantamount
to corruption if brokered by the Nigerian government? Second base jare… My father tells me in Igbo language: ‘Onye aghogburu ka agbara’. Go figure it
out. Please this is never an attempt to extenuate, fend for corruption in
Nigeria or to derail the topic; just to prove to some sanctimonious,
grandstanding, finger-pointing Western governments, institutions and folks that
according to Transparency International’s classification, ‘grand corruption’ also
fester in their clime.
What Are The Causes of
Corruption in Nigeria?
The primary cause of corruption in any society is avarice! Corruption
is also a function of fragile political structure and process, weak government
institutions (the security agencies, the judiciary etc.). Other causes of
corruption are: abject poverty especially in the midst of plenty, poor
remuneration of workers, lack of transparency, deep-rooted culture of impunity
(the nothing-will-happen-syndrome and mentality in Nigeria), lack of societal
values - a society that basks on instant gratification, ethnic jingoism and
lack of patriotism, ‘national cake syndrome’ (folks see leadership positions/appointments
in Nigeria as an invitation to devour the national cake – oyel money).
Nigeria’s ‘Missing’,
Squandered Oil Money and Corruption Ranking
Nigeria is said to have lost $400 billion USD to
political corruption since crude oil was discovered in commercial quantity over
four decades ago. Global Financial Integrity estimates more than US$157
billion in the past decade has left Nigeria illicitly’’. British
Prime Minister – David Cameron was said to have pointedly asked former
President Goodluck Jonathan what happened
to the over $100 billion USD that Nigeria made from oil and gas in 2012.
Transparency International (TI) ranks Nigeria 136 out of 176 countries
with a score of just 27 out of 100 on the 2014 Corruption Perception Index. TI says ‘’85 per cent of Nigerians surveyed believe corruption has increased
from 2011 to 2013 and that corruption hits hardest at the poor in Nigeria who make
up more than 40 per cent of the 179 million people’’.
The Far-reaching Effects, Consequences of
Corruption:
Corruption
is cancerous and dangerous to the wellbeing of any nation because it mortgages
the lives and future of not just the present generation but those unborn. Other
short and long-term impact of corruption on Nigeria include: it undermines
democracy, good governance, rule of law, accountability, erodes confidence, increases
the cost of doing business, slows economic development and growth, lowers
quality of public infrastructure/goods and services, increases abject poverty,
leads to untimely death (importation, sale of fake drugs). Corruption also
permeates the educational system: parents offer bribes to secure admission into
higher institutions for their wards; lecturers accept bribes (students call it ‘sorting’) to award marks to students
and so on and so forth. Some argue there is a correlation between corruption
and insecurity - that corruption fuels insecurity in Nigeria. According to Ms. Diane Kohn, anti-crime Program Coordinator at the
US Embassy in Nigeria, ‘’Corruption is
affecting Nigeria’s security’’. Due to
corruption and lack of proper inspection at our Ports, land borders and
airports, it is very easy to import arms, explosives and all manner of
contraband into Nigeria with a butterfly effect on instability, insecurity.
Now That Change is Here:
Nigerians passionately yearned for CHANGE. The craving
for change was so electrifying that when it became apparent CHANGE was
inevitable, the erstwhile administration became panicky. Hawks in the
administration made subtle and apparent political maneuverings and brinkmanship
to truncate the electoral process but their plans came to naught. Thank God common
sense prevailed. Change must not just be a cliché; let the political change and
goodwill that we have in Nigeria now metamorphose into a change of mental
attitude and orientation that will permeate every strata and fabric of our
national life. There MUST be a collective will and action to rein in corruption
and impunity in Nigeria. An Igbo proverb suffices: ‘’ofu osisi anaghi eme oke ohia’’ (A single tree does not make a
forest). There is no CHANGE and nothing will CHANGE if Nigerians only bank on President
Buhari’s integrity, incorruptibility while everyone else persist in his/her old
way of life.
