How to stop corruption in Nigeria

 

Causes of corruption:Although Nigerian leaders in the last twenty to thirty years have made such a sing-song of fighting corruption, it does not appear that any serious effort has been made to address the real causes of corruption. Thus without a proper diagnosis of the causes of corruption, trying to fight it is akin to treating symptoms rather than rooting out the disease itself. This unfortunately appears to be the strategy adopted so far in fighting corruption in Nigeria. We must now attempt to answer the questions that Nigerians should be asking their crusaders of corruption. What indeed are the domestic causes of corruption in one of the world’s most corrupt countries?

It is necessary to observe that aside from the quality, or lack of it, of people running the Nigerian economic and political shows, there are some systemic conditions in the Nigerian polity that promote corruption. To start with, it is unfortunate that power is concentrated in the hands of decision makers who in reality are not directly accountable to the people as is often seen in non-democratic regimes. This is a direct result of Nigeria’s inability since independence to always conduct credible, free, fair and uncontroversial elections to political offices in the country. With political office holders acquiring power through disputable if not illegitimate methods, the situation is not helped by perennial lack of government transparency in decision making. Again costly political campaigns in recent times, with expenses exceeding normal sources of political funding mean that elected officials’ first priority on assuming office is to recoup their election expenses. This is facilitated by the design of marginally relevant prestige projects requiring expenditure of large amounts of public capital. In the subsequent award of contracts for these projects, self-interested closed cliques, ethnic-cum-family members, and "old-boy" networks are favoured. The bulk of the bureaucracy (often poorly paid) and bedevilled with below-living wages and supported by apathetic, uninterested, or gullible populace, become actors and accomplices in the public contracts gravy train. With a weak rule of law in the land and the absence of adequate controls to prevent bribery, the express corruption train rolls on.

Every nation goes through a very corrupt phase during the early stages of their development.  This phase occurs while the nation formulates their laws and social conventions. But as these laws are formed and obeyed - and, more importantly, as the country gets richer - corruption decreases.

If you are a policeman in Nigeria, you will think twice about demanding a bribe at a checkpoint if there are strong laws that will catch you, a criminal justice system that will prosecute you and if you are paid enough to make the risk not worth it.

It is not that British, American or Swiss policemen are genetically or intrinsically more honest than Nigerian policemen; it is just that bribe-taking is often not worth the risk in those countries. They earn a reasonable living and there is a good chance that they will be caught and imprisoned and sacked.

The thing that makes Nigerian corruption different from the phase of corruption countries like the USA went through early in their development is globalisation. If Abacha's stolen billions had stayed in Nigeria rather than go to Britain and Switzerland, they might have contributed to Nigeria's development. But because Nigerian corruption keeps the whole country poor, it is self-perpetuating.

So my answer is this: I wish corrupt Nigerians would stop stealing money. But if you refuse to do that, then please, please, please, keep your stolen money in Nigeria. Because that money will be reinvested in Nigeria and then, perhaps, one day everyone in the country will be rich enough to not feel the need to steal.