“Corruption
is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an
individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire
country” - Karl Kraus
On a recent trip to Dubai, UAE, I had an
interest conversation with my Pakistani cab driver. The theme of the
conversation was the endless deaths of African and Asian refugees in the
Mediterranean and the potential impact of brain drain on the economic
development of their host nations. At the end of our conversation, we
both agreed on one point which was beyond dispute, in our opinion.
We both agreed that there was a direct
correlation between the absolute rule of law, good governance, and the
accelerated economic development of nations. Our impromptu analysis
revealed that almost all the nations that made the transition from the
Third World to fully developed economies in the past three or four
decades had almost identical attributes in their metamorphoses.
A simple roll call of countries we
discussed confirmed the obvious. China, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea,
and the United Arab Emirates have all benefitted from the preponderance
of the absolute enforcement of the rule of law and good governance which
enabled the greater majority of their citizens to escape the ravages of
extreme poverty of the type that has become commonplace in most of
sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
Our analysis also revealed the reverse
scenario in the case of countries afflicted with extreme corruption,
paucity of good governance and the absence of the rule of law. We mulled
over the situations in his own country Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq,
Libya, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, and yes, Nigeria, along with numerous
other Asian and African countries.
The situation in those countries
explains why individuals like my cabbie - who happened to be a graduate -
ended up with jobs citizens of the UAE, and the other well-governed
nations considered to be beneath their dignity. It is also a matter for
deeper lamentation that the cabbie believed he was lucky. Thousands of
other less fortunate Africans and Asians who departed their homes in the
search for greener pastures ended up at the bottom of the Mediterranean
Sea, or are still languishing in refugee camps scattered across Europe.
Corruption, like the former Georgian
Eduard Shevardnadze once noted, has its own motivations. The societies
in which corruption thrives he warned, must perfect the art of fighting
the scourge, or else it becomes a losing battle. The responsibility is
to thoroughly study and understand the corruption phenomenon itself. The
second is to identify and isolate the foundations that allow corruption
to exist. The third and last phase in Shevardnadze’s order of battle
against the scourge of corruption is to launch a relentless assault
against the pillars on which it rests and is nourished.
To our collective shame, we know that in
Nigeria corruption is sustained on multiple platforms of our national
firmament. It is now purely academic to recall that in the military era,
Nigerians naively believed the sort of corruption experienced under
military rule derived in the main from the absence of democratic
governance or values. Our experience, since the return of democracy in
1999, tells an entirely different story.
To our chagrin, we now know, for
certain, that democracy is not necessarily a precondition for the
economic prosperity anywhere. In Nigeria’s case, the presence of
democratic rule in fact appears to have accelerated the scourge of
corruption. From the numerous pending cases of graft in our courts, it
is abundantly clear that the monumental greed, ineffectiveness and the
inaction of the principal actors in the three arms of government has
elevated corruption to heights never before experienced on these shores.
Nigerians must also come to the painful
realization that among the three arms of government of our presidential
system of democracy, the indictment of senior judges and lawyers in
recent times has become the most troubling manifestation of corruption
in the land. In the ideal presidential system, it is the judiciary which
is universally acknowledged to be the last hope of the common man in
the arbitration of knotty or contentious issues. In spite of the damning
indictments of some members of the bench last year, in the past two
weeks alone, the state has lost no fewer than four high profile cases of
corruption in the law courts. All were attributed to questionable
judgments of the trial judges.
Everywhere we look today in Nigeria, we
see structures and systems that sustain high profile corruption. The
present administration’s readiness to move against the corrupt judges
and complicit senior lawyers is an indication of the judiciary’s high
ranking among the pillars that sustain corruption in Nigeria.
The judiciary’s action and inaction on
the cases brought before it is important. They determine whether there
are consequences for proven cases or not! The corrupt elements in the
arms including the media, simply take their cues from the outcomes of
court judgments on such cases. In many instances serial treasury looters
of billions of public funds escaped justice with laughable sentences.
Other cases lingered for eternity before they were dismissed outright.
Corruption thrives best were it is
repeatedly proven that there can be no consequences for its
manifestation. A nation can tolerate the rogue lawmakers and bureaucrats
for their serial acts of perfidy, but if the long arms of law
eventually fails in its vital responsibility to apprehend and bring them
to justice in the long run, it is generally considered to be a hopeless
case!
Since 1999, there have been uncountable
probes in the National Assembly over several allegations of corruption
but I can hardly recall any that was conducted conclusively. In August
2015, the Senate embarked on the probe of the massive investments in the
power sector since 1999. Nigerians are still waiting for the outcome of
the probe even with allegations that over 16 billion dollars was
expended in the period with no tangible improvements in either
electricity generation or distribution. As I write this, the total power
generation capacity in the nation stands at less than three thousand
megawatts which is less than what it was in 1999!
On a recent trip to Morocco, I
experienced first-hand, just how much a nation could achieve with
tolerable levels of corruption. For the entire four-day duration of my
stay in Rabat, I did not experience power outage for a single day.
Morocco, which is under a monarchy, provides yet another proof that
economic prosperity is not necessarily synonymous with democracy. It
commenced the gradual privatization of selected sectors of it economy in
1993 and with the strict observance of the rule of law under which the
only the King is exempted from paying toll fees for instance, it is now
the 5th largest economy in Africa.
Morocco is not an oil economy. It has
transited from the heavy dependence on the export of phosphates to that
of agricultural products to Europe. The World Economic Forum placed
Morocco as the 1st most competitive economy in North Africa, in its
African Competitiveness Report 2014-2015. The state of its social
infrastructure is first class. Theirs is not a case of a wasted
generation or opportunities like ours.
That brings me to the issue of morality
in the fight against corruption. In Nigeria, corruption appears to be
winning because it is actually celebrated. Not only that, it also has
proven sanctuaries or ‘safe-houses’ in our churches, mosques, tribes,
clans, and even social associations.
That way, a proven treasury looter in
Sokoto or Jos, completely transforms into a saint or prophet in Warri or
Port Harcourt. Nigeria is perhaps the only country in the world with
multiple standards for judging corruption.
The recent celebration of the return of
the convicted felon, and former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori,
revealed all that the entire world needed to know about us and our
inclination to fight corruption to a logical conclusion! It is only in
Nigeria that some people will openly pray for the death of the leader
the greater majority elected to fight corruption.
It is now abundantly clear that the
anti-corruption burden is not for President Buhari alone to carry. We
all must do our bit to prop up his frail shoulders as he battles to
confront the obvious counter-attack from corruption experienced lately.
Credit: www.dailytrust.com.ng/
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