Recommendations: How To Stop, Eradicate
Corruption in Nigeria:
In an interview on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS
programme, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former Finance Minister said, ‘’No one can fight corruption for Nigerians
except Nigerians. Everyone has to be committed from the top to the bottom
to fight it”. Continuing she said, “And I think there are two key things that
need to be done all along, and it’s not just in Nigeria. It’s in many
developing countries that you need to do this…you need to, coupled with – by
all means pursue those who are corrupt, punish them, you know, make sure
there’s no impunity. But that has to be coupled with something which doesn’t
get as much attention, which is building institutions...’’. To stop corruption in Nigeria, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP)
advocates that President Buhari must inter-alia,
look into ‘’all unresolved cases of corruption including in the aviation, oil
subsidy scandal, alleged mismanagement of trillions of Naira by the Security
and Exchange Commission, missing N300
billion in the petroleum ministry since 2011; and others should be urgently and
satisfactorily addressed…, prioritize prevention of corruption by carrying out
reforms of institutions of governance including the judiciary, the police,
anticorruption agencies, and the regulatory authorities on electricity…and lead the process to domesticate
and effectively implement the UN Convention against Corruption within the legal
system”.
Having reconciled the meaning, causes and effects of
corruption in Nigeria, as a patriotic and passionate Change Agent, I took it as
a duty (a national assignment) to brainstorm comprehensive ways the Buhari
administration can successfully stem the tide of endemic corruption and
impunity in Nigeria. Agreed corruption permeates the nation’s fabric hence
there are no quick fixes. To rein in pervasive corruption and impunity in
Nigeria, the fight against corruption must be holistic and premised on: (1) Deterrence/Prevention
(2) Early detection (nipping it in the bud!) and (3) Imposition of rigorous
sanctions/punishments or restitutions on convicted culprits/masterminds of
corruption in Nigeria. Granted corruption akin to
prostitution is challenging to be completely exterminated in any clime, outcomes
in Scandinavian countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland), in
Singapore amongst others, proves that corruption can indeed be subdued to the
barest minimum if the political will is there and the right measures are implemented.
The following steps will surely go
a long way to stop or rein in wanton corruption and impunity in Nigeria:
1.
Leadership by example: The aura, mien and body language of a leader makes
a lot of difference. If you are a no-nonsense person, your wife, family members
and friends will know there are lines that must not be crossed when dealing
with you. Buhari supposedly instructed his aides after he won the presidential
election to always respect traffic rules. Granted that may not be practicable
for security reasons but this demonstrates his desire not to be above the law. With
President Buhari’s ascetic and Spartan disposition, hopefully gone are the days
when Nigerian public officials flaunt, rub in their ill-gotten wealth with
reckless abandon. A
classic example on how the body language of a leader can send a wrong or right
signal. Mr. Teh Cheang Wan, a former Minister of National Development in
Singapore was said to be an alter ego of then Prime Minster Lee Kuan Yew (LKY).
The former was investigated for accepting two bribes of $500,000 and he
reportedly made an attempt to have audience with his friend – Prime Minister
Lee Kuan Yew but the later refused to see him. Mr. Teh Chean Wan got the
message. He committed suicide thereafter before he could be formally charged.
Dear President Buhari, the cliché in your inaugural
speech that “you belong to nobody and
that you belong to everybody’ is quite cheering. Insha Allah, the next few
months to four years will tell if this was mere rhetoric. For your information,
a Civil Society Group – CDD West Africa
has launched a twitter handle - @Buharimeter to track your campaign vow
delivery. Social media played a fundamental role in your popularity and victory
at the polls; it can as well play a role in your failure if you slack. For
a start, President Buhari, we are told your predecessor(s) amassed, arrogated
about a dozen (i.e. 12) ‘Presidential jets’ to the office of the President. You
don’t need all that; sell off at least 10 of those jets. Recall the British
Prime Minister is not entitled to any ‘Presidential jet’. Courtesy of ‘First
Lady’ Aisha Buhari, Nigerians now know that anyone that wanted to see her predecessor
had to pay $50,000 before s/he can have access to the first lady. This must not
continue.
2.
