Corruption as bane of Nigeria's prosperity

By Bayo Ogunmupe Corruption, weak institutions and poor governance remain the bane of Nigeria's prosperity and economic development. Nigeria isn't where she should be because of our over-depencence on crude oil. Our debt service to revenue ratio today is about 83 percent which is very bad. Whereas by comparison, the debt service to revenue ratio in the United Kingdom is 1.9 percent. Our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capital is only 19 percent. Our unemployment level is too high for good internal security. About 87 million Nigerians or 41 percent of the population are in absolute poverty. The basis of our problem revolves around lack of visionary leadership. For instance, after taking the oath of Office as the President of the United States, former U.S. President John F. Kennedy promised to land a man on the moon and bring him back alive before the end of the decade. And happily he fulfilled his promise when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and returned to the Earth alive in July 1969. Having mineral resources alone does not make you rich as a nation. Germany and Japan don't have mineral resources but they are great and prosperous nations. Japan is one of the greatest oil refining nations. We need more value based leaders and strong institutions. The planks by which President Mohammed Buhari conducted his successful campaign in 2015 were the war on corruption, destruction of Boko Haram and restructuring. But six years into his eight year tenure, the public perception of his anti corruption drive remains poor. We're seeing insincerity in all fronts. Investigations have seldom led to convictions. Even the imprisonment of two former governors, and a few senior political office holders are not enough to convince the public of any vibrant prosecution of corrupt office holders. The slow pace of court cases, the fuelling of judicial workers to go on strike, and financial settlements made by wealthy individuals outside courtrooms are impediments to true justice. Moreover, it is doubtful if the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Itse Sagay Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption have the capacity and resources to tackle the large number of fraud cases in the country. When President Buhari said in his inaugural speech: "I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody," we believed his incorruptible posture. Now Nigerians doubt the sincerity of the government in power. Indeed, remarkable progress was noticed with the adoption of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the imprisonment of some corrupt government officials.For the first time in Nigerian history, judges,justices and top military officers, including retired service chiefs were indicted for corrupt enrichment. From 2015 to the year 2020, the EFCC obtained 603 corruption convictions, doubling the convictions it got during the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan. The EFCC also recovered N500 billion stolen funds. Also, a senior advocate of Nigeria was jailed for attempting to pervert the course of justice through bribing judges. Considering the level of the rot in our justice system before Buhari became president, those were laudable achievements. In the last six years, Buhari should also be praised for implementing the TSA, the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) and the Whistle Blowing policy, all of which have helped the nation keep her money safe from fraudsters. It is however sad to note the politicisation of the anti corruption war by the refusal to investigate indicted high profile personalities in the Villa's kitchen cabinet, the Federal Executive Council and the parastatals. This extant behaviour casts doubts on the president's commitment to eradicate corruption in the country. Corruption is the cankerworm eating into the fabric of the nation, ravaging our economy and stultifying our industrialization efforts. Worse still, data from the National Bureau of Statistics on public encounters with corruption involving 33,000 households across the country conducted between 2016 and 2019 confirms that corruption remains the greatest problem of Nigeria. According to the bureau, bribery takes two forms. At first, public officials ask, directly or indirectly for bribes. The second form involves members of the public bribing officials to process their wishes, services or requests. Of the acts of bribery reported by the study, 67 percent were initiated by government officials. And 93 percent of the officials requested for cash payments. Less than six percent were for non-cash payments. To fight corruption effectively, government is advised to use technology more as against direct contact. As for strong institutions, a bad people cannot produce good leaders. Nigerians cannot give what they don't have, where there are no men of integrity, there cannot be strong institutions. Steeped in ignorance, polygamy, myths, superstitions, and foreign religions whose holy books we cannot comprehend, Nigerians cannot but be corrupt. A former Nigerian president with a PhD once said stealing isn't corruption. We need Nigerian Bureau of Investigation as the third anti corruption organization. Its operations should include budget padding, Its officials should infiltrate banks, courts and the private sector. A standard law on whistle blowing should be enacted. The unemployed should be engaged as part-time whistle blowers. Every Abuja house owner should be investigated for corruption. Reply