Report cases of bribery and extortion by security agency/public officials by victims or witnesses simply by using mobile phones to call, sending text messages, emails or make direct entries on the website, including upload of videos or photographs which provide evidences of such incidences.
DANGOTE Industries Zambia is suing the country’s Labour Minister,
Fackson Shamenda, for defamation after he claimed that a senior company
official tried to bribe him, court documents showed Monday.
The subsidiary of Nigeria's Dangote Group - owned by Aliko Dangote,
who is ranked by Forbes magazine as the richest man in Africa - is
claiming unspecified damages for slander and libel as well as special
damages in the sum of 112,042.84 kwacha ($17,728), according to
documents filed in the High Court.
On September 15, the Post Newspaper carried a story under the
headline "Dangote offers Shamenda a bribe" in which the minister claimed
that a Nigerian human resources manager from the company offered him a
bribe which he rejected.
"He told me that it was a tradition in their culture to give someone a token of appreciation," Shamenda was quoted as saying.
"May I take this opportunity to warn Dangote and all other
investors in the country to avoid enticing government officials with
bribes - it hinders progress."
Dangote Industries is setting up a multi-million dollar cement
plant in Ndola, about 360 kilometres north of the capital, Lusaka.
SIR: I READ with consternation the news in The Guardian (Saturday,
September 20, 2014) that the National Youth Service Commission (NYSC)
intends to charge Corps members Four thousand Naira to print their Call
Up letters on line. Chief Gordon Bozimo, the Chairman of the NYSC tried
to justify the payment, saying it would “improve efficiency and reduce
the risk associated with the collection of call up letters” He was
quoted to have added that ‘N4,000 is a little compared to what parents
spend now’. Will someone tell me since when it has become the
responsibility of the end user to pay for the efficiency of a government
office? The insensitivity of people in government knows no bounds. Have
we no shame anymore, and no sense of propriety? The Federal Road
Safety Commission came up with its own scam sometime ago and fleeced
motorists of a large chunk of money for driver’s License and plate
numbers. Are Nigerians better off since then? Someone somewhere smiled
to the bank. The NYSC is about to do the same. One state government
tried a copy cat but public outcry made them to shelve it. The
Immigration department did its own version sometime ago with its
attendant loss of lives. Despite all the protestations, nothing came out
of it.
Already some schools, with their minimal resources post their
examination results and admissions online for students. Why is a
government agency unable to budget and do its work within budget without
resorting to underhand tactics?
Why do people in government behave like an army of occupation and
show so much disdain for their own people? Is it not the responsibility
of government to make life easy for the governed? Why then does the
government not make the National Service optional and let us see how
many of our children will come forward to endure the indignity to which
they are subjected? Have our leaders forgotten the reason why the
National Youth Service scheme was instituted? Why does government
needlessly make life hard for the average Nigerian?
On the average, 300,000 persons go for National Service. This
Call Up letter Business will fetch the NYSC at least N1.2b. What do they
want to do with all this money? What does it take to get the names of
candidates onto the Internet and let each person with access print at
convenience? Someone should tell those behind this project that using
the internet is no longer rocket science. All other security protocols
can be put in place without costing a leg and an arm.
Clearly this is another case of unconscionable exploitation of the
masses, or is it also part of the ingenuity of politicians to raise
money for the 2015 election?
It is heartless for NYSC to dream up this scheme.
Nigerians should Wake up, Speak up and say No to Exploitation. • Bolaji D’Almeida, Lagos
"The accomplice to the crime of corruption is
frequently our own indifference." Bess Myerson. (First Jewish Miss
America, 1924-?)
Introduction
Bribery, which is an important aspect of corruption,
needs two parties for it to happen: the bribe giver and the bribe taker.
In some countries the culture of corruption extends to every aspect of
public life, making it more or less impossible to stay in business without
giving bribes. The most common bribe-giving countries are not in general
the same as the most common bribe-taking countries. The 12 least corrupt
countries, according to the most recent Transparency International
perception survey, are (in alphabetical order): Australia, Canada,
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
Singapore, Sweden, and Switzerland. On the other hand, the 13 most corrupt
countries are (in alphabetical order): Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bolivia,
Cameroon, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia,
Tanzania, Uganda, and Ukraine.
In Nigeria, corruption is akin to cancer. As the
great English intellectual, Rev Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1932), put it:
"Corruption is like a ball of snow, once it's set a rolling it must
increase." Indeed this has been the Nigerian experience with corruption
developing to such staggering proportions that it is now not only a bane
of the country, but has largely defied present and past efforts to stymie
it. The position now is that corruption is so entrenched that anyone
hoping to do any kind of business with the Nigerian bureaucracy must take
it into account. Indeed the situation is now so bad that even some
government officials are alleged to bribe one another to get government
business done. But in the political arena, Nigeria has found it difficult
to prove corruption, but also impossible to prove its absence. Indeed
there are indications that many Nigerians, some of them politicians,
retired civil servants, judges, and a few generals, have engaged in
corrupt practices. Indeed politicians are often placed in apparently
compromising positions because of their desperate need to solicit
financial contributions ostensibly for their campaigns, but in reality for
rigging elections. They appear sometimes to be acting in the interests of
those parties that sponsor them, but mostly they are driven by personal
aggrandisement.
