Causes of Corruption
The causes of corruption are myriad, and they have political and cultural variables. Some studies point to a link between ‘corruption and social diversity, ethno-linguistic fractionalization, and the proportions of country’s population adhering to different religious traditions’ (Lipset and Lenz, 2000). Yet, other studies note that corruption is widespread in most non-democratic countries and particularly in countries that have been branded ‘neo-patrimonial,’ ‘kleptocratic’ and ‘prebendal’ (Hope, et. al (eds.) 2000; Lewis, 1996; also see NORAD 2000). Thus the political system and the culture of a society could make the citizens more prone to corrupt activities.
Recently, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had to relieve some of its officials of their posts recently because they were corrupt. And it was not too long ago that all the commissioners of the European Union (EU) resigned because they, too, were found to be corrupt beyond acceptable limits. And quite recently, the Enron Corporation (energy giant) and World-Com (a telecommunication company) in the United States were perceived corrupt because they ‘manipulated their balanced sheets, profit and loss account and tax liabilities.’ And Arthur Andersen (Enron’s accountant) collapsed for greed and fraud, as it was charged with obstruction of justice in connection with the Enron probe (Reuters: June 27, 2002; The Observer (UK), June 9, 2002). These developments could be attributed to the culture and capitalistic nature of the society that would dollarize everything and places high premium on profit-maximization.
For Bryce (1921), the fundamental factors that engender corrupt practices in less developed nations include:
i) ) Great inequality in distribution of wealth;
ii) Political office as the primary means of gaining accesses to wealth;
iii) Conflict between changing moral codes;
iv) The weakness of social and governmental enforcement mechanisms; and
v) The absence of a strong sense of national community
From the foreground it is evident that corruption is not peculiar to Nigeria, but it is a viable enterprise in the society. However, the causes of corruption in Nigeria may not deviate significantly (if at all) from the above factors. But some of the factors unique to the Nigerian situation include:
Obsession with materialism and compulsion for shortcut to affluence: Nigerians would like to be identified by their material possession. They talk about the kind of, or how many cars they own; how big their house is, and the number of traditional (and academic) titles are appended to their name, irrespective of how those things are acquired. Thus, many people in the society would not like to go full length to earn what they want -material or otherwise -but would prefer the dubious shortcut to affluence. Unfortunately, one of the popular indices of good life in Nigeria has become flamboyant affluence and conspicuous consumption (Ndiulor, March 17, 1999). The ‘brazen display of wealth by public officials’ they are unable to explain the source, points to how bad corruption has reached in the society. Many of these officials lived on modest income before being elected or appointed into political offices (ThisDay, June 24, 2002).
Effects of Corruption
Studies have documented the myriad negative impacts of corruption on the sociopolitical and economic development of societies (Mauro 1995 and 1997; Lipset and Lenz 2000; Sen 2000). It has been noted that corruption causes a reduction in quality and quantity of goods and services available to the public, as companies would cut corners or hoard goods to increase profit margins. The NNPC and oil marketers, etc, in Nigeria are involved in many crooked activities to create artificial fuel scarcity to push up prizes. Thus, corruption effects investment, economic growth and government expenditure choices; it also reduces private investment (Mauro 1997). Despite the immoral aspect and pernicious effects of corruption, some scholars have argued that corruption could be beneficial to political development or “political modernization” (Pye, March 1965). Gluckman (1955) noted that scandals associated with corruption sometimes have the effect of strengthening a value system of a society as a whole. This is probably true in relation to Nigeria, where scandals associated with the General Sani Abacha’s pillage of the treasury gave the nation some food for thought. However, Nigeria has not been able to strengthen its essential structures, because fraud and corruption are still rampant in government.
However, some studies have shown that corruption may help to ease the transition from traditional life to a modern political life. Thus, the vast gap between literate official and illiterate peasant, which is often characteristic of the countryside, may be bridged if the peasant approaches the official bearing their traditional gifts (or corrupt) money equivalent. Toward this, McMullan (July 1961) points out that “a degree of low-level corruption” can ‘soften relations of officials and people.’ And as Shils (1962) noted corruption could ‘humanize government and make it less awesome.’ These observations are common occurrences in Nigeria where communities pay political visits to the President, Ministers, Governors, Commissioners, Local Government Chairmen, and top civil servants (with cows, wines, cola nuts and ‘Ghana must go’ bags) in other to get them attend to their local problems.
Notwithstanding the apparent benefits of corruption, any person living in Nigeria where ubiquitous corruption has ravaged the society would find it difficult, if not impossible, to accept that corruption is beneficial, no matter how plausible it might be. Therefore, this paper concentrates on the negative impacts of corruption on societies (and Nigeria in particular).
Corruption negatively impacts economic growth. According to Lipset and Lenz (2002), its effect on growth is in part, as a result of reduced level of investment, as corruption adds to investment risk. Corruption reduces public spending on education (Mauro 1997 and 1995). And the effect of corruption on education comes from the fact that governments spend relatively more on items to make room for “graft” (Shleifer & Vishny, 1993; Lipset & Lenz, 2002).
The effect of corruption on education is well stated in a statement made by Nicholas Costello (November/ December 2001) at a European Commission (EC) meeting to support Nigeria’s anti-poverty efforts. He was reported to have said, “Nigeria has enough money to tackle its poverty challenges. If the government can win this [its] battle against corruption and mismanagement, the money will start to turn into functioning schools, health services and water supply, thus laying the foundation to eradicate poverty” (Dike, May 27, 2003). And it has also been argued that the ‘mismanagement of public funds’ and not paucity of funds that the federal government often claims, is the main cause of the inability of the government to adequately fund the nation’s tertiary institutions (Obasi, May 22, 2003).
