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Isaac N. Obasi
In February this year, members of the House of Representatives arm of the National Assembly (NASS) were reported to have rejected a plan to buy Innoson made-in-Nigeria SUVs as official cars for them in preference to imported brand which of course are outrageously expensive in the eyes of the common man. Although there was wide-spread public outcry, but it does appear that the NASS is still going ahead with its preferred plan. Some people have argued that in doing so, the law makers have broken no law. However, the issue is that the class-based and exploitative law that allows this promotes and sustains institutionally-sanctioned corruption.
Nigeria is a country where the recruitment process of people into political leadership positions socializes them into both grand and petty corruption. It matters not who they were before joining politics (namely professors, academic doctors, pastors, social critics, well-known policy analysts, public commentators, etc), the recruitment process automatically orientates them into all forms of corruption. Generally speaking, politically-exposed-persons in Nigeria can hardly escape the acts of corruption either directly or indirectly. The question would therefore be: to what extent are they politically corrupt, and not are they politically corrupt or not. For example, the mere act of high profile political leaders seeking health care services abroad alone places them in the trajectory of corruption even when they think ‘rightly’ that it is normal because others have been doing it. Again, the mere act of purchasing one official car alone with over N40m places a public official in the of trajectory of corruption even when the person involved sees nothing wrong since in his or her view, all other public officials are (or have been) doing it. One Executive Secretary of a federal government parastatal said so and even added ‘what is the big deal about it’? The time has come for Nigeria to redefine what corruption is, so that political leaders and other public officials would realize that they are already swimming in an ocean of corrupt practices without knowing it. For example, the practice of a minister using four to five expensive cars while going to work is unacceptable in the present circumstance of falling global oil prices.The case of governors is worst.
Some years back, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara said that even though President Muhammadu Buhari is acclaimed to be corruption-free, he is not the only one free of corruption in Nigeria (see Daily Sun, Wednesday, May 16, 2018, p.9). According to the report, the then Speaker added that ‘there are millions of Nigerians that have not bowed their knees to the god of corruption and that fact must be emphasized’. My reaction is that the former Speaker is both right and wrong.
On the one hand, he is right in the sense that in the midst of the institutionalized corruption (where all with no exception swims in the ocean of ‘officially permitted corruption’) there are still some political leaders who are not greedy by embezzling public funds. But unfortunately we are operating an institutionalized and officially-permitted corruption which exists in the area of numerous and inescapable wastages that occur in the very expensive running of public offices and in the way officially allocated funds are smartly expended at the discretion of top officials. This is the sense in which the ‘wait for your turn theory’ is theoretically and empirically grounded.
On the other hand, Dogara is wrong in the sense that if we regard institutionalized and officially permitted corruption as corruption (and which is correct), then it is very hard to find any public official who is not directly or indirectly involved in corruption. No matter the justification, the buying of one official car worth over N40m in a country where there are many living in extreme or abject poverty, places the buyer and user in the trajectory of corruption regardless of what our exploitative class-based laws say. Such waste of public funds is corruption in itself. I do not know what the situation is in Botswana today, but some years back, many official cars are within the Toyota Camry family except for few top political functionaries. Again, I may not know exactly how things are right now in Botswana, but listening to Mrs. Rose Seretse (former Director General, Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Crime Commission) on NTA’s Good Morning Nigeria on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, gives one a sense of the continued existence of the time-honoured moderate lifestyle of public officials in Botswana.
Nigerian public office system needs to impose moderate life style on all public officials including the president. The waste of resources in public life is unimaginably high. Perhaps, it is not out of place to suggest that Nigerian public office holders need to be exposed to retreats with political consultants from Botswana. I give kudos to the Media Trust Limited, Abuja for its rewarding relationship with Mr. Festus Mogae (former president of Botswana). Nigeria can do more with him in this regard by inviting him to organize a retreat for our political office on how to enthrone a modest life style in our governance system. Our present wasteful governance culture has to change and urgently too particularly now that oil revenue is dwindling drastically.
Given therefore the character of political recruitment process in Nigeria, it is laughable to hear political leaders blaming others for corruption and not themselves. This is a sheer sanctimonious claim as indicators of corruption such as nepotism, abuse of office, and other acts of impunity, reveal the contrary. For example, a political leader who is not involved in acts of embezzlement of public funds but closes his eyes to what his close aids/associates are doing (such as breaches of procurement processes), is ipso facto not free from corruption indirectly.
Lastly, in support of Honourable Dogara, there are millions of Nigerians who are not corrupt and these are people doing the right thing in their small corners delivery services to the people. Nobody sings their songs, and they never receive national honours. Yet many public servants who are corrupt are the ones that receive national honours. What an irony?
Prof. Obasi, who teaches Public Administration at the University of Abuja, writes via [email protected]
