Nigeria’s Corruption: A challenge of governance

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By Emmanuel Onwubiko

The duty of youth is to challenge corruption.

Kurt Cobain;
Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith
in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity;
already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national
investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares
away investments and jobs.
Joe Biden;

Since the year 2018 when Nigeria entered the inglorious record as the
nation with the largest population of members of the human race that
are absolutely poor, I have learnt not to regard poverty simply as an
academic concept but as a concrete existential experience that we
feel, touch and smell all around us in Nigeria.

A practical demonstration of this shift in outlook or my weltanachuung
of poverty was in the year 2020 during the heat of COVID -19 pandemic
and the concomitant lockdown of the economy that followed strenuous
efforts by World’s government to defeat the newly found virus.

For us in Nigeria, the period of Covid-19 lock down was that of
survival by the fittest especially for millions of those commoners
already classified as been absolutely poor.

This unfortunate scenario forced thousands of hundreds of starving
Nigerians to pour out on the streets in search of houses of very
affluent Nigerians to search for foods to stay alive.

coincidentally, the massive hunger that buffeted millions of Nigerians
and forcing them to fight to stay alive, happened together with the
nationwide protests by Nigerians against police brutality.

Eventually, for some of these hundreds of thousands of desperately
hungry Nigerians who were famished to the point of near- death, the
discovery of many warehouses of government and those of prominent
politically connected individuals whereby edibles and ready to cook
foodstuffs such as indomie noodles in thousands of cartons provided
the much needed succour for these people and as is said, a hungry man
is an angry man, these warehouses and private residences were looted
and all these concealed foodstuffs of assorted varieties were carted
away by the poorest of the poor who went wild and uncontrollable.
This recollection is in no way a provision of some forms of moral
justifications for the crime of looting these foodstuffs, but again,
what should the starving populace do when deaths were inevitable from
starvation and there they came face to face with foodstuffs? To make
matters worst, most of these publicly procured foodstuffs found were
meant to be distributed to the wretched population who nevertheless
were shortchanged.
Those who hid foodstuffs meant for the poor were simply exhibiting the
tendency of corruption and kleptocracy that dominate public life even
today and which is posing serious challenge to governance as it were.
One would ordinarily think that the record breaking and laudable
breakthrough of scientists in finding some medical means like vaccines
to ameliorate the global impact of the once dreaded Covid -19 virus
would at least reduce the rate of poverty in Nigeria.

However, rather than abate, poverty in Nigeria is ballooning out of
control just as many more Nigerians are falling into poverty due to
corruption by government officials of all levels.

One of the most troubling source of corruption in Nigeria is crude oil
theft which has dovetailed into the scarcity of foreign exchange that
has gradually crippled the economy thereby shooting up the costs of
living. This much was disclosed by the central bank governor who
nevertheless did not hit the nail on the head by not naming crude oil
theft as the primary source of corruption that dried up the much
needed foreign exchange to power many productive businesses and
services to yield incimes and give succour tk the population of
Nigerians.

But we all know that crude oil theft is the fundamental kind of
corruption today. By the way, President Muhammadu Buhari just awarded
the security of crude oil pipelines to Government Ekpemupulo also
known as Tompolo, a former Niger Delta armed militant.

So you then begin to wonder the unchecked trends of Crude oil theft
amidst the presence of the armed forces which made President
Muhammadu Buhari to take this seemingly illegal step of assigning the
job of securing crude oil pipelines to a private person. This shows
that corruption has crippled the operational capacity of the military.
This much was also disclosed recently by the chairman of the
independent corrupt practices and related offences commission. The
ICPC chairman confessed that Nigeria is endowed with the required
resources to make life better for Nigerians but that government
officials are stealing these cash.
Then again, there is another subset of governmental corruption which
has to do with the so called subsidy payments for fuel importation
which constitute the bulk of petrol consumed in Nigeria. The Nigerian
Customs and the NNPC are at logger head on which of these institutions
is more corrupt in this area.
We will take all these one after the other but first, let us read what
the central bank of Nigeria has to say on why there is no foreign
exchange for local manufacturers for the local economy to stay alive
so millions of our people won’t continue to cascade into the poverty
trap.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele,
had blamed the low revenue inflow from oil sales for the nation’s
current foreign exchange crises.

Mr. Emefiele stated this during a panel session at the Nigeria
International Economic Partnership Forum held in New York, United
States of America.

Emefiele may have backed the President who claimed that Nigeria has
for several months, failed to meet its Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries(OPEC).
He the CBN governor said that the nation’s crude oil revenue further
dropped in August as oil production slumped to 900,000 barrels from
one million barrels recorded in July according to the latest OPEC
monthly oil report.

