TRANSPARENCY international, the global coalition against corruption defines corruption as the abuse of ‘entrusted power for private gain. For the words’ entrusted power’ the World Bank uses the word ‘public office’ its own definition therefore comes out as ‘the abuse of public office for private gain’.
The word corruption has pre-occupied and confounded the minds of many nations including Nigeria for decades. Indeed summits, conferences, seminar’s workshop and even prayers have all been organized in respect of this self inflicted monster with seemingly poor results. In Nigeria, the word, has acquired an everyday usage since its incidence and effects seem to have a cancerous multiplier effect. As the former President, General Olusegun Obasanjo puts it, “corruption is the greatest single bane of our society today.”
An objective analysis and application of the definition of corruption to the Nigerian situation clearly reveals that corruption has become almost an acceptable way of life; and has indeed found itself into every sphere of our national existence. Indeed a survey of our homes, offices, corporate organizations, ministries, institution, organizations, leadership positions, even the banking sectors as revealed by the initial stock market crash all go to show that corruption has become a living and breathing cancer which unfortunately come to be justified by the average man as “the need to survive.”
Yet we must not forget the words of George Bernanos, a French author and a World War 1 soldier. He said “the first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.”
Since the return to civil rule, in 1999, Nigeria government has taken some steps to address the problems of corruption as well as bad governance in the country. These measures include public service reform (monetization to reduce waste and reduction of over bloated personnel, reform of procurement); establishment of Anti-corruption enforcement agencies (such as the economic and financial crime commission); and the sanitization of the financial services sector by the Central Bank, which revealed mind burgling levels of bare-faced theft by the management of several banks in Nigeria. Despite the successes achieved by these measures, the situation remains unacceptable as corruption continues to permeate and pervade every facet of national life in Nigeria.
What is more worrying is that inspite of popular anger against corruption and bad governance, which have robbed the collective well being of the people of Nigeria.
There remains a lack of national consensus on repulsion against the perpetrators (irrespective of their ethnicity, religion, class and gender) and emergence of a popular movement that is capable of galvanizing the palpable rage of the people and channel it to series of actions and outcomes that challenge the statuesquo.
In the words of Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn, a former British Secretary of State for international development, “only developing countries led by their own people and their own government can ultimately make the decisive change that are needed to fight poverty… Corruption is both a cause and a consequence of poor and outright bad governance.”
He further stated that “state building cannot be imposed, nor can there be simply transfer of models from rich to poor countries.”
Indeed Nigeria government has done very well in setting up institutions and Anti-Corruption Agencies, laws and decrees like, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), The corrupt practice decree, Corrupt practices, the money laundering Act of 2004 e.t.c that tend to block loopholes which the corrupt officials explore in their bid to beat the system.
However, accountability becomes poor when the following factors are present:-
Bad leadership precedents:
The political mentality in Nigeria presently is that politics is a means to wealth and that the end justifies the means. Indeed the highest corruption is in the corridors of power as indicated by the number of state governors and local government chairmen that have so far been investigated. At this level, corruption is carried out in over-inflated contracts with selfish motives, contracts are executed and re-executed countless times, monies given to public officers for their respective populace, organizations and sectors, are diverted to personal accounts. This mentality has invariably permeated to the common man who seeks every means legal or illegal to make his own wealth or in the popular slogan. “Have his share of the national cake.” It therefore falls on the leadership to take a stand against corruption by living by example which would in a multiplier effect also assure enforcers of laws that they can perform their duties without fear or favour and that nobody is above the law. This stance will be a major blow in Nigeria.
· Inadequate funding of law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies;
In an era of high technology crimes, corporate and bureaucratic corruption, it would be fatally erroneous to assume that one can fight a war of this magnitude without adequate funding and provisions.
How can the mobile force and military combat Boko Haram, kidnappers and armed robbers that are better equipped than they themselves are?
· The needs for reforms in the public sector – the public sector contributes more than 70% of the corruption in Nigeria. Countries where corruption is an exception rather than the norm have achieved this by reforming their public institutions such as civil service, the parliament and the judiciary. Reforms in these sectors will greatly reduce the challenges of combating corruption.
The primary purpose of government everywhere is the security and welfare of the citizenry therefore it is imperative that our government and indeed any government must strive to eliminate corruption from the society it seeks to govern.
The war against corruption like terrorism is a special kind of war. It is a war against human selfishness and greed, it is a war against rabid and senseless primitive capital accumulation. It is a war against decadence of mind, ethics and morals. Because of these special qualities, it requires a strong and uncompromising political will. And like most wars, casual and superficial approaches will not work, for rhetoric’s must match concrete action.