For the most part, corruption has bedevilled
Nigeria’s political scene encompassing abuses by government officials such
as embezzlement and nepotism, as well as abuses linking public and private
actors such as bribery, extortion, influence peddling, and fraud. As the
award winning US scientist and social critic, David Brin, put it: "It is
said that power corrupts, but actually it's truer that power attracts the
corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power."
Indeed there is a certain nexus between mediocrity and corruption which so
far has been ignored in the Nigerian corruption equation. May be as David
Brin suggests, it is the wrong people that get into positions of influence
and merit in Nigeria (thanks to “federal character affirmative action
based only on arbitrarily created states of origin”). For this reason, the
question that Nigerians should be asking is not, who among the moneyed
elite class is corrupt? But, who is NOT corrupt? That this must be
so is evident from the way many Nigerians today seem to live above their
visible legitimate incomes. Otherwise how does one explain the sources for
the financing of those luxurious, palatial, stately mansions (that have
mushroomed in many Nigerian cities, towns, and even villages), not to
speak of the sumptuously lavish social parties and very expensive top-end
luxury cars put on display by a large number of businessmen, senior public
servants and military personnel, serving and retired. Perhaps the real
challenge with tackling corruption in Nigeria is that most of the
corruption warriors (in the form of the policy makers, the legislators,
the police and the judiciary) pressed into service are themselves not
exactly clean. These are the realities that have stared past and present
Nigerian leaders on the face as they moan about corruption and pretend to
fight it.
Causes of corruption
Although Nigerian leaders in the last twenty to
thirty years have made such a sing-song of fighting corruption, it does
not appear that any serious effort has been made to address the real
causes of corruption. Thus without a proper diagnosis of the causes of
corruption, trying to fight it is akin to treating symptoms rather than
rooting out the disease itself. This unfortunately appears to be the
strategy adopted so far in fighting corruption in Nigeria. We must now
attempt to answer the questions that Nigerians should be asking their
crusaders of corruption. What indeed are the domestic causes of corruption
in one of the world’s most corrupt countries?
It is necessary to observe that aside from the
quality, or lack of it, of people running the Nigerian economic and
political shows, there are some systemic conditions in the Nigerian polity
that promote corruption. To start with, it is unfortunate that power is
concentrated in the hands of decision makers who in reality are not
directly accountable to the people as is often seen in non-democratic
regimes. This is a direct result of Nigeria’s inability since independence
to always conduct credible, free, fair and uncontroversial elections to
political offices in the country. With political office holders acquiring
power through disputable if not illegitimate methods, the situation is not
helped by perennial lack of government transparency in decision making.
Again costly political campaigns in recent times, with expenses exceeding
normal sources of political funding mean that elected officials’ first
priority on assuming office is to recoup their election expenses. This is
facilitated by the design of marginally relevant prestige projects
requiring expenditure of large amounts of public capital. In the
subsequent award of contracts for these projects, self-interested closed
cliques, ethnic-cum-family members, and "old-boy" networks are favoured.
The bulk of the bureaucracy (often poorly paid) and bedevilled with
below-living wages and supported by apathetic, uninterested, or gullible
populace, become actors and accomplices in the public contracts gravy
train. With a weak rule of law in the land and the absence of adequate
controls to prevent bribery, the express corruption train rolls on.
But the crux of the present Nigerian corruption
problem is the overarching crude oil economy and politics. It is not a
secret that “lifting crude oil” is a major form of political patronage in
Nigeria since the 1970s oil boom. Indeed since the advent of the oil boom
in the 1970s, Nigerians have developed an unhealthy love for easy wealth
and luxury goods while at the same time loosing their traditional appetite
for hard work, as well as the knack to generate resources and accumulate
capital. Instead the national preoccupation now is the sharing of the
so-called “national cake” which in an imposed quasi-federal regime has
been raised to the high level of state policy via a revenue sharing
formula! With the spending of Nigerian oil incomes in the Gowon days being
declared to be a problem, Nigerian agriculture (the former mainstay of the
Nigerian economy) was abandoned and the many assembly plants that
masqueraded as manufacturing industries soon followed suit.
According to allegations made by some members of the
House of Representatives, the Nigerian oil industry appears to be a den of
corruption. If their allegation is to be believed, no one outside a
certain restricted inner circle of government knows exactly how much oil
income flows into the national coffers. Not even the legislature could
compel the executive to exhibit total transparency in the handling of
Nigeria’s oil resources. As if to underline this situation the new
Minister of Solid Mineral Resources, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, while speaking
recently in Port Harcourt at the road show of the Nigeria Extractive
Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) accused oil and gas companies
operating in the country of corrupt practices, and said that was the
reason why they avoid disclosure of their annually generated revenue and
expenditures.
Indeed for a long time, Nigeria was the only OPEC
member without an oil minister. The reason for this anomaly could be that
the President, who himself is presumed to not only be clean, but the de
facto oil minister, may have believed that no other Nigerian could be
trusted with honest management of such a major source of Nigeria’s foreign
exchange earnings. But following the conclusion of the recent National
Political Reform Conference and the controversy for “resource control”
demand by the South-South zone that trailed it, the President perhaps in a
deft move to deliver a sop to the South-South zone has now appointed an
oil technocrat from Bayelsa State as petroleum minister of state while
remaining the de facto oil minister. Nonetheless, it is difficult not to
suspect that any transaction shrouded in secrecy, as is the case in the
oil industry, may not be free from corrupt practices or even above board.
