It is 24 years since the maximum ruler and dictator, General Sani Abacha, passed on in strenuous circumstances. Nevertheless, his name continues to resonate in Nigerian diplomacy, particularly in the humongous amount, codenamed ‘Abacha loot’, which the Western countries have been returning to Nigeria in instalments. Only on Tuesday last week, The PUNCH reported the return or the projected return of the sum of $23.4 million to the country in a ceremony attended by that country’s ambassador, Mary Leonard, and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN. In the case of the United States, the latest reparation brings up to $335 million returned to Nigeria in the last two years. Well known is the fact that as far back as 2018, Switzerland had reportedly returned $1 billion cumulatively as part of the loot warehoused by it. It is also hardly in doubt that up till now, the total figure of the loot returned to Nigeria so far billowed up to $3.65 billion. Were we a country famous for prudent financial management, the assets would have added up to quite something in ameliorating our current economic crisis.
As we all know, looted assets, even when they are returned, can be re-looted in a country like ours with a porous accountability regime where, for example, the former Account-General of the Federation is facing trial for the mysterious disappearance of N109 billion. That tells you that the very factors which created the Abacha loot, 24 years later are still very much with us. So, the nomenclature is a signifier for a country reeking in utter corruption and where government after government have been unable to slay the hydra in spite of several promises. For example, the current President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), came to office in 2015 with the exciting slogan “let us kill corruption before corruption kills Nigeria.” The jury is still out on how narrowly Nigeria has avoided being killed by corruption, but if the annual report of Transparency International on anti-corruption is anything to go by, optics apart, very little has changed.
In more sober climes, nations learn from tragedies, misfortunes and jinxes because they are determined that those misfortunes should not recur. I do not see many people even among those angling to rule us, talking about worthwhile lessons to take home from such a massive haemorrhage of national assets such as the Abacha loot much more raise discussion about how to ensure that we do not get into such a mess any longer.
To be sure, corruption had been with us since independence. During the Second Republic, to share an anecdote, this writer was looking for money to go overseas for post-graduate studies. The drive took me to several personalities including some politicians. However, one of the memorable things that I recall is that while my personal search continued, a British newspaper published the information that a Nigerian politician had given his British girlfriend a fat amount of money in pounds—several times over what I was looking for to study. The shocked girl cried out that she did not require such a hefty sum of money and would have to donate much of it to charity. Nigerian newspapers echoed the publication and there was some consternation and debate about how easy it was at the time for politicians to fritter away our resources while turning a blind eye to the qualitative improvement of the country. The event recounted occurred many years before the Abacha loot but we are no better off today.
If you want a recent example, then find how much the major political parties sprayed on delegates and aspirants during the recent presidential primaries. To get back to the heart of the matter, what precautions have we made since the Abacha loot and related loots to ensure that the country’s resources are not going to be up for dubious sales in the years to come? Pretty little, if you ask me; which means that the nation is still a sitting duck for the carting away of state assets by privileged individuals. The fundamental issue about the Abacha loot is that a single Nigerian became so powerful that he could steal the country blind without anybody batting an eyelid. Such degenerate matters take place also in other countries, including the United States. The difference between them and us is that the culprits once caught are unlikely to get away with blue murder, no matter how elevated their position is. This implies that they have created a deterrence effect which ensures that there is a reciprocal relationship between crime and punishment. Here, we have such institutions as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corruption and other Related Offences Commission; but their roles remain largely decorative, perfunctory and cosmetic.
At the bottom, there is the infirmity of political will when it comes to fighting corruption, reminding one of a book by Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala entitled “Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria.” One might add that “one step forward, two steps backwards” has been the bane of successive anti-corruption struggles. For there to be a loot there must be a ‘lootocracy’, referring to powerful individuals and networks that make it their full-time duty to milk Nigeria dry and to carry out state capture. You cannot dismantle a lootocracy by merely railing against it. You require a vanguard of dedicated reformers who are willing to come up with and sustain an agenda to fight corruption. What we have done so far is simply sloganise around anti-corruption hoping that slogans will do the trick and the sloganeers will reap publicity dividends.
If we mean business about ensuring that the Abacha loot does not become a staple pastime of our political system, then the politicians seeking power now should initiate a national conversation on how to end or drastically reduce public sector corruption. The famed writer Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie said at the recent annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association that we are a country starved of heroes. She meant that we are only playing at governance without caring to undertake the tough labour and exercise the stamina that governance reforms require.
If this country is not to be condemned to serial Abacha loots, we need leaders who will engage in reformist agenda setting and produce our own version of the Red or Green book which will popularise a national drive to reclaim lost ground as well as visionary followership that will provide buy-in. That is not enough. There must be efforts to overhaul the current institutional architecture so that they cannot be easily manipulated by wheeler dealers. Above all, there must enough grit on the part of leaders to make clear examples of those who are caught putting their hands in the cookie jar.
To be fair, Buhari, at least initially, tried to make a difference but sadly, the pressures of party politics and reluctance to go the full hog vitiated his idealism. What is required as we look towards the forthcoming elections is to dust up that enfeebled but lofty program, give it new life, invest it with fresh direction in order to create the kind of Nigeria that we have often dreamed about but has continued to elude us thus far.