Public declaration of assets for ALL public officers
and that of their “IMMEDIATE FAMILY” members (husband, wife
and children) on appointment or assumption of assignment and after
disengagement. –
We understand that Mr. President and the vice president have declared their
assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). Nigerians are clamoring that the
CCB expedites the process of making the declaration public. Other public
officials must follow suit and publicly declare their assets forthwith. Nigerians
are very creative; geezers are known to embellish or ‘pad up’ their asset
declaration to include assets they don’t currently own but intend to acquire
when they ascend to power, leadership positions. The essence of their immediate
family members also declaring their assets is to ensure the public official
doesn’t pass off his/her loots to his/her family members. It does not end by
making those asset declarations public, relevant law enforcement agents, citizens
must invoke the provisions of the freedom of information law to ascertain physical evidence of such declared assets
and point out discrepancies where they
exist. On a lighter note, Nigerians will not raise eyebrows if it emerges that
President Buhari’s updated asset declaration includes a horse because it is
fresh in our minds that his Nigerien counterpart offered him one as a gift.
Hopefully that’s not a Trojan Horse?
3.
Encourage genuine whistleblowing – While the United States and some Western governments
are bent on silencing the likes of Edward Snowden and Julian Asange (WikiLeaks)
for taking whistleblowing to a whole new level, others contend their actions
are in the best interest of humanity. Edward Snowden’s revelations have profoundly
impacted and will continue to impact United States domestic and foreign
policies. For one, the United States National Security Agency (NSA) which hitherto
had almost unprecedented powers is been asked to be accountable and a bit more
transparent. Here in Nigeria, it is not easy been a whistleblower. The
erstwhile Central Bank Governor and current Emir of kano – Mallam Lamido Sanusi
Lamido was unceremoniously booted out from the apex bank after he lifted the lid on Nigeria’s endemic corruption by alleging that $20bn was
missing from the Nigerian treasury. There was even an attempt by one ‘Wendell
Simlin’ to frame up Sanusi as one of Boko Harams’s sponsors through a document he
circulated online. The metadata of the Word document subsequently uncovered the
said Wendell Simlin to be (Pastor?) Reno Omokri, President Jonathan’s
social-media adviser. Symptomatic of the Jonathan’s laissez-faire attitude to
graft and malfeasance, Reno Omokri kept his job despite the profound embarrassment
this caused the administration. One is gladdened by a report on Premium Times
Newspaper of June 6, 2015 to the effect that the Independent
Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) has pledged to protect corruption
whistle-blowers in Nigeria. In statement by the ICPC spokesperson, one Rasheedat
Okoduwa, the Commission ‘’threatened to
investigate and prosecute any official or head of government Ministries,
Departments or Agencies that victimizes staff who expose corruption corrupt
practices in the MDAs’’. We can now have Whistleblowers
Association of Nigeria (WBAN).
4.
Using
Technology To Fight Corruption - Thanks to
technology, Nigerians can use their mobile devices to capture corrupt practices
and upload them online – YouTube, Twitter etc. Please take note that Nigerians
can avail themselves the following platforms: website - http://stopthebribes.net/
where they can fill a form, by sending a mail to info@stopthebribes.net, an SMS to 08131234567,
09035200933, a tweet with the hashtag: #stopthebribes or with an iPhone and Android
Apps
to report incidents such as assault, unlawful detention, unlawful arrest,
illegal roadblocks, bribery and other societal malaise. Transparency International
also advocates an initiative known as ‘’citizen monitoring of public works or
infrastructure’’. This entails the government making information – cost of
contracts awarded etc. easily accessible and involvement of conscious citizens
in monitoring those contracts and to report malfeasance to appropriate
authorities. Perhaps this is what ex-president Jonathan meant when he promised
that he will use technology to fight corruption.
5.
Strengthen
and Reform Anticorruption Agencies, public institutions -
As President Obama once articulated,
‘Africa needs strong institutions, not
strong men’. There must not be sacred cows or smoke-screens in the fight
against corruption! To tame
corruption in Nigeria, President Buhari must have the ‘balls’ to step on big toes.
It is high-time the EFCC, ICPC were strengthened,
reformed and made independent. Nigerian anti-corruption agencies must not
to be apron strings of the Executive arm of government or an instrument to witch-hunt
political opponents.
