Corruption: EFCC Is Not Fit For Purpose; It’s Time To Scrap It!

 By Olu Fasan

When General Olusegun Obasanjo became president in 1999, he was under pressure from the international community to tackle corruption frontally. Obasanjo himself described corruption in Nigeria as cancerous, saying it required surgical operations. He established an anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in 2003.

But 20 years later, Nigeria remains a “fantastically corrupt country” as a former British prime minister memorably put it. The cancer of corruption has festered and spread malignantly, destroying every facet of Nigeria’s polity.

President Buhari, Before You Seek Reelection

By Matthew Ozah

I write not to dissuade you from running in 2019 elections just like two notable statesmen in the country and others did the other day.

Nevertheless, you have done well to ask the messengers of the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ intention to give you some time to think about a second term.

*President Buhari 

As you may know, many Nigerians were charmed to ride that gravy train with you because of your pedigree, captivating campaign promise to fight corruption and other miracles that you pledged to perform during your election campaign in 2014/2015.

The recent corruption rating of the country by Transparency International (TI) triggered this letter. From the foregoing, it seems obvious that corruption has taken an armchair in your administration.

This Anti-Corruption War Must Be Firm And Total

By Dan Amor 

For most dispassionate observers of the Nigerian political scene, the only thing which has destroyed the fabric of this country, after the Civil War, Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen killings, is corruption. This hydra-headed monster has become Nigeria'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.

*

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 Reality Of Poverty In Nigeria

By Dan Amor

Against the backdrop of the declaration of Tuesday October 16, 2017, as 'World Poverty Day', we may well take a critical look at a damning document entitled, "Report Card on World Social Progress". Released currently in the United States of America by the International Society for Life Quality Studies, the report has identified the best countries in which to live in the world. These include Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Belgium , in that order. The report which is signed by the group's international president, Prof. Richard Estes, who has studied human development for over 45 years, has equally stated the bottom 10 poorest nations in the world. They include Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Guinea, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The report was compiled based on data provided by governments to the United Nations and measures the ability of nations to meet the basic needs of their residents in terms of health, education, security, human rights, political participation, population growth, improved women's status, cultural diversity and freedom from social chaos.

*Buhari and Obasanjo

According the report, the overall picture for social progress in the world is grim with 21 African and Asian countries nearing social collapse due to concentrated poverty, weak political institutions, repeated economic failure, disease and cultural dislocation. But the report missed out corruption which is the bane of the Nigerian society and the major cause of poverty in the country. Of course, Nigeria, since 1998, has been described by the Berlin-based anti-corruption organisation ,Transparency International, as one of the five most corrupt countries in the world. Unfortunately, President Muhammadu Buhari, who claims to be fighting corruption, did not even bother any hoot to address the nation on the pervasive and scandalous maze of mass poverty in Nigeria. Yet, the irony of the Nigerian condition is that Buhari was a cabinet member of the military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo (1976-1979) which actually handed over the legacy of poverty to the Alhaji Shehu Shagari regime (1979-1983). The Obasanjo military regime it was which syndicated the first ever $15billion loan from a consortium of European banks. Millions of Nigerians were sacked from work and their sources of livelihood were sacrificed to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionalities for the granting of the loan.

Nigeria’s Fantastic Corruption

By Francis Ejiroghene Waive

Except that it was a public slap on our face, the British Prime Minister’s description of corruption in Nigeria as fantastic is true.  Many blame President Buhari for referring to our country as corrupt on the international scene and so hold him responsible for the label. We forget that Transparency International has held this position for years. Perhaps, our grouping with a failed or failing State like Afghanistan is what shocks our sensibilities this time. To some Nigerians, however, this could be the wakeup call to kill corruption in our country before it kills all of us.

While social media is filled with Nigerians claiming not to be corrupt I doubt if there is any Nigerian who has not been a victim of the scourge of corruption. I agree that not all of us are perpetrators of this ugly phenomenon but the malaise is so widespread that one brush seems to fit all. There is no sector of our economy that is not affected. As a young person starts life, you encounter it when you want to get into school and while in school. When you rent your first house and need electricity and other utilities, it stares you in the face. When you begin looking for a job or you start a business, you will be overwhelmed by it. For a foreigner, you first meet it at our borders or entry points into the country. The harassment and extortion of staff of the several agencies will cow you. Even our religious institutions and leaders are not immune from this disease.

All our public institutions are infected by it. What document do you want to process in our courts or ministries, government agencies or departments that you won’t pay a bribe for? What business do you want to transact that won’t involve kick-backs and kick-fronts?  Shamelessly, even the private sector is now an integral part of corruption. Private companies are wrecked by mangers and other officials. Is it a bank loan you are processing or a dealership in a product manufactured by a local company? There is no need to discuss the image of our police force battered by corruption. Most of our parastatals are simply run aground with corruption. Nigeria Airways, Railways, NITEL, NEPA and an unending list of many others. Even the privatization option was compromised as our leaders used government money to appropriate our national assets to themselves and their cronies. Top civil servants ensure ghost workers exist and they pad budgets and thereafter award contracts for capital projects to themselves and political office holders.

The Evils Of Corrupt Enrichment

By Okechukwu Emeh

Materials wealth is a protection against the deprivation, misery, shame and inhumanity of lack, poverty and squalor. When acquired in a fair and just manner or by dint of hard work, or divine favour, it is a thing of glory and up­liftment in the sight of God and right-thinking people. However, when wealth is achieved through illegitimate means, it is bound to be a source or reproach and resentment.

Today, Nigeria is evidently in a war against corrupt enrichment using public office, as being spearheaded with courage and determination by the administration of President Muhamma­du Buhari. Reassuringly enough, many people of goodwill across Nigeria have risen beyond the confines of petty sectional sentiments by receiving the unsavoury development of evils spawned in the land by our corrupt officials with disbelief, revulsion and indignation. This is inevitable against the backdrop of startling revelations from the ongoing anti-corruption investigations into various public institutions in the country, like the $2.1 billion arms deal.

It is not an overstatement that corruption is an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Ad­mittedly, the cancerous spread of this socio-economic cankerworm in Nigeria is one of the major reasons why Nigeria, notwithstanding her abundant human and material resources, is a classic example of stunted growth and arrest­ed development foisted by years of diversion of public funds badly needed for national transfor­mation into private pockets through unwhole­some practices like misappropriation, embez­zlement, fraud and bribery. Such economic and financial malfeasances are also a key factor fu­elling deprivation and despondency among our populace. Alongside this is the negative impact of endemic corruption on our external image, as frequently captured in our unimpressive ranking on annual global corruption indexes being conducted by renowned integrity rating bodies like Transparency International (TI).