It seems logical that any
effort to tackle corruption in Nigeria must start with sanitizing the oil
industry, because of its all pervading knock-on effects on other sectors
of the national economy.
The effects of corruption
Corruption poses a serious development challenge. In
the political realm, it undermines democracy and good governance by
subverting formal processes. Corruption in elections and in legislative
bodies reduces accountability and fair representation in policymaking;
corruption in the judiciary undermines or suspends the rule of law; and
corruption in public administration results in the unequal provision of
services. More generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of
government as procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and
officials are hired or promoted without regard to performance. At the same time, corruption undermines the
legitimacy of government and such democratic values as trust and
tolerance.
Corruption also undermines economic development by
generating considerable distortions and inefficiency. In the private
sector, corruption increases the cost of business through the price of
illicit payments themselves, the management cost of negotiating with
officials, and the risk of breached agreements or detection. Although some
claim corruption reduces costs by cutting red tape, an emerging consensus
holds that the availability of bribes induces officials to contrive new
rules and delays. Where corruption inflates the cost of business, it also
distorts the playing field, shielding firms with connections from
competition and thereby sustaining inefficient firms.
Corruption also generates economic distortions in the
public sector by diverting public investment into capital projects where
bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful.
Officials may increase the technical complexity of public sector projects
to conceal such dealings, thus further distorting investment.
Corruption also lowers quality of standards of compliance with
construction, environmental, or other regulations; reduces the quality of
government services and infrastructure as is too evident to Nigerians;
and increases budgetary pressures on government. This may be the
reason why in spite of the unprecedented hikes in crude oil prices that
have led to the so-called excess oil revenues, the federal government is
still finding it quite difficult to balance its annual budgets.
Economists argue that one of the factors behind the
differing economic development in Africa and Asia is that in Africa,
corruption has primarily taken the form of rent extraction with the
resulting financial capital moved overseas rather than invested at home
(hence the stereotypical, but sadly often accurate, image of African
dictators having Swiss bank accounts). Also, corruption has been
identified as the main cause of poverty and underdevelopment in most
African countries. By contrast, Asian dictators such as Suharto had often
taken a cut on everything (requiring bribes), but otherwise provided more
of the conditions for development, through infrastructure investment, law
and order, etc.
Political corruption is widespread in many countries,
and represents a major detriment to the well-being of their citizens.
Political corruption means that government policies tend to benefit the
givers of the bribes, not the general public. Another example is how
politicians would draft laws that protect large corporations while hurting
small businesses. These "pro-business" politicians are simply returning
favours to those commercial enterprises that contributed heavily to their
election campaigns.
How to wage a credible war on Corruption.
The establishment of the Independent Corrupt
Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as the Code of Conduct Bureau
and its Tribunal is a laudable start on the war against corruption.
Unfortunately, though some successes have been registered by these bodies,
the general impression is that these bodies have gone after the tail of
the monster of corruption rather than its head. It is not helpful that
some politicians meanwhile allege that these bodies are being used by the
Presidency as instruments of blackmail or vendetta against political
opponents. There is therefore a need to expand the activities and range of
instruments available to these bodies.
Indeed, an effective war on corruption has to be
fought on, at least, the three axes of (a) Prevention, (b) Detection, and
(c) Sanctions and Restitutions. While to date some efforts have been made
in terms of the prevention (e.g. the Due Process mechanism) and sanctions
of corruption offenders, present efforts being made to detect corruption
are at best half-hearted. It is no wonder that when some time ago the
Nigerian media accused a former military head of state of embezzlement of
public funds, Mr. President was to retort that he would take immediate
action if he is provided with actual evidence of wrong-doing of this
particular predecessor. Yet the President himself announced that he has
received the names of some naughty public officials who have been reported
to him by Nigeria’s western creditors as having siphoned and are still
siphoning some huge resources abroad. Clearly Nigeria needs robust corruption detection and
bursting agency as up and doing, and as zealous as the Nigerian Police
Force sometimes demonstrates at road check points, and the SSS always
exhibits in matters of the President’s personal security.
Prevention of
corruption
If corruption is to be given a short shrift in
Nigeria, then the social, business and bureaucratic environments must be
corruption-hostile rather than friendly. This means that there must be
well funded comprehensive public education and enlightenment programs on
the nature of corruption as well as the negative effects of corruption in
the Nigerian polity. This is a job that the National Orientation Agency (NOA)
as well as the Federal and State Ministries of Information must undertake.
