THE AHMADU ALI'S REFUND
Society for Ethics in Nigeria
Each day in this country, we are faced with mounting evidence on the
need for a clear cut ethics policy by the government in order to
protect our institutions and their employees from those who either
deliberately or in ignorance are bent on destroying the structures
which makes us a country.
I wish to write on the ethical implications of the advertorial placed
by the PTDF in the "ThisDay" of Monday, September 25, 2006, appearing
on page 76, 77 and 78 of the newspaper.
In the advertorial, the PTDF were trying to tell the true story of the
N5.0million (Five Million naira) returned by the Chairman of the PDP,
Dr. Ahmadu Ali (CON). According to the advertorial, sometime in May
this year, The Chairman was to receive a honourary Doctor of Science
Degree, (D.Sc.) from the University of Agriculture, Makurdi and at the
same time, intends to endow a fund for Public Health and Comparative
Medicine at the University's College of Veterinary Medicine.
Accordingly, the Political Adviser to the Chairman sent a letter to the
Executive secretary of the PTDF for assistance, requesting him to
support this lofty dream of the Chairman by donating generously to the
endowment fund. The PTDF then donated the sum of N5.0million towards
this occassion.
The PTDF mamagement went ahead to justify this donation by stating that
under the mandate given to them, specifically under article 8 of their
mandate, which states inter alia " Make endowments to faculties,
schools and colleges in Nigerian Universities, polytechnics, coilleges
and other related institutions approved by the Governing Council of the
Fund'' the PTDF was right in making the donation of N5.0million to the
Chairman.
It is also heartwarming to read on page 78 of the advertorial the
realisation by the PTDF of this donation as an error, and the
consequent request to the Chairman for its refund. The Office of the
Chairman promptly responded, and the money was refunded and a receipt
issued in the name of the Political Adviser to the Chairman.
Now let us look at the ethical issues involved:.....
1. It is unethical in the first instance for the Political Adviser
to the Chairman, to have written such a request to the Exec. Sec. of
the PTDF. His letter was not to the PTDF secretary in his personal
capacity, but in his official capacity as the CEO of the PTDF.
Therefore, it is safe to assume that he expects him to use his position
to approve the donation from the PTDF, which the Secretary did.
This scenario goes to show the pressure under which our civil
servants operate in a democracy with inadequate protection for the
average worker. In all honesty, I sympathise with the Exec. Sec. of the
PTDF. He has just been approached by the powers that be to cough out
money for the personal use of the Chairman of the Party in power.
Failure on his part to comply with this indirect blackmail can only
spell doom for his career. It can safely be assumed too, that a copy of
that letter would probably go to virtually all ministries and
parastatals in the country and the poor civil servants would have
coughed out a few millions to keep the Chairman's dream alive to to be
assured of keeping their appointments.
The question then is , why would the Chairman encourage such
letters to be written by his aides? Is it ignorance or to borrow a
phrase from Mallam Ribadu of the EFCC, or is it impunity?
The answer, we may never know. However, I would rather think it
is the absence of the necessary structures to identify and combat this
type of infractions in the country's civil service, that have served to
encourage and ultimately lead to the endemic corruption in the service
and the society at large. This is eecause, any officer who will approve
N5million Naira for the Chairman of a political Party for his personal
use, can inflate it to N10.0miilion or even N50.0million for his own
use, where he feels he can get away with it. Do we then wonder why the
incidence of corruption is so rampant?
The Society for Ethics in Nigeria feels there isneed to work
towards encouraging the government to adopt an ethics policy that will
afford protection to the civil servant like the PTDF Exec. Secretary,
where structures would be put in place for their protection from
politicians, contractors, the general public, relatives and
hangers-ons, who feel that the assumption of an office, automatically
means unbridled right to the treasury. These structures will be in form
of systems where the civil servant will have a recourse to ethical
advice and decision appraisal, to avoid mistakes being made. In this
case, the Exec. Sec. acted before realising that he has no right to
have disbursed the funds in the first place. But then, had there been
no conflict in the PTDF Account, will this issue have become public
knowledge?
Therefore, I wish to submit that the Chairman's office was in
breach of ethics law, to have made such a demand on the Secretary,
knowing fully well that the fund was not meant for disbursement to
personalities, but to institutions. And since the fund was not
disbursed directly to the University of Agriculture, Makurdi. It is a
breach of trust of the exalted position occupied by the Chairman, to
have brought undue influence to bear on the Exec, Secretary to satisfy
a personal agenda. It is morally wrong and highly unethical.
to be concluded
Whiskey, I.U.
President
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Regards.