President Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari’s trump card is the fight against
corruption. He has realised that most Nigerians hate the blow corruption
has dealt on Nigeria for decades. Much of the money that would have
been used to provide infrastructure and build the nation has been stolen
and stashed away in foreign bank accounts and also invested in property
and businesses overseas.
Therefore, anytime Nigerians hear that a corrupt public officer has
been arrested, they go wild with joy, asking for stiff penalty for the
person. Some even ask for the death penalty. But who can blame
Nigerians? Corruption has caused the death of many children who could
have survived if there were good medical facilities in our hospitals.
Many Nigerians had died in road crashes caused by potholes that would
not have existed if the money set aside for road construction was not
embezzled. Many Nigerians had died of dehydration in the desert trying
to cross over to Europe for greener pastures because the money that
should have been pumped into the economy had been embezzled, leaving the
nation impoverished.
Having realised how impassioned Nigerians are on the issue of
corruption, Buhari has taken advantage of it fully. There is no speech
he makes in Nigeria or overseas that he does not harp on corruption and
how it has crippled the nation. The same thing occurs when Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo, presidential aides and APC leaders speak.
Anytime there is a negative news story against the government, the
Presidency releases a story on corruption or announces some huge amount
of money recovered, and the attention of the public is immediately taken
away from the negative story.
But there are issues that point to the fact that corruption is
laughing at the efforts being made to eradicate it. The first instance
is the shocking pictures of malnourished and dying Internally Displaced
Persons in camps in Borno State released to the media last month by
Doctors Without Borders. The pictures looked as if they came from some
distant country ravaged by war and blockaded from food and water or like
pictures of Biafran children during the Nigerian Civil War.
Doctors Without Borders said that 200 people died in a month in the
camp from starvation and dehydration. The body described the situation
as a “catastrophic humanitarian emergency” and said that refugees at the camp spoke of “children dying of hunger and digging new graves every day”.
It was shocking that such pictures came from an IDP camp that the
Federal Government and the state governments said they had spent
billions of naira to take care of in addition to the various products
donated by individuals and organisations. It is obvious that while the
President tells the world that he is fighting corruption, corruption is
waltzing around under his nose, stealing the funds and the food meant
for the IDPs.
Similar pictures emerged recently about our prisons, where inmates,
especially those on the awaiting-trial-list who are not allowed to step
out of the prison, were seen looking like skeletons because of
starvation and malnutrition. Ironically, the Minister of Interior,
Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau, said in May that the Federal Government had
an annual budget of N10bn for the feeding of its 63,142 prisoners (the
population as of March 31, 2016). Nigerians asked in shock: “What happened to that money?” The answer is simple: Corruption.
Also, some weeks ago, it was reported by some news channels that the Central Bank of Nigeria embarked on a secret recruitment
involving only children of the top political class. It sounded like a
joke that could not be possible in the administration of Buhari, who has
repeatedly said that he would fight corruption to a standstill. But
that story turned out to be true. The Presidency said nothing about that
corrupt practice.
While that was dying down, another story surfaced that the Federal Inland Revenue Service
had done a secret recruitment that had the children of the high and the
mighty as beneficiaries. Again, the Presidency said nothing, and did
nothing. No person was punished. The recruitment was not cancelled.
As if that was not enough, last week, it was reported that the Nigerian Prisons Service
had undertaken its own secret recruitment. It still followed the same
pattern. As usual, the Presidency said nothing and did nothing.
Excluding these three Federal Government bodies, other government
bodies may have carried out a similar secret recruitment or are planning
to do the same. And there is a trend in all of the recruitment
exercises. To fulfil the requirement of the constitution that
recruitment must reflect the federal character, those recruited were
randomly assigned states across the federation.
What can be deduced from this secret recruitment of the children of
the influential and well-connected is that the silence of Buhari shows
that he is aware of it and endorses it. How then can the fight against
corruption be successful with such occurring repeatedly?
To know whether the fight against corruption has any effect, you
need to visit any government agency or attempt to do any transaction
with any of them, whether on the federal, state or local government
level. It is a complete case of business as usual. Bribes are still
demanded brazenly. There is no secrecy about it. Nothing still gets done
if bribes are not offered.
Buhari may spend four years in office, or a maximum of eight years,
if he gets re-elected in 2019. It will be tragic if after all this
effort and raised hope, we discover at the end of his tenure that
nothing has changed on the issue of corruption. Corruption is not like
armed robbery whose perpetrators can be easily seen. Corruption is also
tempting unlike armed robbery, which is too risky. It does not have the
type of bad image associated with armed robbery. It pays huge dividends,
given the honour society accords to those who are well-to-do.
Therefore, fighting corruption is not as easy as fighting a crime like
armed robbery. It requires a systematic and systemic approach, with the
creation of strong institutions, investment in technology, reduction of
the direct contact of officials with funds, reorientation, and living by
example by the leaders.
But most importantly, something feeds the corruption that takes
place in Nigeria. It is the availability of free money that is seen as
belonging to nobody. There is a kind of competition among those who are
involved in public service to grab as much as they can. This attitude of
public money not being anybody’s money has its root in the type of
federal structure we practise, which makes all resources deposited in
the federation account and shared among the three tiers of government
every month. If it is not changed for a structure that empowers the
states to work for their money and choose how to spend it, corruption
will continue and even get worse, in spite of all the efforts of Buhari
and anybody who will come after him.
In its manifesto, the ruling All Progressives Congress has this as
one of the things it would do if elected: “Initiate action to amend our
constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and
responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench
true federalism and the Federal spirit.” Since the APC won last year,
its top guns, including the party chairman, the President, and the Vice
President, have been singing a different song on the issue of
restructuring and true federalism.
On bended knees, we appeal to this administration to embrace
restructuring and true federalism to save Nigeria from corruption,
retrogression and ethnic and religious strife.
- Azuka Onwuka, azonwuka@yahoo.com 0809-8727-263 (sms only)
Twitter @BrandAzuka
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