This could take the form of well tested public enlightenment techniques
such as the use of hand bills, public posters, print media adverts and
Radio and TV jingles. At the same time, the citizenry must be made aware
of the stiff penalties that await those to be engaged in corrupt
practices. To this end, certain legal instruments must be put in place to
enable unfettered corruption detection, arraignment and conviction to be
facilitated. In this regard, appropriate legislation should be enacted
along the following lines:
A law compelling all banks to report to both the
appropriate Federal and State Boards of Inland Revenue/Tax Authorities,
as well as the law enforcement agencies any deposits, transfers or
withdrawals of funds in excess of a specified amount (e.g. N5 million)
by any individual. Such a law should provide for the automatic State
confiscation if it turns out that the sources of such funds are proved
in a court of law to be illegitimate or are connected with illicit money
laundering.
A law requiring tax in the form of “capital gains
tax” to be levied against people who appear to have come into large sums
of money illegitimately or even legitimately, other than as a result of
a legitimate business transaction (for example, accruals to registered
businessmen who have declared taxable business profits), or otherwise
sums received by a salaried person as part of an emolument package (for
which normal income taxes would have been paid).
A law requiring the Federal and State Ministries
responsible for Lands and Housing to make it a condition for the
granting of Certificates of Occupancy, as well as for approval of
building plans on registered plots of land, to require applicants to
indicate legal sources of funds for the development or purchase of a
landed property, as well as evidence of income taxes being paid that are
commensurate with the acquisition or possession of such valued property
in question.
A law enabling the Federal and State Tax Assessment
and Collection Agencies as well as the Anti-Corruption Intelligence
Agency (discussed below) and the Police to demand explanations for large
acquisitions and expenditures (for any purpose including donations and
pledges at “public launches“and other events) of large sums of money
beyond the legitimate incomes whether of public servants or private
entrepreneurs, and to impound same when sources for such funds cannot be
justified in a court of law.
A law requiring the mandatory public declaration of
the assets of the “immediate family” (meaning husband, wife and
children) of all specified senior public officers on appointment or
assumption of duty as well as after disengagement. In addition such
assets (which must be covered by the Freedom of Information Act) must be
verified and monitored routinely by the Anti-Corruption Intelligence
Agency and the EFCC. (In this regard, it is relevant to observe that
Nigerians can be very creative over asset declaration. Hence an elected
or appointed official who targets stealing 100 million naira during
his/her term in office could, for example, declare 105 million naira
upon assumption of office. Usually, the declaration is taken on its face
value; no further attempt is made to ascertain that the official is
actually worth the declared amount. He/She subsequently would steal 100
million and when he/she is about to leave office, he/she declares 100
million plus whatever little money he/she might have made legitimately.
No one can query the loot because it was declared when the official came
into office. Hence what the government should do is to demand physical
evidence of the declared assets and at the same time establish their
legitimacy).
A law should be enacted, declaring all crimes of
corruption “federal crimes” justiciable in federal courts or tribunals.
Finally, a law should be enacted creating Federal
Tribunals for Corruption offences (FTCO). The powers of such courts,
sitting in Abuja and State capitals, and the form of sentences within
their scope must be carefully spelt out, and the court or courts of final
appeal specified.
It is relevant to mention that virtually every
American is wary of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), because it can
land on anyone’s doorstep, at any time and indeed, the IRS has the power
to examine anyone’s lifestyle and to ask for explanations about one’s
sources of income, and woe betides anyone who is unable to account for any
newfound wealth. That in a nutshell is the sort of social environment that
must be established in Nigeria if a credible start is to be made in the
difficult job of corruption prevention and eradication.
Detection of corruption
It is often said that it is difficult to nail down
corrupt officials, but it has to be observed that such circumstantial
evidence as someone’s luxurious or flamboyant lifestyles, could easily
give away a corrupt person and lead to detection. Unfortunately, Nigerians
are not in the habit of questioning the sources of sudden wealth. Instead
those who flaunt unexplained sudden wealth are extolled. Moreover, it has
to be understood that corruption is a crime of calculation not passion.
When bribes are large, the chances of being caught small, and penalties if
caught meager, many officials will succumb to corruption. The problem in
Nigeria is that when corrupt officials are caught, they are not punished
severely. Most of the time, the authorities go through the motions (e.g.,
fanfare in the media about the apprehension and trial but then nothing
happens). Severe sanctions that are actually required to act as a
deterrent are not applied. Nevertheless, corruption like crimes
relating to sedition and national security are often hatched in secrecy
and without an effective intelligence facility, it would be difficult if
not impossible for government to expose and scuttle corruption.
Becausecorruption is a very serious crime, its detection must
follow a similar route as the detection of other crimes which are often
aided in the advanced countries by “wire tapping” and the use of secret
informants. Hence Nigeria should give the country’s law enforcement
agencies the leeway to use electronic intelligence gathering techniques to
catch offenders of corrupt practices. In lookingfor evidence of
corrupt deeds of accused persons, government should set up a corruption
intelligence agency similar to the “E Branch” and the Criminal
Investigation Division (CID) of the Nigeria Police Force. In other
words, there is a need for government to establish a well funded
Anti-Corruption Intelligence Agency (ACIA) which can be a stand-alone
agency that could have a relationship with the present Independent Corrupt
Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) as well as the EFCC,
but which preferably should report to the Federal Minister of Justice
(which ideally should be different from the Attorney-General of the
Federation). The legislation establishing the ACIA should provide for
powers of arrest and detention (for a limited short period) of accused or
indicted persons as well as the power to use electronic intelligence
techniques to apprehend their quarry. Efforts should also be made by the
Presidency and the National Assembly to ensure that funding of the ACIA is
made part and parcel of the national security vote. But if different, the
ACIA funding must be comparable in size and handling to the security vote,
since corruption in the end impinges very significantly on overall
national security.
