NIGERIA AND THE ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN

Corruption in Nigeria is a hydra-headed beast that seems to be gaining notoriety and defiling any attempt made to curtail its spread. Likening corruption to a canker worm that has eaten deep into the society is shockingly an understatement. The menace has without effort single handedly brought us to a stage of recession; economically, politically, morally and even intellectually. Such is the reach of corruption that in Nigeria it is now being viewed as an abnormal(normal) way of life in public and private spheres of life. In fact to profess a stance on non-corruption will draw gazes of spite from people. Everybody is corrupt and like one police officer told me ' all Nigerians are criminal at heart... it depends on the individual if he chooses to activate it by putting into action or not'.  From the politician who uses the power of his office to fraud the state, to a civil servant who steals money from the treasury, to a lecturer whose primary duty is to teach but will abandon lectures only to attend to his business enterprise outside the school and fix lectures at odd and inconvenient times for students still making attendance strict, to a trader who will quest for nearly a hundred percent profit on goods that would have seen 10percent as excess profit, to you who cannot be patient to join the line on a queue only to jump line or play smart above others and to the religious leaders who worship money other than God, to the student and researcher who plagiarises, One way or the other we are all guilty of corruption and just as no sin is too small to be ignored by God, so is corruption before the constitution.

Corruption needs no definition as we all know what a corrupt practice is and is not. Corruption in Nigeria is an institution and it is the biggest and only working institution in Nigeria. Nigerians across all divides in the country agree on something and which is the fact that if the country is to move forward and reach anywhere close to the potentials promised by the nation at independence, then corruption must be defeated and conquered, casted into the bottomless pit of hell. That is an illusion as corruption can not be totally wiped out but can be reduced minimally and its effect not felt on any strata of the the society. Nigerians witnessed the state sponsored and backed corruption that took place under the now celebrated GEJ. We were tired of a president who could not deal decisively with corrupt public office holders in his employ. We nagged and cried about the exuberant, needless and wasteful spendings that characterized the PDP rule for 16years. So we wanted CHANGE and lucky enough the man whose image was used to sell the change mantra was someone who is said to be incorruptible, a strict and uncompromising administrator and the man with the magic wand. Enter, Muhamadu Buhari.

Again, that is just a continuation of the problem. Nigeria over time has often made the mistake of attaching corruption to one individual or group and once he/she or they are nabbed then we can enjoy our country for good. Under Obasanjo, once Tafa goes to jail then the NPF has rid itself of its major hindrance to becoming a world class crime prevention and detection unit.  There was also Ibori and now deceased DSP. Under GEJ many wanted Allyson and Oduah down because they where the faces of corruption. Under this present regime it is the entire NASS that is taking the stick and lest i forget the now trending celebrity judges and the judiciary. In order to tackle corruption we are attaching it to an individual again to an individual. In days preceding the May 29 2015 hand over. The songs emanating from peoples lips is a lot of people will run away, our jails would be filled to the brim and blablablabla. Today we are where we are because we want the right results using the wrong models.

In my view, fighting corruption does not have to be about slamming people in jail. Fighting corruption should be multi-dimensional. If throwing people in jail was to serve as a deterrence to people not to engage in corrupt practices then it has clearly failed in serving that purpose. Like many other things, the negativity and doom attached to something is not enough reason barring people from not going into it. If the pulling factor is bigger than the push factor then expect the one pulling to always win. To be clear, daily our blogs and news carrier pages are filled with pictures of girls used for blood money, kidnapped or  raped for going out with strangers, yet has this deterred other girls from going into the prostitution or olosho business? No. Has the spread of HIV/AIDS and other STD's served as enough deterrence to randy men and women in the society? No. Has the fact that so many wire or yahoo boys die tragic deaths hindered younger boys from going into the fraudster business? No. The examples to draw from are never ending. So how do we come to the thinking that a mere jail term will deter some body who is in position to syphon billions of naira ooo sorry dollars from doing so especially when its known that all the monies cannot be recovered.

The first step to fighting corruption should be about blocking the loopholes and the habitat from where the monster rises. This should be about creating and sustaining institutions that work irrespective of the regime. Yes the political will and interest of the person at the center comes to play, however if our institutions are working then the oga at the top has a minimal role of improving the institutions to play.  For instance, the fact that Obama stance on foreign policy issues differs from that of the Bush regime did not deter a body  like the CIA in doing its work effectively. Today we hear of EFCC doing this and that but what will happen tomorrow should Buhari vacate office?  We should be advocating for strong institutions that in nature and structure give no room to corruption. Under Obj the two most prominent bodies were NAFDAC and EFCC. Under subsequent administrations they became barking but toothless dogs owing to the fact that the strong man or woman chairing  these institutions had left.

We do not need a strong man, we need committed men who understand what administering a heterogeneous society is all about. If democracy itself will work, it requires institutions that are functioning. Fight for the re-birth, resurgence and repositioning of our institutions for sustainability and corruption is 80% defeated.

Pax

Ayodele Kelvin

Email: kevinayodele99@gmail.com 

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