Corruption has taken such a huge toll on the Nigerian economy that it is now universally acknowledged that the Nigerian nation will sink or float depending on the leaders ability and sincerity in fighting the menace. Investment and development economists agree that corruption has been the major factor behind Nigerias investment and development struggles. Since the World Bank estimated a leakage of about $400bn from the nations oil resources, weve been learning daily about the disappearance of billions and billions of Naira from the coffers of federal, state and local governments and various government institutions, including the Universal Basic Education, Nomadic Education, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Petroleum Technology Development Fund, and Pension Funds. Even before oil becomes money, it is stolen in crude form from pipelines. Besides, oil rigs are given out like Christmas presents to the relatives, friends, and cronies of the powers that be.Even money invested overseas by the government, such as foreign reserves and excess crude account, is routinely depleted with nothing to show for it. Since much of the looted fund is stashed away in foreign banks, it has only helped in developing other economies. The result is a plethora of development woes at home, typified by poor infrastructure (notably inadequate electricity and bad roads); substandard schools and universities; unequipped hospitals; rapid deindustrialisation; and mass youth unemployment.Substandard schools and universities inevitably translate to substandard human capital development. At one end of the educational chain, the failure rate is about 75 per cent for secondary school-leavers. At the other end of the chain are poorly educated, unemployable graduates. This state of educational underachievement is caused by heartless public officials who have been making away with the funds needed to invest in education. But corruption is not limited to the government officials alone. Bank and corporate executives also have been helping themselves with investors funds, leading to the closure of some banks and companies.Yet, since the 1980s when corruption became a noticeable national malaise, every government, military or civilian, has staged one kind of battle or the other against it. Nevertheless, corruption has escalated rather than abate. The battles against it have been like treating cancer with aspirin. It may deceive relatives that their patient is being treated, while nothing is being done about the malignant tumour underlying the cancer. Similarly, fights against corruption have often been staged to convince foreign allies and international creditors and donors that Nigerian leaders are doing something about corruption. Yet, the sources of corruption were hardly addressed.Nevertheless, former President Olusegun Obasanjos crusade against corruption, ostentatious and manipulated as it was, left behind two institutionsthe Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission. Jonathan has begun to reorganise them. He recently fired the EFCC Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, and swore in new ICPC Board members, except the Senate-confirmed Chairman, Francis Ugochukwu Elechi, who apparently still had questions to answer.Jonathan may be on his way to fighting corruption. But the effort has been limited to structural changes, focusing on personnel shake-up at the top. What is really needed to fight corruption is a new policy that rests on a four-prongged approach.First, the EFCC should be truly independent rather than an arm of the Presidency. It should be reporting periodically to the public via the National Assembly. It should be appropriately funded and staffed as previous heads of the commission had requested. Moreover, it is high time that the EFCC devised its own investigative network, in collaboration with the State Security Service and the Police, rather than wait for whistle-blowers to petition the commission. To this end, the EFCC should establish branches in every state.Second, the process of adjudicating corruption cases needs serious review. The present situation in which cases drag on for years leads to abuse and miscarriage of justice. It gives room for unwholesome negotiations, bribery, plea bargains and, sometimes, lost or closed case files. Plea bargain should be eliminated as it mitigates the deterrent value of corruption convictions and encourages lawyers to profiteer from defending corrupt clients. Setting up a special court to try corruption cases, as once requested by Waziri, should be considered. Most urgently needed, however, are: a ban on bails and plea bargains for those indicted; a specified time period within which their cases must be adjudicated; and stiff penalties for those convicted.Third, public officials and the general public should be thoroughly educated through public seminars, TV and newspaper advertisements, and memorable jingles about the debilitating effects of corruption. Traditional rulers, religious leaders, the intelligentsia, and other community leaders have a duty to shape public opinion against corruption. The more the public learns about its negative effects, the more citizens would be prepared to hold public officials accountable.Only effective public education can change the perception of rural dwellers and the poor, who think that government projects reflect the benevolence of the government rather than respect for citizens rights. This warped belief blends with the prevailing culture of glorifying public officials for building huge mansions, living lavishly, and even doling out money as is the case during elections. This is the kind of culture that led to the reported armed defence of former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, in his local community while facing corruption charges. Just as the public needs to desist from this practice, so do politicians and public servants need to learn that government positions should no longer be regarded as business ventures for profiteering.Fourth, and most importantly, preventive measures should be taken against corruption. Strategies for monitoring budget expenditures, contracts, and project performance should be established and effectively implemented. Quarterly accountability reports should be mandatory for all tiers of government and parastatals. The rush by officials in federal ministries to deplete unspent budget funds at the end of the year has been a dragnet for corruption. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, once alleged that over N1tr of unspent budget funds were misappropriated over five years. It is either such budgets were phony in the first place or there was no system in place to ensure that money budgeted for a specific project was spent on that project in a timely fashion.Another major source of leakage that needs to be plugged is over-inflated contracts. After reviewing some projects, Adedayo Mark-Adeyemi, concluded in a recent two-part essay that: The figures of projects in Abuja are damning. We thought the corruption at the state level is not acceptable, but the one at the federal level is mind-boggling. It is scandalous. (THE PUNCH, November 30 and December 1, 2011). The governments reluctance to deal with padded contracts is self-serving. How will government officials get their cut if the noose is tightened around contracts' Yet, until this major source of corruption is plugged, the EFCC and ICPC will keep running after thieves while thieving will continue unabated.Closing such loopholes is necessary to correct the imbalance in the fight against corruption. The focus has been on catching the thief after the goods had been stolen, without paying much attention to preventing the theft in the first place. It fits into the tendency in our system to take reactive rather than proactive measures. We fix potholes on the roads rather than prevent them. We repair erosion damage rather than prevent erosions. We express regrets over collapsed buildings instead of blacklisting dangerous buildings for demolition. It is a system in which leaders are wont to cry over the stew they negligently, if not knowingly, spilled.
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