By
Dan Amor
For most dispassionate observers of the Nigerian political scene, the only thing which has destroyed the fabric of this country even more than any conventional war, is corruption. This hydra-headed monster has becomeNigeria 's middle name. Aside from
the untoward image this menace has wrought on the country and the insult and
embarrassment it has caused innocent Nigerians abroad, it has inflicted
irreparable damage to the basic foundations that held the country together.
For most dispassionate observers of the Nigerian political scene, the only thing which has destroyed the fabric of this country even more than any conventional war, is corruption. This hydra-headed monster has become
Corruption has stunted our economic growth, our social and physical
infrastructure, our technological and industrial advancement and has
decapitated our institutions, which is why our over 40 research institutes are
no longer functional because they are headless. Even our academic and military
establishments and other security agencies cannot in all sincerity be
exonerated from the deadly effects of unbridled corruption. The determination
of President Muhammadu Buhari to combat corruption and to go after suspects
irrespective of their ethnic or political leanings should enlist the sympathy
of all well-meaning Nigerians. It is the more reason why even the opposition
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which controlled the central government and a greater
number of the 36 states and the Federal
Capital Territory ,
Abuja , recently
endorsed the corruption war.
As Nigerians we certainly do not need any soothsayer to tell us that ours is a corrupt country. We see corruption live everyday. We see Mr. Corruption stalk the streets, the roads and the highways across the country. We see Mr. Corruption bid us goodbye at the airports and welcome us back into the country. We Nigerians greet Mr. Corruption at the seaports and border posts as we clear our cargoes into the country. We shake the juicy hands of Mr. Corruption as we savour the winning of a lucrative contract. Truly,Nigeria ,
which in 1996 was ranked by Transparency International as the second most
corrupt country in the world, achieved the utmost when in 1997 it was voted the
most corrupt country on the face of the earth. Ever since, the country has had
the misfortune of being grouped among the five most corrupt countries in the
world. There can never be any stigma as heinous as this in the comity of nations
across the world.
Since the current democratic political experiment started in May 1999, all successive governments have had to place anti-corruption war as part of their programmes of action, popularly known as manifestos or agendas. Yet, all had paid lip service to the fight against corruption except the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari which is showing signs of its determination to tackle the monster head on. As can be deduced from the body language and actions of the president himself, Nigerians are now confident that this battle will commence with the resoluteness it deserves. Successive administrations, in spite of their much vaunted hoopla over corruption war, were ironically refuting the claims of the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) thatNigeria was stinking with the evil
stench of corruption.
As Nigerians we certainly do not need any soothsayer to tell us that ours is a corrupt country. We see corruption live everyday. We see Mr. Corruption stalk the streets, the roads and the highways across the country. We see Mr. Corruption bid us goodbye at the airports and welcome us back into the country. We Nigerians greet Mr. Corruption at the seaports and border posts as we clear our cargoes into the country. We shake the juicy hands of Mr. Corruption as we savour the winning of a lucrative contract. Truly,
Since the current democratic political experiment started in May 1999, all successive governments have had to place anti-corruption war as part of their programmes of action, popularly known as manifestos or agendas. Yet, all had paid lip service to the fight against corruption except the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari which is showing signs of its determination to tackle the monster head on. As can be deduced from the body language and actions of the president himself, Nigerians are now confident that this battle will commence with the resoluteness it deserves. Successive administrations, in spite of their much vaunted hoopla over corruption war, were ironically refuting the claims of the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) that
*Obasanjo and Buhari
For instance, in 2004 following TI's categorization of Nigeria as the third most corrupt country in the world, the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, instead of looking inwards and soberly reassessing its anti-corruption programme to find out why the campaign had neither secured credibility even among Nigerians nor yielded any positive dividends worth commending, decided to lambast the agency. Unfortunately, the government did not sound convincing to Nigerians. That the government had tried to dismiss the TI verdict did not make the unwholesome factors that informed the reports disappear. Besides the COJA profligacy and bazaar and the allegation that various state governors were exporting state allocations monthly, there was also the theatre of shame in the National Assembly where quarrels over sharing of state funds had led lawmakers to assault each other.
Indeed, until the exit of the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, the Commission saw nothing wrong, heard nothing wrong and did nothing about former President Obasanjo or any of his ministers and advisers in spite of mounting evidence of stinking corruption that is now in the public domain, including the Siemens bribery scandal, the alleged fraudulent activities at the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), the Transcorp shares, and the Schneider scandals.
As if there is an atmosphere of total impunity, we behave as though we
don't care about other corruption scandals that have rocked the national boat.
These include the National Integrated Power Projects in which over $16.5
Billion was stolen, the Aviation Fund, the Petroleum Equalisation Fund, the
Rural Electrification Agency scandal, the Federal Government Borehole Project,
and the Halliburton Bribery scandals. There are still the Universal Basic
Education Commission (UBEC) scandal, the National Identity Cards Project
scandal, the National Examination Council fraud, the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) scandals, and
the N1.1Billion National Gallery of Arts fraud, etcetera.
*Jonathan and Buhari
Lest we forget, the Jonathan administration
actually exposed some of these frauds but lacked the political will to
prosecute the offenders. While the Managing Director and Executive Vice
Chairman of the Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and two of his
Executive Directors were being sacked as a result of the turmoil in the power
sector against the backdrop of the $16.5Billion House of Representatives Power
Probe, the then Chairman of National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)
and six of his commissioners were removed over an alleged N1.5Billion fraud. At
the time, the Senate also directed the probe of the National Poverty
Eradication Programme (NAPEP) citing lack of direction, administrative perfidy
and the failure of the programme to register a formidable impact on the lives
of Nigerians despite huge government investment in it. Nothing came out of the
exercise.
Indeed, the blossoming of corruption in
The upshot is that several billions of Naira oil sales were never paid into the Federation Account since 1999 by the nation's apex oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has had to raise several alarms and threatened court actions, all to no avail. Even with the appointment by the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, of a foreign firm, Cobatt International Services Limited as pre-shipment inspectors of crude oil exports, the rot in the oil and gas sector knows no bounds as every activity in that sector appears to be shrouded in secrecy.
At a point, President Yar'Adua had to confess to a bemused nation that
he was overwhelmed by what he referred to as "entrenched interests"
in the oil and gas industry. Yet, with the terrifying preponderance of fraud in
our country, it seems as though Praise Of Folly, the classic
testament of Erasmus that chronicles the emptiness or moral atrophy of his age,
was written with Nigeria
at heart.
Supposing our country was not this corrupt, we know where we would have
been by now. Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States of America
signed the Freedom of Information Bill in 1967 to fight corruption. India and modern China , to mention just a few, were
able to free themselves from the shackles of underdevelopment because they
launched deliberate and devastating war on corruption. There cannot be a better
time to tackle this malady than now. Let's support PMB with all our heart, head
and all to extricate our dear country from this terrible enemy of growth.
Amor, a journalist and public policy analyst, contributed this piece to SCRUPLES fromAbuja .
Amor, a journalist and public policy analyst, contributed this piece to SCRUPLES from
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