Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
THE
Finance Minister’s acknowledgement of the need by the Federal
Government to expedite action on the war on corruption in order to stop
leakages and maximise the dwindling oil revenues is imperative to
Nigeria’s future. But it is also certain to fail unless senior cabinet
ministers like her climb down from their high horse and admit the lack
of political will by the Jonathan government to clean up the Augean
stables.
It is unsurprising that Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala chose the public lecture, “Blocking Leakages Amid
Dwindling Oil Income,” organised by the Catholic Secretariat, Abuja, to
once again defend the Jonathan administration’s poor scorecard on graft,
thus sending the wrong message that she is an anti-corruption champion.
Defending the indefensible when the facts are not on your side is
always a difficult task.
Appearing on the surface to be a frank
assessment of the contemporary history of corruption and “the best
strategic way of tackling” it, the sermon Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala preached to
her audience was lacking in truth and sincerity. She said, “The cause
of the disease is we don’t have in place the institutions, the systems
and the processes to block and prevent it in the first place. That’s the
only difference between us and the people abroad.”
It is easier to articulate what should be
done than it is to be certain that it will happen. Though the minister
is right in what technology can do in preventing corruption, as shown by
the introduction of the Government Integrated Financial Management
Information System in saving N208 billion and weeding out 62,893 “ghost
workers” from the payroll system, Okonjo-Iweala is economical with the
truth by ignoring the role this government has played in either
weakening or completely destroying even the arguably feeble
“institutions, systems and processes,” it met on the ground. The story
of the Jonathan administration’s anti-graft effort is a classical case
of how to cripple and destroy institutions rather than how to build
them.
With all its imperfections, Nigeria
started a serious effort to fine-tune its corruption laws and build
appropriate institutions to enforce them. The emergence of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and
Other Related Offences Commission, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the
Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit and similar agencies were
clear efforts at erecting institutional bulwarks against corruption by
the Obasanjo government (1999 – 2007).
And just after, especially on Jonathan’s
watch, the war slowed down to a halt, leaving us with hollow
pronouncements like Okonjo-Iweala’s. Or what do you make of an
Attorney-General like Mohammed Adoke, and his immediate predecessor,
Michael Aaondoakaa, who acted as breaks on the anti-graft drive rather
than as its accelerators? For corruption charges to be dropped or a soft
landing arranged, all that a public official facing corruption charges
needs to do is to be on the side of government. Who is then subverting
the “institutions, systems and processes”?
Nigerians are still trapped in darkness
and the economy marooned at the lowest level of development mainly due
to the abuse and misuse of “institutions, systems and processes” by
public officials in selling the unbundled power firms to their companies
and cronies, who lack the wherewithal and the technical expertise to
play in the market.
Indeed, that would not be the first time
Okonjo-Iweala would defend this government on such a spurious ground. In
an April 2013 interview, where Christiane Amanpour of the CNN
pointedly accused the Jonathan government of granting a pardon to a
former governor who was convicted of stealing millions of dollars, the
minister’s quick response was: “…I strongly believe that we lack
institutions. We lack processes.” There was also the frightening case of
Stella Oduah, an aviation minister, who requested that the Nigerian
Civil Aviation Authority purchase bulletproof cars for her. The
officials obliged, spending $1.6 million of the agency’s funds to buy
two BMW SUVs to massage Oduah’s vanity. The 2012 N2.53 trillion fuel
subsidy scam and the cover-up that followed it are well known.
It is said that no bureaucracy can police
itself efficiently. That is why most anti-graft watchers, including
Transparency International, recommend that graft can be reduced only if
whistleblowers and non-state actors play an active role. But what has
the government made of the Nuhu Ribadu-led Committee on Petroleum
Revenue Task Force that uncovered, among other things, a missing $183
million in signature bonuses paid by oil firms between 2008 and 2011
after some whistleblowers raised the red flag? Or how far has the EFCC
gone in unravelling other serious allegations, including the Nigeria
Extractive Industries Transparent Initiative’s that the nation lost a
total of N272.9 billion to graft, non-remittance of revenues by oil
companies, vandalism and inefficiency of the public refineries between
2009 and 2011?
No doubt, building strong institutions is
fundamental to running a transparent system, making them work by
ensuring criminal prosecution of offenders is a more effective way to
fight a systemic culture of graft. Many local and foreign reports have
categorically accused this government of lacking the political will to
tackle corruption. A 2014 United States report, entitled, “Corruption
and Lack of Transparency in Government,” confirmed the often-stated view
that the efforts of the anti-graft agencies are deliberately stymied by
the government.
Regardless of what Okonjo-Iweala would
want the public and the international community to believe, the Jonathan
government has not demonstrated courage and conviction in the crusade
against graft, as the US Department of State 2012 once stated, in order
to “send a clear signal that the country is indeed committed to good
governance, to the security of its citizens, and to its rightful place
as a significant actor on the global stage.”
For leadership to be credible, a report,
“The Fight Against Corruption: A World Bank Perspective” says, it must
transcend mere pronouncements or ethical exhortations to combat the
evils of corruption. It needs to be backed by concrete, monitorable and
time-bound actions, to which the country’s leadership is held
accountable. That’s the only difference, to use the minister’s words,
between us and the people abroad.
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