6.
Separate
the office of the Minister of Justice from that of the Attorney General of the
Federation – There is no
gainsaying the fact that separating the office of the minister of justice from that
of the attorney general of the federation will boost Nigeria’s anti-corruption
drive. A situation where the Minister of Justice doubles as the Attorney-general
of the federation and wields the power to arbitrarily, unilaterally terminate
or discontinue any case instituted by the EFCC, ICPC et al, no matter the
merits of the case, is subject to abuse and encourages corruption.
7.
Implement
Far-reaching Judicial reform – In an interview, Vice
President, Prof. Osinbajo concurs that ‘’Nigeria’s
judicial system as presently constituted is slow and makes it easier for people
to get away with criminal acts’’. He went further to say ‘’we have to fix the
criminal justice system to ensure that criminal trials are speedy and that
anyone who is guilty of an offence will be punished for that offence’’.
While you are at it Sir, your administration will do well to send a bill to the
National Assembly for a Special Court that will handle corruption cases with
dispatch. Granted provisions have to be in place to avoid abuse, the National
Assembly will do well to pass the ‘’Bill for an Act to make Comprehensive
Provisions for the Confiscation, Forfeiture and Management of Properties
derived from unlawful activities and for other connected Matters (HB.693) into
a law if they have not done so.
Judicial
reform is not complete if the Judiciary/the Nigerian Bar Association does not
purge itself of bad eggs in its midst. Financial autonomy to the judiciary and
good remuneration to judicial officers will also go a long way in guaranteeing
their autonomy and stamping out corruption in their fold.
8.
Rein
in slap-on-the-wrist sentences, bastardized plea-bargain regime
which fuels corruption in Nigeria. The wise saying of Aesop,
that ‘we hang the petty thieves and
appoint the great ones to public office’ is very apt in Nigeria. Quickly
recall the example of one Yakubu Yusuf, ex-deputy director of the Nigeria
Police Pension fund who was convicted for stealing about N32bn and was sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option of
fine (N750, 000) which he paid pronto after
the court judgment and took a waltz. Is it not ludicrous that the duo of
Messrs. Yakubu Yusuf were fined N750,000
for ‘stealing’ N32billion, Michael
Igbinedion jailed 6 years with an option of fine - N3million for laundering N25billion
while another Nigerian, 31-year old Kelvin Ighodalo was jailed 45 years for
stealing a Sony Ericson mobile phone valued at N50,000 belonging to Governor Rauf Aregbesola? Or is justice for
sale in Nigeria? The ilks of Emmanuel Nwude, Tafa Balogun, Diepreye Alamiesigha,
Cecelia Ibru, Lucky and Michael Igbinedion etc. were all given a pat on their
back for very weighty offences. Dr. Peter Odilli, ex-governor of Rivers State
still enjoys ‘immunity’ even after stepping down as governor having secured a
dubious ‘perpetual’ injunction restraining the EFCC from arresting or
prosecuting him. Other influential politicians and money bags have frustrated
their trials with adjournments and technicalities. Whatever happened to the Farouk
Lawan bribery scandal?
9.
Financial
Autonomy for Local Government Areas – Local Government Areas
(LGA’s) has become conduit pipes for some unscrupulous governors to siphon
public funds. Yes, let the States have some oversight function over the LGA’s
but let the Local Councils receive their allocations directly from the
federation account as against the existing practice of channeling their funds
through the respective states.
10.
Invoke
a coherent national census – Mr. President, please what is
the population of Nigeria? You often hear – Nigerian population is ‘about’ 170,
179 million but we can’t say for sure how many we are. Nigeria does not need opaque,
Byzantine and devious approximations in the name of census. How can we plan,
know the number of voters, number of people that need food, employment, healthcare
or allocate resources and infrastructural projects if we can’t even say for
sure how many people we have in Nigeria?
11.
