The Constitutional Fight Against Corruption in Nigeria: Is It Enough?

Dr.KabiruIsaDandagoDepartment of Accounting,BayeroUniversity,Kano, NigeriaKidandago@yahoo.com

Abstract

This paper examines the various dimensions of corrupt practices in Nigeria with a view to suggesting thelevel of corruption within the country. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is reviewed tohighlight relevant provisions aiming to reduce corruption from the thoughts and actions of everybody in thecountry, especially public officers. These provisions are then subject to criticism. Based on the observed poor implementation of some of the corruption eradicating provisions in the Constitution, by all the threearms of governments, the paper is strongly inclined to the socio-political theory that less developed countries (LDCs), like Nigeria, are “soft states” whose governments are incapable of dealing with therigidities of society that hold back economic development and that firm government action is needed toovercome those rigidities. It is along the line of this conclusion that the paper challenges the Nigerianlaw-makers to enact Nigerian version of Sedition Act, borrowing a leaf from Malaysia, with a view toovercoming the country’s social, political, economic and other corruption-related problems and moving forward. This is the best way to make the work of corruption crusading agencies in the country (EFCC, ICPC, etc) challenging and more understandable.

Introduction

Corruption has been described as an act of evil or wrong doing for the purpose of money-making (Michael &James, 1991). This shows the rush for money-making as the basic cause of corruption, (1997:261). Simplydefined, corruption is “dishonest or wicked behaviour”. This shows corruption as any sign of diversion fromaccepted standard of behaviour. Auyo (1998) described corruption as the destruction or dissolution of aconstitution or the perversion of anything from an original state of purity. Rossouw (1999) defined corruptionas inducement by improper means to violate one’s duty towards one’s principal, resulting in harm to theinterest of another party, and in financial benefit for the perpetrator. In other words, corruption is said to havetaken place when there is aberration in the way of doing things normally. In public affairs, corruption includesembezzlementofpublicfunds,theft,briberyoranyattempttostealorunlawfullyobtainormisuseanyassetor power.Corruptionis,therefore,demonstratedbyperversionordestructionofintegrityinthedischargeofpublicdutiesthrough bribery or favour, or any other forms of influence or malpractice. It is, accordingly, considered as asocial or psychological situation in which the right or correct manner of doing things or handlingresponsibilities is abandoned and replaced by improper behaviour as a result of certain internal or externalstimuli.Corruption, a term simply denoting dishonesty in thought and action, is a serious problem slowing down the process of industrialisation and economic development in developing countries, like Nigeria. Various effortshave been made or are being made, by different governmental and non-governmental organisations to fightcorruption in Nigeria. But until recently, Transparency International, an independent organisation assessingInternational Journal on Governmental Financial Management - 2008 61

the level of corruption in countries of the world, has been showing Nigeria among the three most corruptnations. Nigerians,atalllevels,mustmakeitadutytodigouttherootcause(s)ofcorruptioninthecountryandprovidelastingsolutionstoit,nomatterhowbitter,painfulordifficulttheactualisationofthesolutionswouldbe.Theymust do this, if they really want the country to be industrialised and economically developed. Each of the threearms of government, and all citizens, have a role to play to ensure that corruption is eradicated, or at leastreduced to the minimum level possible. Corruption cannot be checked through mere rhetoric or creation of agencies which can only bark but not bite!Government efforts, such as the establishment of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Code of ConductBureau,IndependentCorruption andRelatedPractices Commission,PublicComplaints Commissionand National Orientation Agency, suggest commitment to the fight against corruption. The presence of somenon-governmental organisations (NGOs) like The Nigeria Chapter of Transparency International, CivilLiberty Organisation, Campaign for Democracy, Business Ethics Network of Nigeria (BEN–Nigeria), professional bodies, religious organizations, trade unions, mass media and other perceived whistleblowersshould be deterrent to corrupt practices in the country. It is, however, clear that Government efforts and the presence of anti-corruption organizations have not had a major impact in combating corruption in the country.To succeed in the fight, the country must deal ruthlessly with the root causes of corruption that hold back sustainable economic development and this requires the adoption of some radical and stringent measures thatcould be likened to

bitter pills

The remainder of the paper is in five parts. Part 2 is about conceptual framework and literature review; part 3describes our methodology; part 4 highlights the constitutional provisions on corruption and observedweaknesses thereon; part 5 proposes an alternative model of fighting corruption in Nigeria and part 6summarises and concludes the paper.

