Nigeria and the global corruption perception index (2)

By John Ikubaje Although critical criticisms against these initiatives exist, nonetheless, the achievements of these anti-corruption institutions, particularly the EFCC cannot be overemphasised. For example, corrupt former governors and Inspector General of Police were prosecuted and jailed by EFCC. Quite a handful of former governors and other elected representatives are presently being investigated by the EFCC and ICPC. In my humble opinion, these anti-corruption programmes might not be unconnected with the present improvement of Nigerian in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index ranking. The beginning of better ranking of Nigeria among nations on CPI started in the Fourth Republic and not when the country had more anti-corruption initiatives under the military regimes. In fact, majority of Nigerians might have forgotten that Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha’s military regimes had more elaborate and comprehensive anti-corruption legal frameworks than the Fourth Republic. Unfortunately, Nigeria did not make any anti-corruption progress due to lack of commitment and political will on the parts of the relevant military regimes. Although President Obasanjo’s anti-corruption war had been tagged ‘half-hearted and selective in approach’, nevertheless, the fact remains that the international and some domestic business communities according to Transparency International CPI believes that Nigeria is a much safer and better place to do business than what it used to be in the past. In other words, a half-hearted and selective anti-corruption approach is better than a no selective approach but worse than anti-corruption regime that is void of discrimination. If the opening quotation from President Yar’Adua is anything to go by, then his administration has at least one major challenge to contend with for now and that is the leadership of the House of Representatives and the N628million misapplication scandal. If the House of Representative committee’s report on the Speaker and her deputy’s are anything to go by, then Nigeria has a bunch of disgraceful and corrupt rulers in the helm of the House of Representatives affairs and they cannot, according to President Yar’Adua be Nigerian leaders. For Nigeria to keep winning her anti-corruption battle, EFCC, ICPC, NEITI and other anti-corruption institutions must not be answerable to political appointees like the Attorney General. In order to avoid the 2007 Independent National Electoral Commission experience, professionalism and merit, just to mention but a few, and not party affiliation and or loyalty, have to be the criteria for ambassadorial and other important appointments. Selective and half-hearted anti-corruption approach must be a thing of the past. If President Yar’Adua is really committed to his zero tolerance for corruption, then he must assist Nigeria to put her money where her mouth is. For now, EFCC and NEITI just to mention but a few are heavily dependent on foreign donors for survival. Hardly can these institutions sustain their operations and pay their staff salaries without donors support. EFCC was honest enough to let Nigerians know that it has collected the following from the donor agencies but was not pleased to inform Nigerians how much Nigerian government has contributed to the commission’s purse; European Union $32 million, the World bank $3.181 million, UNDP $650,000, British Government $525,000 and the Netherlands $699,000. In other words, EFCC has collected a total sum of $37,055,00 million, from different foreign donors. I commend the management of EFCC for this open declaration, however, the commission must realise that her accountability to Nigerians is half-hearted and efforts must be put in place to declare to Nigerians how much the Federal government has contributed to EFCC so far. ICPC, NEITI and other anti-corruption institutions must take a leaf from EFCC and account to Nigerians how they have been managing these Nigerian institutions. As Nigeria muzzles its way to the top among the transparent and accountable countries of the world, I wish her success. • Ikubaje is anti-corruption researcher and activist at Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Abuja. • Concluded.