The development according to him led to massive depreciation of the
Naira with exchange rate at the Import and Export window crashing to
N436 to $1.

He said the CBN was already addressing the situation with its RT 200
project which will help boost foreign exchange supply with non-oil
export proceeds repatriation.
Emefiele said in the first quarter of 2022, export repatriation was
about $64 million, second quarter rose to $622 million, while the
third quarter increased to $954 million,with projections that by the
last quarter, the figures would have increased further.

He regretted that Nigeria is still highly dependent on oil revenue to
support its import obligations, while assuring that government was
aggressively looking at non- export for foreign exchange proceeds, to
shore up the deficit in the months to come.

The CBN boss assured that Nigeria remains the best investment haven
where returns on investment is guaranteed.

This was even as he noted that the country’s foreign exchange
repatriation have equally dropped.

The Central Bank governor was so shy to identify the cause of this
shortage of foreign exchange but not so with the man heading the
Nigerian Customs. He has so much to tell us about the corruption
perpetrated by officials and bureaucrats in the NNPC.

The Nigeria Customs Service recently questioned the National Petroleum
Company Limited’s claim that the country consumes 60 million litres of
petrol daily.

The Customs comptroller-general, Hameed Ali, during a session with the
House of Representatives’ Committee on Finance on Thursday, said if
the company puts daily consumption of petrol at 60 million litres, why
does it allow 98 million litres to be lifted daily.

“I remember that last year we spoke about this. Unfortunately, this
year, we are talking about subsidy again. The over N11 trillion we are
going to take as debt, more than half of it is going for subsidy. The
issue is not about the smuggling of petroleum products. I have always
argued this with NNPC,” Mr Ali said.
“If we are consuming 60 million litres of PMS per day, by their own
computation, why would you allow the release of 98 million litres per
day? If you know this is our consumption, why would you allow that
release?” he asked.

“Scientifically, you cannot tell me that if I fill my tank today, or
tomorrow, I will fill the same tank with the same quantity of fuel. If
I am operating a fuel station today and I go to Minna depot, lift
petrol and take it to Kaduna, I may get to Kaduna in the evening and
offload that fuel. There is no way I would have sold off that petrol
immediately to warrant another load. So, how did you get to 60 million
litres per day?

“That computation, to me, is not believable, because scientifically
you cannot tell me that if I fill my tank today, tomorrow I will fill
my tank with the same quantity of fuel. And if I’m running a petrol
station today, if I go to Minna depot and lift, and I’m taking to
Kaduna, I may reach Kaduna in the evening and offload that product;
there’s no way I could have sold that petrol immediately to warrant
another load.”

Mr Ali also opposed claims that the smuggling of petroleum contributes
to the huge amounts being paid for subsidy.

“So, how did you get to 60 million litres per day? That is my
question. The issue of smuggling, if you release 98 million litres in
actuality and 60 million litres are used, the balance should be 38
million litres. How many trucks will carry 38 million litres every
day? Which road are they following and where are they carrying this
thing to?”

Here however is the biggest of the revelations from the ICPC.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences
Commission, ICPC raised the alarm that money to fix Nigeria is in
the country, but being stolen on daily basis and made possible through
pervasive systemic or malignant corruption in the country.

According to ICPC, on electronic transactions alone, N24trillion has
been transacted between January to June this year , which is always
about N50trillion yearly, adding that Corruption in Nigeria is highly
systemic or malignant by being carried out in most of the government
owned agencies , particularly the revenue generating ones.

Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja as Guest Speaker at the 2 – day
Capacity – Building Workshop organized for members of the House of
Representatives Committee on Anti – Corruption and Military Officers
by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (
NILDS) , Chairman of ICPC, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye declared that
from 19 of such agencies, he disclosed , ICPC intercepted N181million
attempted to be diverted or stolen by corrupt public officers between
January and June this year, saying ” we are not in short supply of
anti – corruption legislations but grossly in short supply of
integrity.

“If not for lack of integrity from affected public officers , Nigeria
has enough anti – corruption agencies or institutions to stem the tide
of systemic corruption.

” Aside ICPC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC)
, public institutions like the Bureau for Public Procurement ( BPP),
the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) and 45 others are anti – corruption
regulatory bodies.

“The CBN is an anticorruption gatekeeper, the Infrastructure
Concession and Regulatory Commission, ICRC is an anticorruption
gatekeeper…I could go on, many of them like that, if you aggregate
them, you would get like about 50.

“Most regulatory bodies also play anticorruption role. Virtually, all
professions are regulated…and every unethical practice that is carried
out by these professionals is already prohibited by their rules, so we
are not in short supply of anti corruption institutions but what we
are in short supply of, is integrity. We have a generous supply of
hypocrisy, and we also deceive ourselves.