Reform
the security agencies (Police, NSCDC, the Army, Navy, Air force, other para-military
agencies), encourage professionalism and provide adequate remuneration, equipment
to them. At the risk of extenuating corrupt practices but it
is valid that poor remuneration and condition of service of these public officials
immensely promotes corruption. The Police and
other Security Agencies are a reflection of the larger society. There are
reported cases of cultists, felons and terrorist sympathizers wangling their
way into these agencies. Efforts must be made to fish out bad eggs especially
at the point of entry (recruitment). Military and
para-military personnel’s in the Western world earn reasonable wages and can
afford the basic necessities of life hence they don’t have to take bribes to
sustain themselves. Again, the laws there are working and with the increasing
use of body cameras and gadgets by security agents in the aforesaid climes,
there is a high chance of erring security agents to be caught, sacked and
convicted if they derail.
12.
Probe and Root out corruption in
the military: Transparency
International avers that corruption in Nigeria’s military must become a top
priority. Nigeria’s military establishment scored a very poor ‘E’ grade on
a scale from ‘A’ to ‘F’ in the last Transparency International UK’s Government
Defence Anti-Corruption Index, which appraises corruption risk in Defence
establishments around the world. With trillions of naira (billions of dollars)
expended on the fight against Boko Haram yet the Nigerian military hitherto
struggled to confront, rein in a so-called rag-tag Boko Haram. Nigerians and
indeed posterity will like to know the quality and capacity of Nigeria’s
military inventory and how military budgets were expended all these years. If
you need a reference material in this regard, may I humbly recommend this
article by Sonala Olumhense’s: ‘’Let us
probe Nigeria’s Defence Spending” and the abovementioned Transparency
International Defence anti-corruption yardstick.
13.
Put
an end to sale of application forms, recruitment scams by government agencies –
It
is preposterous for the Armed forces, the Immigration and other government
agencies to ‘extort’ money from prospective applicants in the name of
‘’application fees’’ since these government agencies have annual budgets for
recruitment and training.
14.
Please
entrench a culture of justice, equity, fairness. End
this culture of ‘na mu ne’ (Hausa:
favoritism, ‘he’s one of us’). Let’s
herald a Nigeria where merit is not
sacrificed in the altar of nepotism and mediocrity. Let the best, most
qualified be recruited, appointed! Enlistment into the Nigerian Defence Academy
(NDA), Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA), State Security Service (SSS) and other prestigious federal and
State establishments MUST not be exclusive preserve of candidates with powerful
godfathers. A situation where a plethora of Nigerian graduates, job-seekers seldom
believe there is merit anymore is not good for Nigeria’s posterity. Many
Nigerian youths have lost faith in Nigeria; they will bluntly tell you that it is not what you know or studied in the
university but who you know. Punch Newspaper of November 7, 2012, Page 9 goes
thus, ‘’The Federal Character Commission says it has started investigations
into 16 federal government agencies for secretly employing people in violation
of the Federal Civil Service guidelines’’. A while ago, the Nigeria
Customs also smashed a fake job syndicate in its fold. ‘’An audit committee in the
Nigeria Custom discovered that 44 Cadets on training got their appointment
letters by bribing corrupt officers of the Service’’. An ‘’Employment
Scandal rocked the Nigeria Immigration Service’’. A unique feature in
the aforementioned scenarios: the recruitment exercises were not advertised; slots
were exclusively reserved for powerbrokers and their cronies. The foregoing buttresses
the well-known fact that many government jobs in Nigeria are seldom advertised
or competitive. In saner climes, these are very serious infractions and heads
will roll. In Nigeria, you will hear a Committee has been set up and that’s the
end of it.
s
15.
Mandate
ALL revenue generating, collecting Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s)
to henceforth remit EVERY dime they collect/generate to the federation account.
This is pertinent because probe of the Stella Oduah bullet-proof car saga
showed that some agencies in the Ministry of Aviation seldom remit revenues
within their purview to the federation account.
16.
