THE CASE AGAINST CORRUPTION :                                     
 
                                                                                                                 By
 
                                                                                             Ikenna   E.  Anokute :
                                                                                            New York , New York .
                                                                                           ianokute@yahoo.com 
 

November 21, 2007

There's a patience in the Nigerian nature that is hard for a foreigner to understand . It is a patience that beats good conscience and imagination . To undersatnd it will make you wonder why protesters are not spilled into the streets of Nigerian cities . Reports of allegations of corruption involving elected and ex- public officials  , and what appears to be an emerging national atttutude to such reports should be a cause of concern to all Nigerians who yearn for a society ordered by the enduring ethos of decency and morality . The litany of very serious allegations of looting against former Governor James Ibori , which is playing out in London Courts this week is mind-bugling . The governor took care of himself and everybody around him , but he shamelessly forgot the citizens of Delta State . With a flamboyant life style that include paradise Homes around the Globe , a self customized Airplane , and series of mistresses . It is a story that defy correctness . It is also a story that embarrasses a nation that pride itself , as the Black man's last hope .
 
Democratic culture is yet to be understood in Nigeria . It must  , because there's no alternative . The nation has no choice than to hold on to  democracy , no matter how fledgling . But the continued threat of corruption is frieghtening . Corruption has created an economic ineptitude that has kept two-third of the population under poverty . Every government since independence has promised reforms . Yet majority of our people lack acess to clean water , consistent electricity , satisfactory education or gainful employment . Most are unhealthy , infested with disease , and no access to medical observation or treatment . It's tempting to ask where's the Health budget ? According to United Nations Report , a generation are dying off on treatable and preventable diseases . It is shock and shame of a Nation .
 
Nigeria's corruption has detered foriegn lending and investments . Except in the oil sector , Nigeria's economic advantages are not sufficiently countervailing . Our national reputation for corruption encourages further abuse since no one's reputation suffers through acting dishonestly . Most of our ex-public officials are regreatably shameless looters . All successive governments , at least , since 1970 , both military and civilian , have promised to raise ethical standards and to stamp out corruption , but any success has so far been short-lived untill the EFCC and other anti-crime agencies created , just in the last ten years . Corruption seems to be endemic , since the fourth Republic . Former President Olusegun Obasanjo memorable quotes come to mind . " No business as Usual " and " No scred cow " - yet by the time he heft office in early 2007 , his adminstration was fighting eveything but , corruption .
 
 
An attempt to curb corruption was made in the 1979 constitution by laying down a code of conduct for public officials that required , inter-alia , periodic statements of the assests held by each office-holder and his/her immediate family . Re-appearing in the 1989 constitution , the provisions of this code were then made effective by enabling llegislation . Through my extensive searches , I could not found no record , however , of any public official ever having been referred to Code of Conduct Bureau , as its presently constituted . The code makes yet another appearance in the current 1999 constitution , and anti-corruption bill was submited and passed by the Obasanjo's administration , but you wont know that when you look at outright corruption that occured in Abuja , during his days . Prosecution and conviction in open court was almost unheard of .
 
I asked a visiting Nigerian government official , working at the Presidency , why his boss seem so helpless in prosecuting known individual crooks . He admited the slow pace , but argued the impracticability of probing the affairs of " millioins of Nigerians " . " The adminstration could not afford the time to look backwards " he told me , in respect of the ex-governors under trail . One reason for the failure to bring offenders to trials is , of course . apprehension concerning who else might be implicated in any testimony given . But corruption is an enemy of democracy . For Democracy lives on trust , and corruption destroys trust . There is no doubt , however , that the success of Nigeria's fldgling democracy will depend not on gaining the trust of its people , but also the confidence of the international community . Without meaningful and enduring strategy to curb corruption , democracy may falter . Our national indulgence on corruption has accelerated crime , hurts investments , stalls growth , bleeds the national budget and worst of all - undermines people's faith in Freedom .
 
Corruption will likely appear on everybody's list of factors obstructing Nigeria's path towards sustainable development , yet rather than decrease , corruption is becming a way of life , proliferated to all segments of Nigerian Society , making it the " Common Cold " of Nigeria's social ills . Typical responses to corruption have resulted in the overthrow of whole regime or removal of individual officials implicated in the incidences . In order for possible causes and proposed solutions have to be explored from the various facets that make up this complex phenomenon . Corruption is one of the most dangerous social ills of any Country . This is because corruption , like. a deadly virus , attacks the vital structures that make a society's progressive functioning , thus putting its very existence into serious peril . This is particularly true for Nigeria , in that limited but valuable funds and resources that are initially earmarked for industries , hospitals , schools , and other infrastructures are either out-rightly embezzled , misappropriated or otherwise severly depleted through kickbacks and over-invoicing by agents of government .
 
Perhaps , even more damaging than the foregoing is the fact that corrupt leaders tend to cling to power in the knowlwdge that their activities cannot withstand the scrutiny of an open government . This desperate desire for self preservation ultimately results in very ruthless repression of individuals and groups that advocates for true democracy and accountability . At the individual level , allocation of jobs and the assignment of responsibilities , are not based on merit or potential , but rather on who has the resources and willingness to grease the palms of those in charge . Our society looses in several ways . First , productivity is not at optional levels , because the most effecient people are not the ones doing the job . Secondly , being so flagrantly bypassed leads to frustration and creates a potential for the development of feelings of hopelessness , dejection and low morale . When a sizeable portion of Nigerian citizenry percieves that it is capable of producing positive and desirable outcomes through honest efforts , the result is either passivity or excessive cynicism , in either case , our society is headed toward self-destruction . To speak of Nigerian Corruption is to marvel at self aggrandizement , greed and selfishness . One is at a loss as to where to begin . From numerous fake projects , kickbacks , to the bribes recieved by the police officers on the beat , or the clerk in a government office , examples abound .
 
I still remember the CBS news programm " 60 Minutes " on December 11 1994 . It ran a series about corruption in Nigeria in which the Ace reporter , Mike Wallace suggested that there was " more corruption in Nigeria than anywhere else "  he had gone , in his professional life . He cited cases after cases , ranging from the hidden camera , of customs officials recieving bribes to successfully , using $200 bribe , to obtain a valid Nigerian passport . Keep in mind , Mike Wallace is white , and foreign .  I aso remember that this episode generated some heated exchanges both in Nigeria and abroad . I wrote a piece about it in the AfricanNews-Weekly . Some argued that Nigeria was being singled out  for scrutiny , citing several cases of corrupt practices by law enforcement personnel and people in government here in the United States .
 
The biggest single problem Nigeria faces today is the corruption of past and present , which is hanging over its future . Solving this problem you have to bring criminal justice and recovery of money and assests into play . This is absolutely essential . And that means getting at the proceeds of corruption , going after the billions starched away overseas and yet billions more that prior regimes booted from the country . It will draw your anger when you realize that most these people and their families who took those public funds are sitting in London today as some of the wealthiest people in England . Those assests cannot be overlooked . $4 billion with the Abachas , up to $12billion with the Babangidas , perhaps $600 billion , at least since independence , with some estimates running as high as $1trillion .
 
Nigerians everywhere should initiate a civil action to demonstrate to the Presidency and the National Assembly members that a culture of intergrity is critical to our survival as a nation . The dangers in failing to act are obvious . Apart from a further decline of the national economy , corruption has provided the rationale for outsiders to laugh at us . Certainly , Nigerians have permanently disavowed military rule in all its pretences . But Nigeria is fast dying of corruption . We do not need Transperancy International to makes us realize it . We feel it daily . We hear it daily . And we know that since the political class has become a constant in the nation's corruption equation , we , the Nierian diaspora , must take up the challenge ..
 
Mr  Ikenna Anokute is the Executive Editor of AfricanMail .