” But despite the required legislations or laws to fight the
cankerworm, lack of integrity and political will from those saddled
with running of the agencies , make corruption to be so pervasive in
the country.

” Unfortunately since corruption erodes capacity of state or
government , to provide welfare for the people , is also fueling and
aggravating insecurity in the land.
” If corruption is fought to standstill by all relevant agencies and
public officers , it will be discovered that the money to fix Nigeria
, is in Nigeria and not elsewhere because N24trillion was spent on
monitored electronic transactions alone among Nigerians within
Nigerians from January to June this year, which runs to about
N50trillion yearly.

“Corruption is an existential issue for us as a country, and so, we
need to have conversation around it.”
The ICPC boss who noted that factors like weak legislative oversights
by relevant committees of the National Assembly , contracts variations
and duplications by MDAs, tax avoidance , evasion and underserved
waivers etc are the channels through which corrupt practices are
carried out in Nigeria, however blamed his colleagues in the legal
profession, who at times would be acting for clients against the
Commission, who are serving public servants involved in corrupt
practices of using public funds for execution of projects through
companies they have interests in.
According to him, it is illegal for such clients to be involved in
such businesses at that time, and also ethically wrong for them to
award such contracts to companies where they have interests, adding
that such ethical breaches ought to be dealt with properly. From the
aforementioned, it is clear that fighting corruption has really never
formed the strategic interest of the current administration. If truly
President Muhammadu Buhari is out to fight corruption, why is there
no effort to kick out and prosecute persons in those anti graft
institutions mentioned by the Chairman of the ICPC that are not
enforcing the required laws against procurement corruption in the
ministries and other agencies of government? The developed nations are
however still doing business with a government under whose watch
corruption has ballooned out of control. So what is the essence of
setting up an initiative against corruption when the government of
America initiating this step is deeply in business with such corrupt
government like we have in Nigeria or Uganda?

From a Fact Sheet of December 9th 2021 endorsed by President Joe
Biden announcing the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal,
the President of the UnitedStates summed up why he is introducing that
anti corruption initiative and stated that “In the face of the
sustained and alarming challenges to democracy and universal human
rights around the world, more than ever, democracy needs champions.”

The fact Sheet says that the Presidential Initiative for Democratic
Renewal represents a significant, targeted expansion of U.S.
Government efforts to defend, sustain, and grow democratic resilience
with likeminded governmental and non-governmental partners. In the
coming year, the United States is planning to provide up to $424.4
million toward the Presidential Initiative, working with Congress and
subject to the availability of appropriations. These efforts will
center on five areas of work crucial to the functioning of
transparent, accountable governance:
Supporting Free and Independent Media;Fighting Corruption;Bolstering
Democratic Reformers;Advancing Technology for Democracy;Defending Free
and Fair Elections and Political Processes;Fighting Corruption. It
will also be Supporting Anti-corruption Change Agents.To support and
connect anti-corruption actors across civil society, media, academia,

and labor organizations, USAID will provide up to $5 million to launch
the Empowering Anti-Corruption Change Agents Program, which will
promote protective measures for whistleblowers, civil society
activists, journalists, and others at risk due to their
anti-corruption work. The State Department, joined by other donors,
will build on its support for the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium
(GACC) by providing up to $6 million to enhance the GACC’s work to
connect media and civil society organizations with one another, expose
ill-gotten gains, and support legal or policy changes in support of
anti-corruption objectives.

It wi work towards Curbing Corruption through Strategic and Regulatory
Action. Earlier that week, (December 9th 2021) the U.S. Government
unveiled its first-ever United States Strategy on Countering
Corruption, which provides a blueprint for cracking down on corruption
at home and abroad. In support of this strategy, the Treasury
Department will enact regulations to increase transparency in the U.S.
real estate market by establishing reporting requirements for those
closest to real estate transactions. In parallel, the State
Department, working with the Departments of Treasury and Justice, will
provide up to $15.1 million to launch the Democracies Against Safe
Havens Initiative, which will work to build the capacity of partner
governments to deny corrupt actors the ability to hide ill-gotten
gains through anti-money laundering measures, to encourage like-minded
partners to adopt anti-corruption sanctions and visa restriction
regimes, and to detect and disrupt complex corruption schemes.

For we commoners, fighting corruption vigorously from home and finding
strong institutional supporting platforms such as the initiative just
unveiled by President Joe Biden, is a dream come through if
meticulously implemented and not tainted by bureaucracy. We need to
fight corruption to overcome mass poverty if Nigeria won’t slide into
full blown anarchy whereby MIGHT BECOMES RIGHT.

… ONWUBIKO is head of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF
NIGERIA (HURIWA) and one time National commissioner of the NATIONAL
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA.