Corruption in Nigeria

1
Corruption in Nigeria
2
Introduction

• Nigeria, with a population of over 100 million
  people ( most populous country in Africa)
• Known for exports of agricultural products
  including groundnut, palm oil, cocoa, cotton,
  beans, timber, and hides and skins
• during the oil boom period of the seventies
  Nigeria made headlines with her oil wealth, as
  the country is richly endowed with oil and
  natural gas resources capable of financing a
  number of important projects to meet basic
  consumption and development needs

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• One of the most corrupt countries in the world
• succession of dictatorial regimes, disregard of
  human rights, political instability and economic
  mismanagement
• Result
• Stagnant economic growth and development
  potential
• With a per capita income of 340 Nigeria now
  ranks amongst the least developed countries in
  the World Bank league tables
• The Nigerian higher education system, once
  regarded as the best in sub-Saharan Africa, is in
  deep crisis
• Health services are inadequate
• Graduate unemployment is rising
• crime rate is rising

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Definitional issues

• Definition of corruption-gt misapplication of
  public resources to private ends
• Supply determined (briber-initiated) model of
  corruption the size of the bribe, determined by
  the briber, is linked to the opportunity costs of
  time for the briber.
• Demand determined (bribee-initiated) model of
  corruption, the public servant sets the price of
  corruption
• Determinant of the size of the bribe official
  may be influenced by a number of factors,
• Imperfect information on the part of the briber,
  family pressure, favouritism for a particular
  client and nepotism

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Potential causes

• Poor pay incentive? Poverty and Want
• more than half of the population earn less than
  300.00 per annum
• Onye agu-u ka onye ala njo A hungry man is an
  angry man a person is not ready to obey any
  ethics or code of conduct before satisfying his
  hunger

Culture and acceptance of corruption by the
population ?Culture of Gift-Giving when such a
gift is meant to attract favour, the gift then
becomes a means to an end and not an end in
itself.

• Report of a Workshop for Civil Society
  Organisations involved in the fight against
  Corruption, organised by Zero Corruption
  Coalition, (ZCC) Lagos, December 11-12, 2008

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• Enthronement of Mediocrity
• Nigerians(Under-qualified, unemployed)
  ?connections with or are related to Nigerians in
  positions of authority for qualified candidates

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• Dual Loyalty and Patriotism of Nigerian Citizens
• Colonization by the British/ the social contract
  theory ?coming together various ethnic groups and
  different geo-political zones
• ethnic identity in Nigeria ? there is nothing
  wrong in embezzling federal government or state
  government funds (enrich themselves, their
  families, ethnic groups and the geo-political
  zone where they come from)

8

• Colonial Mentality inability / willingness to
  weld the British/local cultures together into one
  acceptable mode of behaviour
• colonial mentality warped mentality
• "Olu Oyibo being in the service of the European
  or foreigner or stranger ? copying or aping the
  cultural behaviours and practices of their
  foreign colonizers(dishonest, fraudulent, and
  deceitful service and interactions)

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• Corruption among Nigeria NGOs, CBO, IBO
  Practitioners, And Donor Agencies To Their
  Organizations
• do not care to audit their annual financial
  account ORlook for Chartered Accountant-friends
  and relatives to audit the financial accounts of
  their organizations

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• Low deterrent- the punitive measures for corrupt
  practices need to be strengthened
• Lack of access to public information. A lot of
  secrecy still pervades Government documents, and
  this underlies the need for the passage of the
  freedom of Information Bill presently before
  Nigerias National Assembly.
• Insecurity of Informants

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• Corrupt Electoral system
• Rigging of election and falsification of voters
  registers examination malpractices false
  identity of candidates manhandlinginvigilators
  destruction of scripts by arson alteration of
  exam results

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Important Cases
13
Index

• Pre-Independence and the First Republic
• Gowon Administration
• Shagari Administration
• Buhari Administration
• Babangida Administration
• Abacha Administration

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Pre-Independence and the First Republic

• Azikiwe was the first major political figure
  investigated for questionable practices.
• In western Nigeria, politician Adegoke Adelabu
  was investigated following charges of political
  corruption leveled against him by the opposition.
• In the Northern region, against the backdrop of
  corruption allegations leveled against some
  native authority officials in Bornu.

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Administrations

• a corruption scandal surrounding the importation
  of cement engulfed his administration.
• two major individuals from the middle belt of the
  country were accused of corruption.
• the administration of Murtala Mohammed later went
  on and made reformist changes.

• Mysterious fires.
• investigations into the collapse of the defunct
  Johnson Mathey Bank of London.
• a Rice shortage, led to accusations of corruption
  against the NPN government.

• Gowon Administration

• Shagari Administration

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Administrations

• In 1985, a cross section of political gladiators
  were convicted of different corrupt practices
  under the government of General Buhari.

• The regime of general Babangida,actually is seen
  as the body that legalized corruption.

• Buhari Administration

• Babangida Administration

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Administrations

• Abacha Administration

• The death of the general Sani Abacha revealed the
  global nature of graft.
• A Swiss banking commission report indicted Swiss
  banks.

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Cases

• In 2002, the case of Julius Makanjuola.
• In 2003, the 214 million SAGEM/national ID card
  affair.
• In May 2003, the improper payments case.
• In 2003, the 180 million bribe.

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Action Against Corruption

• President Olusegun Obasanjo
• declared anti-corruption as focus of government
  agenda
• proceeded to pass the Corrupt Practices and other
  related Offences Act.
• established the Independent Corrupt Practices and
  other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in 2000

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Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related
Offences Commission (ICPC)

• receive and investigate reports of corruption
• in appropriate cases prosecute the offenders
• examine, review and enforce the correction of
  corruption prone systems and procedures of public
  bodies
• educate and enlighten the public on and against
  corruption and related offences

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Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related
Offences Commission (ICPC)

• In the first 3 years, received 942 petitions,
  about 400 of the petitions were under
  investigation, and 60 were at various stages of
  prosecution
• After 4 years, the ICPC had failed to make any
  major convictions. Mustapha Akbania, chairman of
  the ICPC complaint ICPC was - underfunding -
  not empowered to investigate governors

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Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related
Offences Commission (ICPC)

• The ICPC has prosecuted a number of prominent
  Nigerians
• Ghali Umar Na'Abba, speaker of the House of
  Representatives (2002)
• Fabian Osuji, head of the Nigerian Federal
  Ministry of Education (2006)
• Cornelius Adebayo, head of the Federal Ministries
  of Communication and Transportation (2007)

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Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related
Offences Commission (ICPC)

• The ICPC also started to work with other
  organization
• The Association of Certified Anti-Money
  Laundering Specialists (ACAMS)
• United Nations Committee on Anti-Corruption
  (UNCAC)
• Transparency International
• the African Union (AU) Convention Against
  Corruption

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Outcomes

• According to the latest Corruption Perception
  Index published by Transparency International
• Nigeria ranked 134/178

Rank Country Index Index Index Index Index Index Index Index Index
2010 Country 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003
134  Nigeria 2.4 2.7 2.2 2.2 1.9 1.6 1.4 1.6