Make the prerogative of mercy or
Presidential pardon more stringent – Granted this right is entrenched under
Sections 212(1) and 175(1) & (2) of the Nigerian Constitution and empowers
the President and State governors to
grant conditional or unconditional pardon to a convict, or to substitute,
reduce, commute or remit the length of sentence and/or the severity or quantum
of punishment and penalty or forfeiture, imposed on that person by a court of
law. Given the unprecedented furore, controversy generated by ex-President
Jonathan’s pardon of his former boss – ex-Governor of Bayelsa state - Mr. Diprieye
Alamieyeseigha, Shetima Bulama (former MD of Bank of the North) and five others,
it is high time this prerogative of mercy was made more stringent and doesn’t
become an instrument of political patronage. This discretionary power must be exercised
with the highest sense of responsibility, probity, equity, circumspection and consistent
with the letters and spirit of the law. Otherwise just as former Niger-Delta
militants were given a clean slate via a presidential amnesty, another Nigerian
President/Governor could wake up one morning in the near future and pardon the ilks
of Boko Haram’s leader - Abubakar Shekau.
17.
Electoral
reform – Election rigging – thwarting the popular, collective
will of the citizenry is arguably one of the worst strands of corruption. Often
times you hear that so and so Governor or political office holder has lost his
seat sequel to the courts upturning his/her supposed ‘victory’ at the polls and
that is where it ends. The politician goes home with what s/he looted during
his stint and is a free man. Beef up the Election Offenses Commission to
vigorously prosecute electoral offenders.
18.
Check
Political Campaign Funds and Illegal Donations
– As you know, it appears Nigerian political parties are above the law. Preparatory
to the 2015 presidential election, the PDP in flagrant disregard to extant laws
raised a whooping N21 billion for its
presidential candidate, though the party later suggested part of the money was
for the building of its secretariat. Recall that Section 38 (2) of the
Companies and Allied Matters Act expressly forbids companies from donating
gifts, property or money to any political party or association. More so, Section
91 (2) of Nigeria’s Electoral Act 2010, as amended, specifies that ‘’the
maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a presidential
election shall be N1 billion. By the
way, are funds, donations to an aspirant, the exclusive preserve of that
candidate or is it for the party? For instance, say N2 billion was contributed to Buhari’s presidential campaign and N1 billion was expended, what happens to
the balance? Does it become your money or that of your Political Party? Such
issues should be straightened out.
19.
Ensure
strict financial regulation and intelligence surveillance of financial
transactions – Tightening the noose on financial
institutions will check corruption and another variant of it – unprecedented
level of money laundering from Nigeria. Beam searchlight on the plethora of
Nigerian bank branches outside the shores of the country, some of them may be
conduit pipes for money laundering.
20.
Genuine
cooperation and partnership with Western governments, institutions
to check money laundering– As they
say, it takes two to tango. The ilks of James Ibori, Sani Abacha et al could not
have perfected their trade if Western financial institutions did not get their
own cut. The Global Financial Index (GFI) reveals that the massive outflow of
illicit money out of Africa to the West is ‘’facilitated
by a global shadow financial system comprising tax havens, secret
jurisdictions, disguised corporations, anonymous trust accounts, fake
foundations, trade pricing, and money laundering techniques’’. UK Banks
facilitated late Sani Abacha’s laundering of $4 billion USD (£2.8 billion).
Also, the EFCC Chairman – Mr. Lamorde asserted that ‘’as much as $14 billion USD in cash was taken out of Nigeria between
January and August 2012 through Nigeria’s airports’’.
21.
Ensure that award of government contracts,
crude oil blocks etc. are very transparent and in line with global best
practices.
22.
Enable unfettered access to public
information and free speech. Unnecessary bureaucracy enshrined in the freedom
of information law must be purged.
23.
Unbundle and reform the byzantine NNPC
said to be a cesspit of corruption and an ATM to previous administrations. The
NNPC MUST not continue to be a regulator and a player in the oil industry. Transparency International is tasking the Buhari
administration to publish a believable audit of accounts for the US$20 billion hole that former Central Bank Governor and now Emir of
Kano – Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, alleged was in the accounts.
24.