Sanctions and restitution from those found guilty of
corruption.
Before discussing methods and forms of trial and
sanctions of those indicted of corruption, it is necessary to observe at
the outset that it is immoral to allow those indicted of corruption
offences to be allowed to still enjoy their alleged loot while their trial
is in progress. In this regard, there should be established, interest
yielding escrow accounts maintained by the ACIA where any seized funds
suspected to be associated with corrupt activities will be lodged. If at
the end of trial, the accused persons are found innocent, all seized
assets must be returned in full and any seized funds returned with
commensurate interests, except that such persons will not be entitled to
subsequently sue the ACIA claiming damages for any wrongful arrest or
detention.
However application of sanctions on corruption
offenders must always be a matter for the courts of the land. However in
handling corruption cases, the current arcane court processes and rules
that lead to delayed justice because of legal technicalities and endless
injunctions and adjournments of court proceedings based on contrived court
motions and legal arguments by counsels on both sides must be dispensed
with in corruption cases. To this end, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)
should come up with home grown fast track procedures, including rules of
evidence, for handling cases in Corruption Tribunals. Indeed election
tribunals could also benefit from such fast track procedures to deal with
election results petitions arising from election malpractices, which
represent a veritable form of political corruption.
Where persons or group of individuals or corporate
bodies have been convicted of corrupt practices, any funds or assets
seized by law enforcement agencies must automatically be forfeited to the
relevant arm of government which has been a victim of such corruption. In
addition, persons convicted of corrupt practices must be disqualified from
holding any public office for a specified period, such as ten years. In
the case of convicted corporate bodies, sentencing will include heavy
fines as well as the suspension of any legal instruments that facilitate
their existence and enable them to operate in Nigeria. In addition, the
executive directors of corporate firms convicted of corrupt practices will
be debarred from serving on the boards of any publicly quoted companies or
holding any elective political office, for a specified period, such as ten
years.
Epilogue
"Power
does not corrupt men. Fools, however, if they get into a position of
power, corrupt power."
–George Bernard Shaw
It is often claimed that corruption like prostitution
cannot be wiped out entirely in any society. This may well be so. But it
seems evident from the examples of some virtually corruption free
countries, like the Scandinavian countries, that any country, that can
muster the will, can indeed reduce corruption to the barest minimum. This
is the gauntlet that Nigeria must embrace. For a start, the war on
corruption will be bedevilled by quite a few people of questionable
integrity that have already worked their way into positions of political
(executive and legislative), judicial, corporate and bureaucratic
authority and influence. Hence Nigeria must draw a line somewhere and
grant amnesty to past offenders of corruption up to an arbitrarily set
cut-off date to be determined. But the key to preventing and controlling
further corruption crimes is to implement such measures geared towards
prevention, detection, sanctions and restitutions as suggested in this
article. These measures, particularly the sanctions, may appear draconian
and stringent. This may not sit well with some Nigerians who may feel they
will loose out. Indeed from the experience at the recently concluded
National political Reform Conference(NPRC), some Nigerians did not seem to
have the stomach for the imposition of stiff sanctions on those that
destroyed the Nigerian economy and rendered at least a hundred million
Nigerians destitute, and in like manner left hundreds of thousands
(including children) dying annually because of malnutrition and lack of
adequate medical care (a crime that compares well with genocide) arising
from official corruption and poor governance. The debate at the NPRC,
about disqualifying former military rulers (who came to power by force)
from occupying any elective offices, soon took a sectional coloration and
vehemently resisted by some retired military officers. In the controversy,
disqualification (which in the present constitution even applies to
illiterates and criminals) was simply equated to a blanket ban.
When all is said and done, Nigerians must not forget
where the country would have been today had they not been subjected to the
misfortune of being ruled by selfish and self serving leaders. But it is
not enough to start a credible war on corruption. The Nigerian elites and
the political class in particular, must get their acts together and desist
from the malaise of indifference that has overtaken them since the
military entered into national governance and politics. They owe it to
their compatriots to politically re-engineer their country by restoring in
Nigeria the true structures of federalism dismantled by their erstwhile
military rulers. Even so, it is one thing to politically re-engineer the
country and another thing to make it work. After all, one cannot hope to
achieve a victory in a grand prix by putting a bad driver in the
driving seat of the best engineered racing car. Hence the rules of the
political game in Nigeria must be reviewed to open up the political space
and to make it attractive for Nigeria’s best minds, as well as men and
women of ability, commitment and integrity to volunteer to serve the
people by joining the partisan political arena without the handicap of not
having the financial clout that present day politicking demands.
Nigeria has
indeed been endowed (thank God!) with all the human and natural resources
it takes and requires, to become a great African and world power. But she
cannot achieve that potential by her relying on mediocrity and people of
questionable integrity to run her affairs.
Italian prosecutors investigating
state-backed firm ENI SpA over the purchase of a Nigerian oil field
three years ago allege that at least half of the $1.1 billion paid was
used to bribe local politicians, intermediaries and others, according to
official documents and a person close to the investigation.