Corruption impacts negatively on government expenditure, because corrupt government officials would shift government expenditures to areas in which they could collect bribes easily. Unfortunately, this makes large and hard-to-manage projects, such as airports or highways or ‘large, high-cost capital intensive projects’ easy prey to frauds (Cooksey 1999). This is probably one of the reasons many development projects are often made unnecessarily complex in Nigeria to justify the corrupt and huge expense on it. The new national stadium in Abuja, which was said to have gulped millions of Naira more than necessary, is a case in point. Also, some studies have tied poverty and income inequalities to corruption (Lipset & Lenz 2000, and Cooksey 1999). In particular Cooksey (1999) notes that corruption ‘reduces the size’ of a nation’s ‘economic cake’ thereby exposing some ‘segments of the population to poverty.’
Corruption has taught the Nigerian society a wrong lesson that it does not pay to be honest, hardworking and law-abiding. This is because through corrupt means many political office holders have acquired wealth and properties in and outside Nigeria and display their ill-gotten wealth without the society blinking. This has, unfortunately, made politics a big business (a do or die affair) in the society, because anything spent to secure a political office is regarded as an investment that matures immediately one gets into office.
According to Haijia Aisha Ismail (former Minister of Women Affairs and Youth Development) in a report in ThisDay of July 7, 2002, corruption and immorality are among the causes of injustice against women. Thus, human trafficking (children and women), which is a corrupt behavior, is one of the ways to lure women and children into prostitution and slavery.
Corruption wastes skills, as precious time is often wasted to set up chains of committees to fight corruption, and monitor public projects, which are often abandoned by contractors in collaboration with some unscru-pulous politicians. Nigeria has unending chains of corruption-fighting commissions, including the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) the Police, Central Bank and the Court of Justice, etc. But none of them, as This Day of May 22, 2003 reported, has the will to fight corruption, because some of the officers are themselves corrupt. Corruption leads to ‘aid abuse’ or aid foregone (Hope, et. al., 2000). It was reported recently by Rueters (April 7, 2002) that the funds (about 20 million euros -about $17.5million) donated by the European Union (EU) for polio eradication program in Nigeria was missing. The report noted that the director of Nigeria’s polio eradication campaign placed the funds in an account at Hallmark Bank (a foreign bank) to yield her some interests for personal use. This is not surprising, because it is a common practice in the society.
The Final Solution to Corruption in Nigeria
When Corruption has become so routine that even seasoned thieves and corruption God-fathers ( Like our dear friend Umaru Dikko ) see it as madness. It is time the Nigeria state face reality and re-invents an ingenious way to stop this monster called corruption otherwise we would all be consumed by it. EFCC is fighting a loss battle her Chairman has been quoted and I quote “ saying some of our political leaders have mental problems and need Psychiatric help” , It is time to get back to the drawing board and look for a more practical solution. That Solution is what I call the Final solutions just like the Nazis when they were hell bent on eradicating the Jews they had to dig deep and involve the some of the finest brains in Germany to come up with an ingenious way of dealing with the Jews problem which they see as the cause of all their problems. I am not in anyway advocating or in support of what Nazi Germany did, but what I am interested in is the word Final. Final means all other methods have been tried and failed we shall try one more last solution and if it did not work we might as well give up. Nazi Germany believes the problems of their society had to do with the Jews and to their thinking they came out with what they thought was the final solution. Today Nigerians need a final solution to the Corruption which has become endemic and it is crippling the nation. Electricity discovered in the mid 1850’s and today 2009, 159 years after its discovery Nigeria cannot not boast of constant supply of electricity despite all the technologies available today. This is an un-acceptable situation.
Final Solution
1. The Federal Government should establish a new ministry or Agency called the Federal Vetting Agency or Federal Asset Declaration Agency either of those names will do.
2. The Agency should have a Chairman based in Abuja and 36 Commissioners based on each of the states of the federation.
3. The aim of the agency is to Vet all political office holders from councillors to the presidency.
4. All future political office holders should declare their assets in an asset register before they can run for an elective post.
5. The Agency should have a web site which should be made public, people can check what the assets of prospective candidates running for various offices. People who have chosen to run for public office should be scrutinized by the public.
6. The Agency will issue each political office holder a certificate after verification has been concluded, this certificate should have been received 3 months to the commencement of elections.
7. A recent case that I read on the Net about the Governor of Ebonyi State buying 5th hand peageout 305, 11 years ago and now he is worth N80 billion will not happen in future.
8. With this method 90% of the resources of each state and local government will be spent in those states and LG.
9. The EFCC should be incorporated into this new Agency and will be the prosecution arm of the agency. They will investigate any case of misappropriation or allegation of fraud.
10. I think this method will eradicate 90% of fraud and embezzlement. A man before he became a Governor has one house and all of a sudden after he becomes a Governor has houses in every city will be questioned on how he came to acquire such wealth in short space of time. If he cannot provide a good reasons how he got the this sudden wealth, the agency will be given the power to sell those properties and the proceeds put back into the coffers of the state or LG, or Federal Ministry as the case may be.
Welcome To Atolagbeismail's Blog 