The chairman of the Independent Corruption Practices Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi (who happens to be my neighbour in Abuja), has a sobering story about how Nigeria is perceived as corruption on map even in Africa. He was attending a conference on the subject, in Nairobi, Kenya, when an African delegate stood up to talk not about the problem in his own country (where it must exist) but in that of the giant of Africa. The African brother regaled the meeting with horror tales about underhand dealings in Nigeria, beginning right from the Airport in Lagos, to centres of power in Abuja. Then as a clincher, he added, that nobody should be fooled by Nigeria coming second to the last in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for that year (2003) because our government actually bribed Cameroon (which came last) to accept that position! Of course most delegates from the rest of Africa laughed approvingly at the crack, and it was the lot of poor old Akanbi, to explain to a sceptical African audience, the valiant efforts his commission and indeed the government of Nigeria is making to tackle corruption in the last five years.
Indeed the Obasanjo administration has taken major institutional steps to do battle with corruption. The ICPC itself is a prime example, and we should not dismiss its plodding, judicial approach as being of no effect. In any case there is the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), where a youthful Nuhu Ribadu is using strong-arm police tactics to deal with business crooks. The Due Process Mechanism and the Extractive Industry Initiative are all useful tools for ensuring transparency in the award of public sector contracts and in the oil sector. The government has recognised that there is a serious problem. It has put in place a raft of new laws and institutions for dealing with it. Yet why is it, in the perception of most Nigerians, never mind that of Transparency International (TI), corruption is still alive and well in the country?
The first reason is because it truly seems to be alive and well. It is hard to prove who is taking what, when and how, but the evidence that high public office is the route to stupendous and unaccountable wealth, is overwhelming. Some of it is right in your face. Our President and Vice President were businessmen before they went into politics, and it would seem that they still have a hand in many a pie and do not seem deterred about concerns for conflict of interest. Governors have openly set up new businesses (in addition to the hidden ones) while in office, airlines, newspapers, banks, telecommunications and construction, you can name it. And many of us can cite examples of more lowly public functionaries, political or administrative, whose lives have been transformed beyond recognition in just a few years.
The second reason why the fight against corruption is largely ineffective is because of the deep official hypocrisy about it. Our leaders deliver fine speeches against it, but those in know, including officials working with them, could see that often their words are at variance with their action. Civil servants and special assistants soon get to understand that the rules are made for the powerless, but whoever can intercede with ‘Oga’ personally and persistently, may be exempted. Worse, who will subject the big man himself and his close family and friends to the rules of due process, when it is the standard norm that “connection” is the number one asset for doing business in Nigeria? So we may have all the laws and the institutions and still find that it is business as usual. It would require a supreme effort and real sacrifice on the part of those in power to spurn the “benefits” of public office. Everyone around them expects them to be on take and to let it trickle down and out. They have to say no and mean no for the system to begin to change.
But in the present situation what is the incentive for such a mind shift? So widespread has abuse of office become, that Nigerians themselves do not demand strict ethical conduct from their elected representatives. From the political and business elites to the petty contractor, how well you do, often depends on who you know. So the system conspires to downgrade merit, eliminate real competition, enthrone mediocrity and reward those close to the levers of power.
Neither the legislature that is supposed to exercise oversight functions, nor the media, which is weak, dependent and partisan, could play the role of exposing and at least shaming such perpetrators. So there is plenty of reward and no risk or punishment for the many who dare put their hands in the public till. Only those who are inspired with deep faith in God, can avoid temptation in such a milieu, and increasingly even such can find a Pastor or Imam, who can rationalise away the less blatant acts of graft.
This is the reality on the ground in Nigeria, such that when most people discuss it, the conclusion (for the Faithful) is that only God can save the situation. So the recent huffing and puffing about the ranking of Nigeria by TI in its 2004 Corruption Perception Index really misses the point. I take Ngozi Okojo-Iweala’s word for it that Fred Galtung, the former head of research for TI, had faulted the criteria being used to arrive at the CPI as outdated. The critique issued by the office of Minister of Information that “It (TI) consistently used these dubious paradigms to gain world acclaim, while destroying the reputation of nations and impugning their efforts at enthroning good governance”, may have a point. But the two Ministers, while they do their work, should also realise that Nigerians and outsiders take the CPI seriously because its observations go beyond perception. We don’t need TI chairman Peter Eigen to tell us there is serious corruption in Nigeria. As students, peasants, workers, businessmen and the unemployed, we live with it everyday. It may be true that when the ranking is done in such a way that it excludes “CPI’s Seven Core Failings”, we may move further up on the rankings. But I doubt if that will substantially change either the reality of the extent of corruption in Nigeria or its perception by outsiders.
I can testify that there is at least one country that seems to be more corrupt than Nigeria that is not covered by the 2004 CPI. Nearly three years ago, a friend and I, attending a conference in Bamako, Mali, decided to hop to neighbouring Mauritania by air, for few days. We landed in the airport at Nouakchott in the evening, but our host who was working at the Nigerian Embassy was late in receiving us. But we got very unusual treatment by the immigration people at the airport. They were so overfriendly that one of them insisted on carrying our bags into the airport lounge where we waited to be picked up. Only when he made confused signals indicating he wanted a tip did we realise that the immigration officer turned porter, was not going beyond the call of duty. He wanted money, which we were obliged to change at a nearby bureau de change and handover to him! Now, our airports are not so bad, our immigration officers are too proud to carry the bags of passengers. But what does it matter if next year Mauritania is added to the TI list and we beat it to a fourth place? Should that really be cause for cheer, dear Minister?