Conceptual Framework And Literature Review

Althoughtheconceptsof‘fraud’and‘corruption’areoftenusedinterchangeably,adistinctionbetweenthetworelated phenomena should be made. While corruption is associated with the misuse of public positions and,consequently, is mostly associated with the public sector and public officials, fraud is a phenomenon that canoccurinboththepublicandprivatesector(Rossouw,1999).Whilecorruptioncanbeviewedassomethingthatonly affects the public sector and public officials, any employee or even outsiders can be perpetrators of fraud.Corruptionimpliesthird-partyinvolvementwhereemployeesviolatetheirdutytotheirprincipalsbycolludingwith a third party; they abuse their positions by either accepting or demanding a bribe from a third party. Thisis, however, not the case in fraud: employees or even persons outside the organization can commit fraud ontheirowninitiative.Asfraudlacksthird-partyinvolvement,itismoredifficulttodetectthancorruption,whosethird-party involvement provides a possible source of information (Groenendijk, 1997).Corruption in Nigeria, just as in most other African countries, has currently become the greatest challenge toleaders and citizens, threatening to undermine effective governmental financial management. It is also a threattobotheconomicdevelopmentandtheprocessofestablishinganenduringdemocracyindevelopingcountries,likeNigeria.Nigeria’swidespreadcorruptionhashistoricalrootsthatweshouldcriticallyreflectonifwearetosucceed in controlling and gradually eliminating it. Scholars like Callaghy (1986), Nukunya (1992),Groenendijk (1997), Ruzindana (1998), Waliggo (1999), Osei (1999) and Rossouw (1999) traced the rootcauses of corruption in Africa to: prevalence of dictatorial rules, monitized or materialised economies, poor economic and educational empowerment of the citizenry, the “politics of the belly”, making the public sector as the “prime mover” of economic development and the absence of national ethical and moral values and true patriotism. Appropriate measures, no matter how bitter, have to be adopted to root-out these causes of corruption,ifNigeriaandindeedotherAfricancountriesarereallyseriousaboutthefightagainstcorruption.62 International Journal on Governmental Financial Management - 2008

TherearemanybranchesordimensionsofcorruptioninNigeria,whichneedstringentmeasuresinpracticefor effective prevention and control. (1998) highlights some of them to include: abuse of power; ill-treatment of subordinates and indecent treatment of people’s needs; self-award of contract; malicious withdrawal or ‘carpeting’ of personnel files; unnecessary delay of actions on certain demands; fraudulent distortion of factsand figures; nepotism; embezzlement and other financial misappropriation; ghost worker systems; 10%syndrome; transfer of public funds to private accounts; over-invoicing; over-pricing of contracts; and arson,usually to cover-up corrupt practices.The above 14 dimensions of corruption in Nigeria are not exhaustive. Corrupt practices could, however, benarrowed down to two main types: vertical and horizontal. According to (2003), vertical corruption, whichinvolves managers and decision makers, is more common in less developed countries. Horizontal corruption,in contrast, involves all the official, informed and laymen groups in the countries. The two types of corruptionshould be seriously addressed and eradicated if any meaningful economic or political progress is to be made.Governments’ commitment towards the eradication of corruption has been a matter of serious concern indeveloping countries, like Nigeria.Looking at the Nigerian public sector, Dandago (1997) identified five main influences including:[i] economic factors; [ii] political factors; [iii] socio-cultural factors; [iv] soft-punishment; and [v] poor accountability. It is clear that the poor salary levels of most public servants have not kept pace with inflationwhich has eroded their purchasing power. It is also clear that the process of gaining power in Nigeria is either by armed force or the influence of money. Social values in Nigeria are obviously related to wealthaccumulation,andthisleadstowidespreadmoraldecadenceasmanyNigeriansstruggletogetrecognitionandstatus by amassing wealth, if necessary through illicit means.Traditional chieftaincy titles and membership of boards of directors of government-owned corporations areonly for the ‘influential’ individuals in the society who have ‘made it’ economically or politically. Most of those people ‘made it’ through enriching themselves fraudulently, but enjoy public respect and accolades. Themost annoying thing is that honest and dedicated public servants, who have not accumulated dirty wealth, donotcommandmuchrespectfromthesociety.Theseattitudesservetoencourageanew-breedofpublicservantswho engage in corrupt practices.Inmostcases,recommendationsofpanels,commissionsorcommitteesofinquiryintocorruptpracticesarenot being implemented. In some cases, the penalties meted out to the corrupt officers are not commensurate withthe gravity of their offences. These soft penalties and, sometimes, total absence of punishment againstconfirmed corrupt officers encourage like-mind public servants to follow in their footsteps.If public servants at all levels are to be sincere in declaring their wealth before and after holding public office,corrupt practices might be eradicated or reduced to the minimum. Those holding positions of authority areexpected to provide explanations and reasons to interested parties (the public in general) on how they havedischarged the responsibilities entrusted in them.WhenChief ObasanjowasfirstsworninasPresidentofNigeriain1999,hepromisedtomakethefightagainstcorruption a major focus of his administration. As part of this commitment, he requested the Federal Ministryof Finance to sponsor a survey of governance and corruption. Based on a methodology successfully applied inmany countries around the world, the study consisted of the application of three standard complementarysurvey instruments (households, enterprises and public officials) to assess issues associated with governmentservice delivery and related corrupt practices (overall Summary Report, 2003).Having assessed the gravity of corruption in the country and having found it to be inhibiting of moves towardssustainable national development, the study called for a frontal assault on corruption and the introduction of International Journal on Governmental Financial Management - 2008 63