Okonjo-Iweala’s homily on public corruption

Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

THE Finance Minister’s acknowledgement of the need by the Federal Government to expedite action on the war on corruption in order to stop leakages and maximise the dwindling oil revenues is imperative to Nigeria’s future. But it is also certain to fail unless senior cabinet ministers like her climb down from their high horse and admit the lack of political will by the Jonathan government to clean up the Augean stables.

It is unsurprising that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala chose the public lecture, “Blocking Leakages Amid Dwindling Oil Income,” organised by the Catholic Secretariat, Abuja, to once again defend the Jonathan administration’s poor scorecard on graft, thus sending the wrong message that she is an anti-corruption champion. Defending the indefensible when the facts are not on your side is always a difficult task.

Appearing on the surface to be a frank assessment of the contemporary history of corruption and “the best strategic way of tackling” it, the sermon Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala preached to her audience was lacking in truth and sincerity. She said, “The cause of the disease is we don’t have in place the institutions, the systems and the processes to block and prevent it in the first place. That’s the only difference between us and the people abroad.”

It is easier to articulate what should be done than it is to be certain that it will happen. Though the minister is right in what technology can do in preventing corruption, as shown by the introduction of the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System in saving N208 billion and weeding out 62,893 “ghost workers” from the payroll system, Okonjo-Iweala is economical with the truth by ignoring the role this government has played in either weakening or completely destroying even the arguably feeble “institutions, systems and processes,” it met on the ground. The story of the Jonathan administration’s anti-graft effort is a classical case of how to cripple and destroy institutions rather than how to build them.

With all its imperfections, Nigeria started a serious effort to fine-tune its corruption laws and build appropriate institutions to enforce them. The emergence of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit and similar agencies were clear efforts at erecting institutional bulwarks against corruption by the Obasanjo government (1999 – 2007).

And just after, especially on Jonathan’s watch, the war slowed down to a halt, leaving us with hollow pronouncements like Okonjo-Iweala’s. Or what do you make of an Attorney-General like Mohammed Adoke, and his immediate predecessor, Michael Aaondoakaa, who acted as breaks on the anti-graft drive rather than as its accelerators? For corruption charges to be dropped or a soft landing arranged, all that a public official facing corruption charges needs to do is to be on the side of government. Who is then subverting the “institutions, systems and processes”?

Nigerians are still trapped in darkness and the economy marooned at the lowest level of development mainly due to the abuse and misuse of “institutions, systems and processes” by public officials in selling the unbundled power firms to their companies and cronies, who lack the wherewithal and the technical expertise to play in the market.

Indeed, that would not be the first time Okonjo-Iweala would defend this government on such a spurious ground. In an April 2013 interview, where Christiane Amanpour of the CNN pointedly accused the Jonathan government of granting a pardon to a former governor who was convicted of stealing millions of dollars, the minister’s quick response was: “…I strongly believe that we lack institutions. We lack processes.” There was also the frightening case of Stella Oduah, an aviation minister, who requested that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority purchase bulletproof cars for her. The officials obliged, spending $1.6 million of the agency’s funds to buy two BMW SUVs to massage Oduah’s vanity. The 2012 N2.53 trillion fuel subsidy scam and the cover-up that followed it are well known.

It is said that no bureaucracy can police itself efficiently. That is why most anti-graft watchers, including Transparency International, recommend that graft can be reduced only if whistleblowers and non-state actors play an active role. But what has the government made of the Nuhu Ribadu-led Committee on Petroleum Revenue Task Force that uncovered, among other things, a missing $183 million in signature bonuses paid by oil firms between 2008 and 2011 after some whistleblowers raised the red flag? Or how far has the EFCC gone in unravelling other serious allegations, including the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparent Initiative’s that the nation lost a total of N272.9 billion to graft, non-remittance of revenues by oil companies, vandalism and inefficiency of the public refineries between 2009 and 2011?

No doubt, building strong institutions is fundamental to running a transparent system, making them work by ensuring criminal prosecution of offenders is a more effective way to fight a systemic culture of graft. Many local and foreign reports have categorically accused this government of lacking the political will to tackle corruption. A 2014 United States report, entitled, “Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government,” confirmed the often-stated view that the efforts of the anti-graft agencies are deliberately stymied by the government.

Regardless of what Okonjo-Iweala would want the public and the international community to believe, the Jonathan government has not demonstrated courage and conviction in the crusade against graft, as the US Department of State 2012 once stated, in order to “send a clear signal that the country is indeed committed to good governance, to the security of its citizens, and to its rightful place as a significant actor on the global stage.”

For leadership to be credible, a report, “The Fight Against Corruption: A World Bank Perspective” says, it must transcend mere pronouncements or ethical exhortations to combat the evils of corruption. It needs to be backed by concrete, monitorable and time-bound actions, to which the country’s leadership is held accountable. That’s the only difference, to use the minister’s words, between us and the people abroad.

SOURCE: PUNCH EDITORIAL BOARD