By Joseph Shoremekun
Over the years, it has been generally agreed that corruption
is the bane of Nigeria’s development as successive administrations have failed
to stamp out the menace. Corruption seems to have seeped into virtually every
facet of our nation’s life and its people. It is also assumed that
infrastructural development as well as economic progress has been hampered by
the sordid high level of corruption in the public and private sectors of the
economy.
However, it is pertinent to note that the issue of
corruption in Nigeria is not a creation of the present administration of
President Goodluck Jonathan; but rather a consequence of the actions and
inactions of previous administrations that failed to stamp out corruption or
strengthen the public institutions necessary to reduce corruption to its barest
minimum in the country.
Also, a clear demonstration of the administration’s
commitment to fight corruption is the level of independence enjoyed by the
anti-graft agencies under the present administration. Before now, people saw
the anti-graft agencies as a tool in the hands of the executive to engage in
political vendetta against perceived enemies and opponents. However, the trial
of people perceived to be close to the administration, including the trial of
two men whose fathers were former chairmen of the PDP for alleged oil subsidy
fraud is a testimony that President Jonathan doesn’t view the campaign against
corruption in that light.
In fact, one of them was being tried while his father was
still administering the affairs of the ruling political party. Even the
Presidency through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public
Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe on July 29, 2012, referred to this trial as
unfortunate but insisted that due process must be adhered to. This once again,
abundantly shows the President’s commitment to due process, justice, equity and
the rule of law.
A public affairs analyst, Pearl Igho Patience speaking on the war against corruption in Nigeria, noted
that “governments seriously desirous of tackling the menace of corruption,
usually adopt a holistic strategy which encompass some or all of the under
listed benchmarks; enacting enabling laws which clearly define what corruption
is and spells out punitive measures, establishing an executive agency which is
transparent in its operations and is subject to the rule of law.
“Creating by law the enabling environment for
whistle-blowing (FOI), enhancing the judicial process such that existing laws,
processes and procedures do not hamper the dispensation of justice, plugging all
socio-economic loopholes within the system by eliminating bottlenecks and
increasing access to social goods and services.
“Gradually reducing incentives for corruption prevailing in
the society through institutional reforms, combating poverty, developing
manpower and empowering citizens, putting up an efficient and effective well
co-ordinate policies and programmes to combat poverty, create wealth, develop manpower
and empower the youth through job creation”.
Speaking further, he stated that before the emergence of
Jonathan as President, the Federal Government had already enacted the laws to
combat corruption and established agencies such as the Independent Corrupt
Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, and the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to prosecute offenders.
However, a critical assessment of the present
administration’s war against graft and corruption both in the public and
private sectors will establish the positive efforts and dogged commitment of
the Jonathan administration in stamping out corruption. Some of the laudable
efforts in this direction include assenting to the Freedom of Information Act,
which according to Mr. Justus Abuah, a deputy director of information comes
with “the objective of making public records and information more freely
available to Nigerians, and to also protect public records and information to
the extent that is consistent with public interest and the protection of
personal privacy”.
He added that the signing of this legislation into law by
the present administration has in no small measure raised the country’s
integrity profile in the comity of nations and has also abundantly made clear
the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan more than anyone else in the nation’s
history given life to the hitherto, comatose war against corruption. It should
be noted that the signing of this Act was greeted with encomiums from virtually
all facets of the country.
Another conscious effort by the present administration at
combating corruption is the administration’s efforts and policies aimed at
poverty reduction and employment generation. Some of these include the Subsidy
Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) which has positively and
tremendously, impacted on the lives of the citizenry.
Commenting on the significance of this scheme, Dr. Okupe,
said the scheme is expected to create 50,000 jobs under the Graduate Internship
Scheme, most especially promoting youth enterprise and innovation in Nigeria,
which ultimately, will help the government reduce youth unemployment and
eradicate widespread poverty.
In conclusion therefore, there is no doubt that the present
administration is winning the war against corruption even though many critics
of the administration see the pace or the war against graft as being too slow.
But the gains and successes of this war are evidenced in the blocking of
several hitherto loopholes for the stealing and siphoning of public funds in
the energy sector. The fertilizer subsidy scheme has increased fertilizer
access to 94 per cent from the previous 11 per cent.
The efforts of government has blocked the other avenues of
corruption which included the embezzlement of pension funds, falsification of
pension records, while the data capturing of all public servants to reduced
incidence of inflated salaries and the uncovering of ghost workers is saving
government billions of Naira.
The electoral reforms initiated by the Jonathan
administration which has resulted in the conduct of credible elections and resulting
in the opposition winning states that were traditionally headed by the ruling
PDP is a clear departure from the conduct of elections under previous
governments. The strengthening of the Bureau of Public Procurement and others,
including the publication of names of indicted oil marketers by the EFCC are
indicators that the Federal Government under the President doesn’t condone corruption
and puts a lie to claims by the opposition who make contrary allegations.
In my assessment, this action by the Jonathan administration
in publicly naming those behind the oil subsidy scam is novel in the nation’s
history. Going by the fact that excellence is a process and not a destination,
it is instructive to submit that while there are rooms for improvement in the
fight against corruption, it however remains abundantly clear that the present
administration has made very remarkable successes in fighting and tackling
corruption.
In tandem with the aphorism that when a child does well he
should be given a pat on the back as a sign of encouragement to do better, it
is my candid estimation that the successes recorded in the fight against
corruption by the President Jonathan administration should be acknowledged and
commended by all Nigerians, irrespective of political leanings to act as a
stimulus to the administration to record more successes.
Joseph, a public
affairs commentator based in Abuja can be reached on shoremekunjoseph
@yahoo.com
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