THE AHMADU ALI'S REFUND II
Society for Ethics in Nigeria
In our last analysis, we discussed why it was wrong for the PDP
Chairman to put undue pressure on the Executive Secretary of the PDTF.
In this article, we will examine the role played by the Executive
Secretary and the PDTF.
2. One of the reason for the agitation by the Society for Ethics for
an ethics policy is that it protects and empowers the civil servants
and the civil service from exploitation by the politicians and
political appointees. Under an ethics policy, the limitations, the dos
and don'ts of each government office or parastatal are spelt out. When
faced with tough administrative decisions, the civil servant resorts to
the Code of Ethics or seeks advice from the Ethics counsellor, who
would advise on the best course of action to take. The absence of such
organised systems in the country, was what made the executive Secretary
vunerable and therefore powerless against the onslaught of the PDP
Chairman and his cohorts. Having said that though, the fact remains
that the Executive Secretary lacked the moral guts to decline the
request, which makes him a not too good an administrator. It is our
submission that he could have resorted to a diplomatic approach and
give a personal donation, rather than utilise the Fund entrusted to him
for the development of the Oil & Gas Sector for personal
aggrandisement. The argument of whether or not such an action might
result in his sack holds no water. Where individuals in top positions
do not possess the moral fibre to protect the interest of the
citizenry, then such individuals are better not allowed to stay a day
longerin office. The consequences of their actions or inactions are
usually catastrophic to the collective interest of the people they seek
to protect. Do we still need a soothsayer to know why things are so bad
today?
3. The third ehtical issue raised by the advertorial is the basis
for the publication of a 3-page advertorial to inform the general
public of the incompetency of the managment of PDTF.What exactly were
they trying to prove? Were they trying to "whitewash" the PDP
Chariman?. Were they instructed to put up the advertorial? Now, here is
an organisation, whose management goofed when they authorised the
disbursement of the amount to the office of the Chairamn of the PDP in
the first instance. One would have expected that having realised this,
the best thing would be to receive the money and keep quiet about it,
since it is not to their credit. We are therefore surprised that rather
than do this, they chose to spend close to N1.0million Naira to carry a
full 3-page advert to tell us of their mistake. The ethical issues
raised here are enormous. It amounted simply to a disregard of the
sensibility of the people, impunity on the part of the management of
PDTF, misjudgement of what is right or wrong, corporate
irresponsibility and criminal misuse of public funds, Between you and
me, we know that a N1.0million grant/ scholarship to a student of
Petroleum Engineering in any of our higher institutions would go a long
way in doing more credit to the image of the PDTF than what the
advertorial would do for them. There is no reason for the expenditure
of N1.0miilion naira to tell the citizenry of the return of N5.0million
which was disbursed mistakenly in the first place. But if the reason is
to keep the image of the Chairman intact, then it is high time we start
thinking seriouly of overhauling the system. That is, adoption by
government of a comprehensive ethics program, to protect our
institutions from the vagaries of the politicians, who will do
something, and expect the civil servant to carry the blame. We owe it
to ourselves to curtail these power plays by people who disregard rules
and regulations, and do virtually what they like with our funds and the
citizenry.
In conclusion, the present dispensation makes the civil servant out as
just a pawn in the service to the nation. An ethics policy will restore
the power of the service and the civil servant to the extent that it
will imbue them with the confidence to withstand onslaughts by all and
sundry wiothout fear of losing their jobs. This will reduce corruption
drastically because where the politician does not or can not collude
with the civil servant, it would be near impossible to steal/embezzle
public funds. An ethics policy will empower the civil servant to ask
for clarifications on questionable instructions given by the
politicians or political appointees which goes against the grains of
that office. And until this is done, we may not be ever free of the
endemic corruption in the society.
End
Whiskey, I.U.
President/Nat. Coordinator
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Regards,