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President Buhari |
By Rufus Kayode Oteniya
Nigeria is
currently at war with not only the the notorious Islamic insurgency, it is also
in a battlefront with corruption. While the war against the terrorist group,
Boko Haram is mostly confined to the North Eastern part of the country, the
anti-corruption war is neither as straightforward nor against any clearly known
enemies.
Corruption is
known to be widespread among the the political class and government officials
and this has resulted to most of the government revenues being siphoned into
private purses leaving the country with very little to show for the windfall in
recent years from high prices of oil, its economic mainstay.
Until the
return to power, in May 2015, of Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general and
onetime military dictator, no government has attempted to ferociously fight
corruption in the last three decades.
Corruption was
particularly endemic under the immediate past administration of Goodluck
Jonathan as evident in some of the the revelations in the ongoing trial of
Sambo Dasuki, a retired Nigerian Army Colonel and immediate past National
Security Adviser (NSA) who is currently facing charges for money laundering of
about N32b and corruptly diverting $2.1b meant for the purchase of military
equipments.
As acknowledged
by President Buhari during his electioneering campaign that ‘if Nigeria does
not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria,’ it is not an option but
imperative that his government fights corruption at this critical economic
period when oil revenues have almost dried up due to acute decline in prices of
crude oil in the international market.
Fighting An Effective Anti-Corruption War
Without any
shadow of doubt, President Buhari’s actions and body language have articulated
a leader who is ready to take the bull by the horns and tackle the monster
called corruption headlong but how well he does will eventually depend on how
tactical he goes about the fight.
As stated
above, fighting corruption in a country like Nigeria (where it so widespread
and has high tolerance) cannot be a straightforward war, it has to be a war
involving many battles, some of which must be fought simultaneously if the
government wants to succeed in crushing it to the barest minimum and have a
result oriented outcome which will leave behind a legacy that will transcend
the administration.
There are a few
suggestions here that could go a long in ensuring an effective anti-corruption
war.
Steps To Take And Battles To Fight
1. Social Re-orientation
2. Disincentivise Corruption
3. Probe and recovery
4. Strengthening of institutions
5. Transparency and accountability
Social Re-orientation
Most young
adults and younger people in Nigeria have never known, lived in or seen a
different Nigeria other than a country where bribery, nepotism, embezzlement
and other corrupt practises are ways of life, so the government needs to embark
on mass enlightenment campaigns for a complete social re-orientation and
re-engineering.
Disincentivise Corruption
Up till now,
nobody is in doubt that corruption pays in Nigeria and its financial reward is
conspicuous for all to see. People live well above their legitimate means and
flaunt their ill-gotten wealth without any restraint to the envy of others and
with almost assured impunity. The government has to be firmly resolute in
ensuring people live within their legal means and let those with unexplained
wealth know that there is no hiding place for them anymore.
Probe And Recovery
If there is an
area of anti-corruption activities where the government is presenting a strong
front, it is probe. There are many ongoing high profile corruption trials (that
would have been most improbable under any other government) like the ones
involving Mr. Bukola Saraki, the current Senate president and Mr. Sambo Dasuki,
the immediate past national security adviser. The two men hitherto belonged to
the untouchable class that believed they could loot the treasury with utmost
impunity. This government is firm in demonstrating that it's not business as
usual for high profile looters.
Considering how
widespread corruption is and the limited prosecuting resources in term of
judicial space and competent prosecuting personnel, the government needs to
focus more on the recovery side of the looted government assets, which it
desperately needs for its budgetary obligations, rather than populating the
already overpopulated prisons. This can be achieved by accepting plea bargains
for the old offences and offenders while being very tough to deter new ones in
which case it might not be unfathomable agreeing to free from prosecution any
offender who agrees to return, within reasonable time, at least 80% of the
value of their loots in cash or other tangible assets. Such people could also
be banned-for-life from politics and from holding public offices.
The system
condones corruption and more so the judiciary. The offenders do not only know
how to play the judicial system but they also have vast resources to do so.
They often burden, and sometime exhaust the judicial process by praying the
court for spurious injunctions,
challenging the jurisdiction of the court or the competence of the judge or by
filing counter charges against the original charges while their spin doctors
garner public sympathy on the claims of politically motivated charges. All
these are tellingly overwhelming the system.
Transparency and accountability
Transparency
and accountability in governance are great tools necessary to validate the
integrity of a government, more so, a government that is out to fight
corruption. The Buhari led government must lead the way by being transparent
and accountable to the public as well as the legislators, with the oversight
function over the executive. The government must also commit to obeying court
orders because disobeying and partial or selective obedience of court rulings
are some forms of corruption.
(Oteniya is a public affairs commentator .He can be connected on Facebook
at https://www.facebook.com/oteniyark/,
via e-mail at: oteniyark@hotmail.com)
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