By every means possible, encourage local
refining of petroleum and subsequently remove the fraudulent petroleum subsidy
that supposedly drained about N2.7
trillion from the Nigerian treasury (more than half of the 2013 budget) during
President Jonathan’s administration. Since Nigeria is still losing 400,000 barrels
of crude oil daily to oil bunkering (the Nigeria Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (NEITI) says Nigeria lost $11 billion USD to oil theft,
vandalism in a 2013 report) despite the so-called ‘Crude oil Pipeline
Protection Largesse’ awarded to some Niger-Delta militant kingpins, the
contract is a fraud and should be canceled forthwith.
25.
Stop
the fraudulent import duty waiver racket. Any good news on
the import duty waiver controversy involving Coscharis motors during the
Oduahgate saga? What happened to the ‘’Special Audits of Accounts of Civil
Pensions for the Period 2005-2010 report’’?
26.
Make
the use of ‘Security votes’ auditable – This Security vote conundrum
is probably the biggest conduit pipe for corruption by public/government
officials in Nigeria. Imagine the 36 State governors entitled to upward of N6 billion each annually as security votes
and they owe no one any explanation as to what they use the money for. Granted
they should have security votes but let there be a requirement for them to
account to say the National Security Adviser (NSA), how such monies were/are
appropriated.
27.
Rein
in wanton profligacy by government and payment of outrageous salaries,
allowances to public officials. It is commendable that Mr.
President is bent on reducing the number of Minsters and possibly ministries. This
gale of slashing of salaries by upwards of 50% pioneered by the governor of
Kaduna state – Mallam El Rufai should be emulated by other governors and other
public officials. It beggars belief that some state governors gallivant and carouse
in ‘Private Jets’ abi helicopters, a
good number of them had the effrontery to contribute N50 million each to the reelection campaign of the erstwhile
president while owing civil servants some 10 months’ salary arrears. National
Assembly members must rise to the occasion and also slash their unconscionable entitlements
said to be the highest in the world. It is unacceptable for the remuneration of
a Nigerian Senator to treble President Obama’s annual salary. The so-called
‘Constituency fund’ must be well-harnessed and accounted for. Suggesting via
his twitter handle @benmurraybruce on how the current government can cut the
cost of governance, newly elected Senator Ben Murray Bruce and Chairman of
Silverbird Group says, ‘’we must be
realistic. If we have to borrow to pay salaries, it’s a sign we must cut
salaries including for Senators.’’ He went further to say, ‘’...left for me, we
must sell the Presidential fleet. Public servants, including the President,
must only use made in Nigeria Peugeot as official cars.’’
28.
Create
a ‘Special account’ where loots, forfeitures from corrupt individuals are
lodged. The Nigerian public space is constantly awash with
the news of purported discovery and repatriation of the so-called ‘Abacha loot’.
In addition to previous ‘Abacha loots’ repatriated to Nigeria, Switzerland
recently discovered fresh Abacha loot to the tune of $380 million (about N75.2bn). To paraphrase the infamous question
Mrs. Patience Jonathan posed to parents of the abducted Chibok girls; ‘na only Abacha waka come abi na only Abacha
loot Nigerian ‘oyel’ money? Is it
because Abacha is late? The gap-toothed General nko? What of the one that
midwifed our current democracy after Abacha’s demise? The Ota General nko? Those
ones did not loot ‘oyel’ money abi? Okay, ‘continuu’…all these Abacha loot they
are returning, how’s the government spending the money sef? Folks contend that
the looted monies returned to Nigeria are re-looted again by the establishment.
29.
Reinvigorate the National Orientation Agency (NOA)
as well as the Federal and State Ministries of Information to continually enlighten Nigerians on the
implications, consequences of corrupt practices through time-tested public
enlightenment instruments: use of posters, handbills, and adverts on print and
electronic media (jingles). In other words, an avant-garde version of the old
War Against Indiscipline (WAI) will
do Nigeria a lot of good.
30.
Will Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)
and the Nigerian Financial
Intelligence Unit (NFIU) please stand up! The
FIRS must not be a paper-tiger! Our undoing in Nigeria is not the absence
of good laws or lack of institutions; it lies in the implementation of laws and
inability of institutions to carry out their functions effectively. One of such
institution is the FIRS. Section 8 (1) of the FIRS Act mandates the agency to ‘’adopt measures to identify, trace, freeze,
confiscate or seize proceeds derived from tax fraud or evasion’’. Section
35 (3) also mandates the FIRS to ‘’cause
an investigation to be conducted into the properties of any taxable person if
it appears to the FIRS that the lifestyle of the person and extent of the
properties are not justified by his source of income’’. So why are they
allowing these powers to lie fallow?
