How
corrupt is the government of President Goodluck Jonathan? The answer
may vary depending on who is interpreting the latest global corruption
index from Transparency International.
According Transparency
International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2014, Nigeria is
up eight places to 136 out of 175 countries ranked by the index.
The
government has unsurprisingly interpreted this to mean that Nigeria is
“winning the war on corruption under President Goodluck Jonathan’s
watch.”
The government has also said in a rather
celebratory tone that, “It may not be immediately apparent to those who
do not understand the dynamics of applying creative techniques in
upturning an age-old habit that has cost this country a lot in terms of
financial resources; but to those like the officials in Transparency
International knowledgeable in the nuances of fighting corruption, a lot
of grounds have been covered.”
Two central observations become
clear; firstly, the statement seems to take a dig at government’s
critics for lacking “creative techniques” in the fight against
corruption.
But creative techniques? I’m sorry; no serious
observers of the government’s record will succumb to this cheap shot.
Secondly, the government also may be accused of inconsistency and
political opportunism because having previously questioned the validity
and credibility of the index, now seems to be its strongest ‘apostle’ by
suddenly acknowledging the ‘knowledge’ of Transparency International
“in the nuances of fighting corruption.”
The government’s
response is nothing more than a standard public relations tactic. But
this triumphal tone needs to be moderated; and the government’s real
record in the fight against corruption has to be placed in proper
perspective.
The country’s current ranking is clearly better than
its scores for 2013 but it doesn’t really tell us something we don’t
already know: that this government is still considered highly corrupt,
as the country still ranks in the bottom half of the index. As a matter
of fact, Nigeria shares 136th position with well-known corrupt countries
like Cameroon, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, and Lebanon.
The CPI ranks
countries on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100
(perceived to be very clean). More than two-thirds of the 175 countries
surveyed, including Nigeria, scored below 50. Nigeria is clearly not the
country with the lowest score on the index (its score was 27%), but
according to Transparency International, any country that scores below
50% on the index is still considered “highly corrupt.”
This shows that corruption is rife as it ever has been in the country, making this government one of the most corrupt on earth.
This
is therefore no time to feel comfortable with Nigeria’s sheer
mediocrity on the index. But the government’s response says something
about diminished expectations for a country that is endowed with
enormous human and natural resources and should be doing much better in
terms of socio-economic and infrastructural development to see the 27%
on the index as good news.
Millions of Nigerians who continue to
live from hand to mouth, unsure of the next meal, while their ‘leaders’
enjoy the commonwealth with their families and friends certainly won’t
celebrate this score. And they won’t celebrate a score that still shows a
serious breach of the country’s international anti-corruption
obligations and commitments.
It would seem that the government
doesn’t even understand the depth of disgust Nigerians feel for the
increasing level of corruption among high-ranking government officials
and the impunity of perpetrators.
For many years President
Jonathan has devoted dozens of speeches to rooting out corruption. For
example, the President once promised to “fight for justice, for all
Nigerians to have access to power, for qualitative and competitive
education, for healthcare reforms, to fight corruption, and to fight for
your rights.” But it is now another election time and he has not even
published his asset declaration (to show the way in the fight against
corruption) let alone “fight for your rights”!
Under the
President’s watch, no high-ranking public officials has ever been
brought to account for corruption, despite widespread and increasing
allegations of corruption at the highest level of government.
By
celebrating a marginal movement on the index, the government isn’t
focusing on the job of fully and effectively combating corruption by
high-ranking public officials.
Instead, it is downplaying the
magnitude of the problems, and seems to be kidding itself and kidding
millions of Nigerians. This is unwarranted, counterproductive, and on
balance, does more harm than good.
This government has to come clean and be straight with the Nigerian people on its record in fighting corruption.
But
Nigerians are not fooled, as they are very aware of the lack of
integrity, trust and credibility of their political institutions and the
lack of quality behaviour from their politicians generally. They know
pretty well that corruption is still a major problem in Nigerian
politics, with various government agencies becoming deeper and deeper
involved with the widespread use of political appointments even at the
highest level of government.
The simple fact of the matter is
that Nigeria’s corruption is now institutionalised into the political
system and where democracy has been replaced by “Nairaraincracy” (or
more accurately “Dollaraincracy”, as most of the country’s politicians
consider US dollar as the legal tender) and where politicians are
elected to provide self-serving favours to donors and “godfathers”.
It
is clear that the government is still largely run for the benefit of
the very rich and socially and politically connected. When people say,
‘it is not what you know but whom you know’, there is a problem.
Corrupt
judiciary and weak anti-corruption mechanisms well illustrate the
damaging lack of political will by this government to confront
corruption and impunity of the corrupt. Serious human rights violations,
including poverty, crimes against humanity and the environment are now
considered normal.
Yet, lack of prosecution of high-ranking
government officials for corruption has created an impression that they
are above the law. No wonder, then, that corrupt officials are so
unfazed in their wrong doings, they are all doing it openly and lavishly
and don’t even bother to hide their misdeeds.
Unfortunately, the
more corrupt the country becomes, the less motivated its leaders and
politicians are to end it. This doesn’t present much hope for the
future.
But we can’t simply throw our hands up in the air in
frustration. Progress is not only possible but necessary as it is simply
unacceptable to continue with ‘business as usual’. The government will
need to get to work and move swiftly to improve the independence and
freedom of action of the anti-corruption agencies to genuinely fight
corruption. These agencies should be free to investigate and prosecute
any allegations of corruption, not just those the government has a
partisan interest in seeing pursued.
It is time for the
government to let the country’s anti-corruption agencies off the chain
and allow them to prosecute those indicted by: the KPMG report,
involving large-scale corruption in the Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC); the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative (NEITI) audit report, which exposes 10 years of corruption in
the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry;
‘pension funds corruption report’; ‘corruption report’ in the capital
market, and of course the case of the missing $20 billion from the
account of the NNPC.
Some level of transparency and
accountability won’t hurt the country. In fact, it will ensure better
governance and the returns for effective enjoyment of human rights by
the citizens will be huge.
One can only hope that the government
will wake up and genuinely begin to address corruption and associated
human rights violations. Nigerians deserve this. The success (and
sustainability) of the country’s democracy depends on this.
And
this is the most important promise for the politicians to take to the
February 2015 elections and subsequently keep if elected.
Kolawole
Olaniyan, author of ‘Corruption and Human Rights Law in Africa’, is
Legal Adviser, International Secretariat of Amnesty International,
London.
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