The 2021 Corruption Index ranking issued by Transparency International a little over a fortnight ago has understandably elicited much heat and hoopla within Nigeria. The reason is that Nigeria was rated 154th position out of 180 countries polled, falling five places below the 2020 rating of 149th position, scoring as the second most corrupt country in West Africa, its worst performance in recent years. In the light of the fact that the current regime has openly committed itself to the flagship programme of public sector reform in the shape of an anti-corruption initiative, that dejecting assessment must be biting. Of course, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party has capitalised on the dismal ranking to dismiss the anti-corruption programme as a joke and a ruse. Political tirades, however, are cheap and do not build a nation, suggesting that we must go beyond them in the search for more effective policymaking.
It is unwise that presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, in a remark that can only be described as loose castigated TI for releasing what he described as a “sensational and baseless report.” Shehu must have forgotten that the assessment was not about Nigeria only but was for 180 countries. Besides, TI made it clear that despite repeated commitment, 131 countries out of the 180 had made no appreciable progress on anti-corruption in a decade. It would have been edifying if the spokesperson, instead of taking TI to the cleaners, made some effort to understand Nigeria’s worsening ranking with a view to seeing how the free fall can be arrested.
On Monday when he appeared on Channels TV, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, attempted a more enlightening defence of the regime by pointing to other international surveys, for instance, a survey by the United Nations, which were less unflattering than TI. He went on to discuss the government’s reaction to widespread criticisms of the pace and character of its reformist drive. Missing, however, is a sense of admission that all is not well with the programme as well as an enunciation of what the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), will do to reverse the trend. However greatly one despises TI, it is difficult to downplay its stature as an authoritative source on corruption across the globe, including the developed countries, or to throw its annual reports used for planning by investors and governments into the dustbin.
In an elaboration of the report, the Nigerian Chapter of TI, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, referred to several aspects of increasing corruption, which include damning audit reports, security sector corruption, mismanagement of funds in respect of COVID-19, treatment of high-profile cases with levity as well as judicial challenges. Although CISLAC’s remarks are more like underpinning symptoms rather than causal explanations, no one can dispute meaningfully its sectoral breakdown and exegesis on corruption provided by the organisation.
In fact, as this columnist observed recently, the International Monetary Fund to which Nigeria is increasingly indebted, gave a thumbs-down to public sector corruption corroborating and feeding into TI’s report which, don’t forget, is a study on perception of corruption by interviewing political and economic leaders. The iteration provided by CISLAC can be supplemented by additional symptoms such as incoherence within government concerning the anti-corruption programme, a phenomenon whereby different departments work at cross-purposes, lack of clarity concerning the programme, reluctant reformers in top governmental positions and the vicissitudes of a reformist drive in the midst of escalating misery and worsening poverty. Concerning the last factor, it must be extremely difficult to sustain an anti-corruption programme in the midst of such spectacular poverty fuelled by dire inflationary upswing as Nigeria is currently going through. The resultant cynicism in such an undertaking is captured by the opening quote, “na anti-corruption we go chop,” suggesting that a people faced with existential crunch are unlikely to buy into high-minded reformism.
An anecdote from the history books will put the point in a clearer perspective. During the government of Joseph Stalin, the Russian dictator who put his country into a rigorous collectivisation programme causing many deaths, the joke was told that the ghost of Vladimir Lenin, his predecessor in office, appeared to Stalin. Reportedly, the conversation went thus:
Lenin: Stalin, how goes it?
Stalin: All is well, sir. The people are all with me.
Lenin (retorting): One more push in the direction of collectivisation, and the people will all be with me.
To drive the analogy home, many people in Nigeria today are on the brink of extinction because of the harsh economic climate, whether our leaders appreciate it or not. Such devouring circumstances are hardly the best occasions for reformism if only because the issue is one of life or death. This is not a justification of a failed anti-corruption endeavour but an underscoring of the inauspicious climate for the reform, even if it was more orderly, more purposive and more systematic than it had been.
Crucially, reforms, if they must succeed, must have reformers in the shape of a leadership that is both committed, visionary and purpose-driven; a reform movement, a reform-value education taking the form of a red book or green book, a reform project consisting of a planned and well-thought-out programme, reform scenario building which will anticipate contingencies. What we currently have in Nigeria — and if care is not taken this may get worse in succeeding administrations — is at best hesitant reformers not fully convinced about or not willing to pay the price of reformism. That apart, there is no reform script that explains the many contradictions, zigzags, moral capitulations and politicisation of the anti-graft policy.
If we go down memory lane a bit, in several high-profile cases including that of the former Secretary to Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal; former Chairperson of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina; former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Professor Usman Yusuf, it took the insistence of civil society to get a reluctant administration to act on cases of wild improprieties against them. In the case of Lawal, Buhari on one occasion claimed confusingly to have “cleared” him. More recent high-profile cases being dilated upon include suspended police officer Abba Kyari, former Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu and others.
Considering that elections are pretty close, it is unlikely that the reset advocated by this columnist for the anti-corruption agenda will take place in the twilight of the current regime. The open question now is: will Buhari’s successor be able to carry out the required rejuvenation of the reformist project now blown off course? This would have most likely been the case if the current regime is able, in spite of all, to finish strong on this and other burning issues like growing insecurity, economy gone gaga to mention but a few.
If Nigeria’s ranking by TI is not to worsen in the coming and successive years, then the entire programme must be rethought, reinvigorated, firmed up, and de-politicised. It cannot come as a province of political partisanship or a flash-in-the-pan approach. The question now is: Will any of those angling to become Buhari’s successor pick up the gauntlet?
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