The Milan prosecutors have placed the
Italian oil company, its former chief executive Paolo Scaroni and CEO
Claudio Descalzi under investigation for alleged international
corruption surrounding the deal for the OPL 245 offshore oil field
concession.
ENI and both managers, neither of who has been charged, have denied any wrongdoing.
Calling on their United Kingdom (UK)
counterpart to assist in freezing suspect assets, Italian prosecutors
said in a letter to the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) seen by
Reuters that at least $533 million was paid to Nigerian officials and
intermediaries who helped secure the sale.
The case has been a setback for the
government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, because Italy’s 39-year-old
leader hand-picked company veteran Descalzi to run Eni as part of a
recent management overhaul at the country’s state-controlled companies.
Renzi has publicly supported Descalzi and said no conclusions should be
drawn before the investigation is completed.
ENI and Royal Dutch Shell, which is not
under investigation, bought the rights to the OPL 245 offshore oil
licence block from the Nigerian government in 2011.
Production from the deepwater oil field
is expected to begin in 2016 with the field estimated to hold up to 9.23
billion barrels of crude, equivalent to nearly a quarter of the
country’s total proven reserves, according to industry figures.
An aide to Renzi told Reuters the case
involving Eni, which is Italy’s biggest company by market capitalisation
and the state’s biggest asset, was “not a big cause for concern at the
moment”.
As part of their investigation, the
Italian prosecutors in May asked the UK’s CPS to freeze $85 million in
assets related to a Nigerian company, Malabu Oil & Gas, that
prosecutors say was involved in the sale, according to a copy of the
official request sent by the Milan investigators and seen by Reuters.
In the letter, the Italian prosecutors
alleged that Scaroni and Descalzi oversaw the payments to parties who
helped secure the sale. In a second letter they alleged that some of the
ultimate recipients of alleged bribes used the money to buy aircraft
and armoured cars.
“We are investigating many money
transfers to many people in various countries who received sums that
vary from millions of dollars to thousands of dollars,” the prosecutors
said in the follow-up letter, seen by Reuters.
In response to the requests London’s
Southwark Crown Court last month granted an order to seize the $85
million in assets related to Malabu, according to a judicial source.
London’s Metropolitan Police has also
been investigating aspects of the Nigerian deal since last year. A
police spokesman said the inquiry into allegations of money laundering
is continuing.
Descalzi and Scaroni, in statements and
through their lawyers, denied that they were involved in any illegal
behaviour. Descalzi also told Eni employees in an email seen by Reuters
that he had not engaged in any wrongdoing.
After a board meeting last week, ENI
also reiterated that the company had not engaged in any wrongdoing and
that it had “full confidence that Descalzi had acted properly.”
The OPL 245 block licence has long been
the subject of dispute. It was first awarded a decade ago by military
dictator Sani Abacha to Malabu Oil & Gas for a publicly-stated $20
million.
After the death of Abacha, a new Nigerian government annulled the deal. Malabu’s licence was reinstated in 2006.
Reuters was not able to locate Malabu for comment, and it is unclear whether the company still exists.
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), did not reply to questions sent by Reuters asking
about the investigation by Italian prosecutors.
Shell, which is not under investigation
in any case, released a statement saying: “Shell companies have acted at
all times in accordance with both Nigerian law and the terms of the OPL
245 resolution agreement with.”
MANY Nigerians were tranquillized when the global anti-corruption
watchdog announced that our country is one of the 35th most corrupt
countries in the world. To some people, the situation in the country is
worse than what was reflected in the latest corruption perception table.
Most people believe that in Nigeria, all kinds of evil act corrupt act
is obtainable in the country life wire.
Corruption is the major hindrance, a big obstacle to the
development across all sectors in Nigeria, this is because virtually all
sectors in the country are all corrupt. It has eaten deep into the life
wire of the country and that is why it seems as nothing is been done
about it.
Nigerian government, police, civil service and businesses
are plagued by bribery, extortion and other forms of corruption. While
many points to a failure of leadership; corruption is largely a product
of an economy fueled almost exclusively by petroleum with no vested
interest in developing Nigeria’s infrastructure and manufacturing
sectors. The wealthy simply profit from oil while the country wallows
deeper into economic chaos.
Nigeria’s roads are dominated by check points where law
enforcement agents often demand that their palms be greased before
travelling.
They’ve turned check points into bribe collecting points and
that is more reason terrorists, kidnappers and other hoodlums are not
caught in most of their activities. What do you expect when a security
man whose attention supposed to be on the individuals that look
suspicious is focused on the drivers hand hoping to get N20.
Nigeria as a nation is falling deeper into corruption day by
day, can you tell me any sector in this country that is free from
bribery and corruption? I doubt because even in football, players most
times bribed coaches for them to play for the next game.
Moving aside entirely to the education sector where most
times students who are not qualified at the time of the examination are
the ones that are referred to as undergraduates. There have been
complaints that the Nigerian education sector is poor; why won’t it be,
when money is being collected to admit students into higher institution.
