In a message
delivered on his behalf by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, to
the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria on Sunday September 12, 2015, in
Port Harcourt, President Muhammadu Buhari declared
that “corruption in our country is so endemic that it constitutes a parallel
system. It is the primary reason for poor policy choices, waste and of course
bare- faced theft of public resources.”
While further
clarifying his administration’s commitment to the war against corruption, the
President said “our fight against corruption is not just a moral battle for
virtue and righteousness in our land, it is a fight for the soul and substance
of our nation.” Giving an insight into the way corruption destroys the nation,
the President told the Second Plenary of the Conference that “it is the main
reason why a potentially prosperous country struggles to feed itself and
provide jobs for millions.”
The President further
posited that “the hundreds of thousands of deaths in the infant, maternal
mortality statistics, the hundreds of thousands of annual deaths from
preventable diseases are traceable to the greed and corruption of a few. This
is why we must see it as an existential threat, if we don’t kill it, it will
kill us.” (Premium Times, September 14, 2015)
Messages
of this nature and a promise to do something about corruption in the country,
aided his winning the 2015 presidential election. He promised during the
campaigns to strengthen the anti-corruption agencies: EFCC and ICPC to be more
effective in carrying out their roles.
A year
into his administration, the government has clamped down on some of those it
says have stolen money from the government treasury during the previous
administration. Some of the probes have taken the government to investigating
campaign funds of the other political party, because they say the funds were
from the government treasury, thereby constituting a criminal offence.
Other
actions that are targeted at checking corruption include the implementation of
Treasury Single Account (TSA) to check proliferation of accounts belonging to
various agencies of government. There have also been some changes in the
Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Besides these efforts,
corruption continues at various levels of government as government officials
and the Police still demand and receive bribe to influence issues or even in
some cases, demand gratifications to do the job they were hired to do.
Though it
is being said that people are afraid of the President because of his
anti-corruption stance, does that mean that the President is not corrupt? Having
been a head of state, through coup d’état, and a one-time chairman of Petroleum
Trust Fund (PTF) is he free from any trace of corrupt practice? If his actions
on these two positions were free of corruption, is he conducting his family
life in such a way that no one would fault his actions?
A
development Historian, Bekeh Utietiang writing on ‘President
Muhammadu Buhari’s Anti-Corruption Sham In Nigeria’ believes
that Buhari’s corruption fight is a distraction. This is because he has not
cleaned up his own house, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which most of
its members were in PDP where they had enriched themselves from public funds in
the past 16 years. “It is impossible to
advance yourself as an anti-corruption crusader when the major benefactors of
your campaign are among the most corrupt Nigerians. After his election, Buhari
gave voice to these people by appointing them to his cabinet and other
governmental parastatals” Utietiang says (Huffington Post, March 3, 2016).
Indeed this aspect has been an issue in this government. However the decision
to appoint these people does not entirely depend on the President, but on his
party also. Is it possible to that he would have wanted somethings done
differently if he was an independent candidate? Now, does having such people
with corruption allegation in his cabinet make him corrupt?
During an interview with Aljazeera Television, in March 2016, President
Buhari said his children are schooling abroad because he can afford it. He
implied from his response that parents who are not able to source forex and
send their children abroad should not expect the government to sell forex to
them for that purpose. Some people have said that this position shows how
insensitive the President is towards the plight of other Nigerians and
therefore classified it as corruption. They believe he showed a posture of
modesty and therefore sending the children abroad when most parents who would
have loved to do so in Nigeria are not able because of forex restriction, was
being extravagant. Again, does this qualify as a reason to label him corrupt?
Now if there is no allegation of corruption on the person of the
President, and no one has petitioned the anti-corruption agencies concerning
him personally; should that give us confidence that his government would pursue
the anti-corruption fight to an end? It has been said that he who comes to
equity must come with clean hands. So if no known corrupt practice can be
traced to Muhammadu Buhari, we should be confident that he is prepared to work
till the corruption cases are fully dispensed with.
Other things that should be done to increase our confidence include:
a.
Speedy judicial
process to avoid unnecessary delays: This ought to have been taken care of with
the application of the provisions of the criminal justice act.
b.
Proper
investigation by the security agencies to have enough evidence to nail the
suspects
c.
Lawyers hired by
the accused to allow the cases flow in court instead of filing for frivolous
injunctions.
d.
National Assembly
to pass bills that would strengthen the anti-corruption agencies.
e.
National Assembly
to review laws that punish convicted corrupt persons to make them more
punitive.
f.
Check corruption
among police officials and improve their welfare
g.
Improve the welfare
of public and civil servants
h.
Set up a monitoring
framework to ensure that State governments spend according to plan, since the
higher percentages of their funds come from the federal government.
i.
Anti-corruption
agencies should be better organised and strategic in their actions
j.
Their actions
should be like media trial and appear lopsided to a particular section of the
society.
These should be done to create
more confidence in this fight against corruption. It is not only the president
that should do it. It is all arms of the government and at all levels of
government.
Talks
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