31.
Finally,
beam your searchlight on real estate acquisitions and investments in Nigeria. Nigerian
corrupt officials learnt hard lessons from the mercurial Mr. James Ibori,
erstwhile governor of Delta state currently serving jail term in the United
Kingdom with his assets confiscated in that country. The newfound stratagem of
Nigerian corrupt government officials is using front-men to ‘wash’ their ill-gotten
money in posh real estates, shopping malls and hotel chains in the nook and
cranny of Nigeria. Buoyed by proceeds of corruption and money laundering, some
apartments in Abuja and Lagos are more expensive than commensurate apartments
in New York or London. Anybody can trace the antecedents of Bill Gates, Warren
Buffet, and Steve Jobs etc. and say this is how they made their money. How many
of Nigeria’s present day nouveau-riche, high-flying billionaires were known 15-20
years ago? Let the EFCC or the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) audit
these posh Estates in Nigeria: their owners, residents and their source(s) of
income and evidence of tax payments. Perhaps there should be an extant
provision in the statues of EFCC mandating prospective buyers of houses above a
certain threshold to tender legal evidence of their source(s) of income to the
EFCC before sealing such deals. We don’t need a seer to convince us that a civil servant, whose annual remuneration barely amounts to N3million but owns a N60 million naira house (not inherited and have no private business), is patently corrupt.
Conclusion:
Nigeria
is in dire need of a radical and comprehensive corruption prevention, detection
and speedy prosecution/conviction regime (stiffer penalties and increased jail
terms). If Nigerian law slams 5 years jail term on WAEC examination cheats why
can’t there be stiffer penalties for corruption/stealing? José
Ugaz, chair of Transparency International, reminds us that ‘’Nigeria’s new president (Muhammadu Buhari)
has committed to fight corruption. Nigerians must hold him to that promise and
the corrupt must be brought to justice.” We equally appeal to our Western
friends bent on making their famed cities (London, New York, Switzerland etc.) the
financial capital of the world, to do less pontification and take radical steps
to stifle loopholes that encourage wheeling dealing of looted money in their
clime.
I close by quoting Bess Myerson,
first Jewish Miss America, 1924-? Who said, "The accomplice to the
crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference." All hands
must be on deck if we must fight and annihilate corruption in Nigeria! See
Something, Hear Something, Say Something!
Written By:
©Don Okereke
(Entrepreneur, Security Analyst/Consultant, Ex-Serviceman, Writer/Blogger,
Change Agent)
Contact
me on: donnuait (a) yahoo.com
Follow
me on Twitter: @DonOkereke
June, 2015
Attention:
1.
Transparency
International
2.
Financial Action
Task Force (FATF)
3.
Zero Corruption
Coalition (ZCC)
4.
Civil Society
Network Against Corruption (CSNAC)
5.
Coalition
Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL)
6.
Anti-corruption
Network
7.
Citizens Arise
Movement of Nigeria (CAMON)
8.
Niger-Delta
Anti-corruption Network (NIDAN)
9.
Policy and Legal
Advocacy Centre (PLAC)
10.
Grassroot
Anti-corruption Awareness Network Initiative
11.
Nigeria
Anti-corruption Ambassadors (NACA)
12.
Nigeria Liberty
Forum (NLF)
13.
Inter-Agency
Task Team on Anti-corruption (IATT)
14.
Technical Unit
on Governance and Anti-corruption Reforms (TUGAR)
15.
Anti-corruption
Internet Database (ACID)
16.
Anti-corruption
Authorities
17.
Transform
Nigeria
18.
Concerned
Nigerians
19.
Stop Corruption
Nigeria
20.
Integrity
Nigeria
21.
CDD West Africa
22.
OSIWA
23.
SERAP
24.
CLEEN Foundation
26.