Have you asked yourself why students mostly score higher in Jamb and
when it comes to PUME, reverse is the case; that will show the level of
corruption, bribery and exam malpractice in education system. Very soon
in Nigeria the poor who cannot afford to pay up to #150,000, cannot be
admitted into the university.
The main issue about corruption in Nigeria does not lie with
our government or civil service alone, citizens are also involved in
this act.
An electorate sells his/her vote for just a thousand naira
that not is even enough for air time subscription as a result of
poverty.
The focal point about corruption in Nigeria to a large
extent lies right in Aso rock with those that wine and dine with the
people in the floor of power both at the national and the state to local
level. Embezzling public fund is no more news in the country, it has
become a normal daily activities. In this country, abnormality has
become normality and that is more reason why all efforts to curtail
corruption in the country has become negative.
The country has become so corrupt that the public servants
have totally lost trust in the government. The public servants hardly
believe anything that the government says which are yet to be
implemented. This is because the leadership in the country so far has
been treading and is still treading on the ground of promise and fail.
ASUU embarked on strike for a period of 6months last year,
even when the government promised to meet up with their demands. There
seemed to be no credibility in what government dishes out to the public
anymore.
Nowadays we hear such comments likes “ I pray o” whenever
it’s heard that the government has embarked on one project or another,
the citizens have doubts about that.
It would be difficult to identify any Nigerian leader who
can be said to be successful in fulfilling his promises to the country.
No doubt, the country is in this current depressing and distasteful
state because her leaders at various levels of government over the
years have perfected the art of saying something and to an extent doing
another almost at the same time. Even when any effort or whatsoever are
made, it is, almost always contrary to the promise made.
Human right watch estimated that the epidemic nature of
corruption led to the loss of $380bn worth of revenue between 1999 and
2007in Nigeria. Then about 47 percent of companies that do business in
Nigeria till date are Said to be experts to make facilitation payments
to public officials in order to get them to do their work. To the
observers, the parliament and the political parties are the most corrupt
institutions; in line with this, I believe that corruption within the
bureaucracy is equally as virulent, commenting on this issue in his
article “are we really winning the war Against corruption” Uche Igwe
said. That , “a major chunk of public sector corruption happens within
the Nigerian civil service.
The civil service is meant to be the bureaucracy that
services the policy implementation process, but today it has been turned
into an arena of looting. Corruption in the civil service is the rule
rather than the exception, Uch Igwee added. There is this popular saying
“wait for your turn” that is to say that one has to patiently wait till
he/she gets to higher position and only then and only then can he join
the club of bribe collectors and money embezzlers. But this is what
happens in a state where abnormality has become normality.
Most persons enter offices with goodwill but after some
time, they begin to understand that one cannot bite more than he can
chew. Even at the house of assembly and others at the local level,
anyone who fights against corruption in his office stands a risk of
being impeached. In most cases, they set the person up. Nigerian offices
are dens of lions where three things are involved; it’s either you join
the club, resign or face allegation that could lead to your
impeachment, that is the situation of things in Nigerian politics and
other sectors in the country.
The country has presented a bad image of herself in the eyes
of other countries. Nigerians in other countries of the world are often
suspected because of the evil deeds that those in power are not willing
and ready to stop.
So far, the main avenue for war against corruption in
Nigeria is through .the establishment of anti-corruption agencies. There
are multiple versions of these agencies, each pursuing after complex,
competing, divergent, and often overlapping mandate in Nigeria. All well
and good but what has been their impact? Some of those agencies have
turned out to be the biggest channels for corruption themselves. Some of
these agencies when they apprehend someone, instead of charging the
person to court, their pocket would be charged with money and that’s the
end of such cases.
The anti-corruption agencies have failed. Money controls
their minds, even those who wish to fight corruption, their ‘oga at the
top’ would suppress their efforts.
Lest we forget, in time past, agricultural and economic
indices have largely dictated a country’s growth and increases in
complexity and development.
Today, these variables are not all together rendered
negligible, but they can hardly match the autocratic nature of influence
handled by the political factors within the political sector that weave
the fabric of country’s internal development and external relationships
with foreign nations. That is why Nigerians have lost all available
faith in the possibility of a legitimately elected representative of the
people as it concerns the elective process for change of government.
The unending corruption which has eaten deep into the
fabrics of our system has helped no one either as both the government
and the governed seemed to have been carried away by the turbulent sea
of western dependency.
Nigeria is wallowing in corruption, even the coming
generation now subconsciously prepare fertile ground for the seed of
corruptive influences like grafting, misappropriation and illicit
propensity of for wealth.
It is in Nigeria we have, though in small number, members of
the so called ‘CABAL’ who seems to be in absolute control of the
electoral process, which according to concerned Nigerian citizens has
ironically become ‘selection’ as opposed to an election process. It is
regrettable to realize that the dreams and counsel of our founding
elders has been forsaken for many years to embrace corruption and the
profit of greed. Our national anthem reads “arise o compatriots”, how
many of our leaders are patriots, you as an individual, how patriotic
are you?Feigning ignorance to this prevalent attitude of our rulers and
the “chop as I chop” concept a present part and reality of the Nigerian
government administration. Should Nigerians resign to a fate of failure
and hopelessness without repair? Answer to this question is cryptic for
it would only lead to more questions.
