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Nigeria and TI rating
The recent
categorisation of Nigeria as the third most corrupt country in the world by the
Berlin-based
anti-corruption body, Transparency International (TI), should have compelled
the Federal Government of Nigeria to look inwards and soberly re-assess its
anti-corruption programme to find out why the campaign has neither secured
credibility even among Nigerians nor yielded any positive dividends worth
commending. Indeed, the attempt to rubbish the TI report by the Obasanjo
Administration has once again betrayed its respect for false ratings and
dubious approvals that unfortunately, has created lucrative venture for a
growing army of sycophants. In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria shared this dismal record
with Chad, Ivory Coast, DRC and Angola.
Reacting to the TI
rating, Finance Minister Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the report did not
take into account the current efforts by the present Administration to combat
corruption in the country and the far-reaching reforms it has introduced.
According to the Minister: “The important thing is to get away from the
mindset of the past. We must think of the reforms that we are doing now. The reforms
are working…we are moving on. That is the message and not what happened
in the past.” In another interview, Okonjo-Iweala declared: “We
are no longer that way; we are now in the future.” For her, the factors
that earned Nigeria the negative image of a corrupt nation have since been
consigned to the past.
Unfortunately,
Okonjo-Iweala does not sound convincing. Indeed, there is a wide gap between
what this Government would want to believe about itself and what people have
proved it to be. That the Government has tried to dismiss the TI verdict will
not make the unwholesome factors that informed the reports disappear. Those
factors are still there staring it on the face, and until it takes practical,
sincere efforts to clean up the system, more damning reports would continue to
adorn it any way. Expectedly, Nigerians are very aghast at the
Government’s attempt to paper over reality. Said Didi Adodo, General
Secretary, ‘Congress of Free Trade Unions’ (CFTU): “The
report is very, very correct. The highest corruption rate is in Aso Rock. In
fact, the government is corruption personified.” Speaking in the same
vein, Denja Yaqub, Assistant General Secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress
(NLC) declared: “Any Nigerian who lives in Nigeria will not doubt the
report.”
We think that the
Finance Minister’s bold claim that the issue of corruption is becoming a
thing of the past is one excellent way of stretching optimism beyond its
malleable limit, in fact, to a ridiculous extent. Such an unconvincing
submission is totally unhelpful, and tends to portray the Government she speaks
for as complacent and at home with the moral bankruptcy that reigns unhindered
in high and low places, which is exacerbated by the unwholesome paradigm being
ostentatiously advertised daily by agents of government. We view the TI report
as an additional voice that ought to have compelled the Government to gratify
the yearnings of well-meaning Nigerians and give corruption a sincere and
unsparing battle. For now, Nigerians are waiting to see even a sincere
demonstration of intention in this regard. Maybe, Okonjo-Iweala would have
been more objective in this matter had she bothered to even refute a newspaper
report that she had awarded a contract worth N20 million to her brother and
without following due process.
It is in the interest
of the Obasanjo Government to stop acting as though the TI is the source of its
problem, and dissipating undue energy in attacking the anti-corruption body. It
should instead address squarely the issue of corruption. Indeed, outfits like
the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) have remained abysmally
ineffective. It is yet to demonstrate clearly that its brief goes beyond
chasing petty thieves and hounding perceived enemies of The Presidency. We
observe that as the Government harps on its efforts to combat graft, such
efforts have been immensely discredited by what appears to be
Government’s lip service and lacklustre disposition towards them.
Expectedly, Government’s effort is yet to register any impact.
Indeed, how does a
government in charge of a country where a whole ship could just vanish without
trace expect a clean bill on the issue of corruption? Every day, we are regaled
with stories of ministers and sundry officials engaging in corrupt activities
and the relevant anti-corruption agencies look the other way. How healthy is
the well advertised deal the Federal Government had with the Abacha family in
order to circumvent justice? What of the proposed probe on the recent COJA
profligacy and bazaar? Why was the probe dropped? We have been told that
Governors export State funds monthly. Considering the seriousness with which
such a weighty allegation would be treated in other nations, is this being
investigated? What of the theatre of shame in the National Assembly where
quarrels over sharing of State funds have led lawmakers to assault each other?
Are all these in the past as Okonjo-Iweala would have us believe?
It seems that this
habit of rejecting reports whose contents the rulers are not comfortable with
is fast becoming an entrenched habit in the present dispensation. Only
recently, Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the 36 State Governors flatly
rejected the report of the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC), on
the ground that it is yet to furnish them with sufficient data ‘…to
authenticate the veracity of the various reports that evolve from revenue
allocation.’ What further data are they looking for? Indeed, the
nation’s progress would certainly be obstructed if our rulers continue to
be receptive only to the reports that sound pleasant in their ears and tend to
service their narrow interests.
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