However, there is a plausible possibility for a purge of
all impurities from our present polity even though a change has never
been a welcome verb for discussion where poorer and politics are
concerned. But since, “nature is change is nature, then nature is the
part of existence we can affect or effect”. The limited success in the
war against corruption has bred deep cynicism among the Nigerian people
capable of subverting trust in a democratic system of government.
Conclusively, in a bid to curtail corruption in Nigeria, an
effective anti-corruption agency must command public respect, be
credible, transparent accountable, and fearless. It must mobilize the
necessary political will as well as enjoy considerable operational
independence. Since the war against corruption formally resumed in
Nigeria for years, the verdict is that it has been less than effective.
Our leaders should restore purity and sanity into the system and reduce
the rate at which they perpetrate evil in the country and other sector
officials should as well refine and redefine their minds of corruption
and bribery.
The order banning the setting up of Police roadblocks nationwide is still strictly in force, the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, has said.
In a statement Sunday, Force Spokesperson, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said the police boss has sent a directive to all commands and formations of the Force nationwide asking them to immediately dismantle “all semblances of Police roadblocks and permanent checkpoints reportedly re-emerging in some parts of the country, especially in the South-East, South-South and South-West geo-political zones of Nigeria”. Police road blockPolice road block
Mr. Ojukwu further quoted Mr. Abba as describing the reemergence of roadblocks as a serious violation of subsisting order on the matter and threatened severe sanctions on any police commands, formations and personnel who violate the order.
While charging the state Commissioners of Police and Heads of Formations to ensure total compliance with the order, the IGP further ordered extensive visibility patrol and effective surveillance on Nigerian roads.
Meanwhile, as Nigeria joins the rest of the world in marking World Peace Day on September 21, 2014, the Nigeria Police Force has restated its resolve to work assiduously for the enthronement of genuine peace in the nation.
“As peace officers and frontliners in the drive for a peaceful world, the Nigeria Police understands the dislocation and trauma that happen to families, homes, cities and businesses in the event of disturbances,” the Force said in a statement.
The statement added, “In line with the above, the Nigeria Police will train more officers on conflict resolution, mediation and negotiation. Our Family Units and Juvenile Welfare Centres will be reinvigorated to cater for the needs of hurting family members, widows, orphans, displaced persons and the vulnerable. The Police will pay more diligent attention to early warning signs and improve response time to crises and distress calls.
“The Inspector-General of Police, Ag. IGP Suleiman Abba urges all citizens to embrace peace at all times, and to assist law enforcement agents in the preservation and maintenance of peace nationwide.”
The
order banning the setting up of Police roadblocks nationwide is still
strictly in force, the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman
Abba, has said.
In a statement Sunday, Force Spokesperson, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said the
police boss has sent a directive to all commands and formations of the
Force nationwide asking them to immediately dismantle “all semblances of
Police roadblocks and permanent checkpoints reportedly re-emerging in
some parts of the country, especially in the South-East, South-South and
South-West geo-political zones of Nigeria”. Police road block
Mr. Ojukwu further quoted Mr. Abba as describing the reemergence of
roadblocks as a serious violation of subsisting order on the matter and
threatened severe sanctions on any police commands, formations and
personnel who violate the order.
While charging the state Commissioners of Police and Heads of
Formations to ensure total compliance with the order, the IGP further
ordered extensive visibility patrol and effective surveillance on
Nigerian roads.
Meanwhile, as Nigeria joins the rest of the world in marking World
Peace Day on September 21, 2014, the Nigeria Police Force has restated
its resolve to work assiduously for the enthronement of genuine peace in
the nation.
“As peace officers and frontliners in the drive for a peaceful world,
the Nigeria Police understands the dislocation and trauma that happen
to families, homes, cities and businesses in the event of disturbances,”
the Force said in a statement.
The statement added, “In line with the above, the Nigeria Police will
train more officers on conflict resolution, mediation and negotiation.
Our Family Units and Juvenile Welfare Centres will be reinvigorated to
cater for the needs of hurting family members, widows, orphans,
displaced persons and the vulnerable. The Police will pay more diligent
attention to early warning signs and improve response time to crises and
distress calls.
“The Inspector-General of Police, Ag. IGP Suleiman Abba urges all
citizens to embrace peace at all times, and to assist law enforcement
agents in the preservation and maintenance of peace nationwide.”
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Prophet Temitope B. Joshua, head of the Synagogue Church Of All
Nations (SCOAN), Ikotun, Lagos, has been accused of offering bribe to
reporters covering the collapse of his Church’s guest house.
The incident, which occurred September 19, left over 85 persons, mostly South Africans, dead.
A
Nigerian journalist, Nicholas Ibekwe, who made the allegation on
Saturday via social network, Twitter, also provided an audio proof to
back up his claim.
In a series of tweets, he lambasted field staff of media houses, who
collect money while on the job, saying such was against ethics of the
profession.
“Nigerian journalists habitually collects money at
press conferences and events. They call it ‘brown envelop’. I call it
bribe!”, he tweeted.
“And for those asking for prove. I’ve audio proof of TB Joshua telling reporters he’s N50,000 each from them”.
The church management is yet to respond to the allegation.
