Prof. Olukotun's Column
Ayo Olukotun
by Ayo Olukotun
There are genuine and crucial reasons for staying on the topic of former Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, and more generally on the anti-graft war. After a baffling silence, the presidency made a public statement suspending Magu who has now been granted bail, and went ahead to appoint Mohammed Umar as Acting Chairman of the commission. More importantly, recent events and revelations of outsize corruption in several government departments such as the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund, suggests an upscale of corruption in our public life, raising the question of how much has changed since the lootocracy of the President Goodluck Jonathan years in office.
In the case of NDDC, the figure is mind-boggling, hovering around 80 billion Naira, of stolen public funds. The scuffle between the Minister for Niger Delta, Mr. Godswill Akpabio and the former managing director, Joi Nuneh, who claimed to have slapped the Minister for sexually harassing her, only provides a tragicomic diversion for what is in essence, a national disaster of structured predation. Into what rational box, for example, do you put the sharing by NDDC officials of 1.5 billion Naira as so-called COVID-19 relief? Mark you, these are the scandals that have recently come to light. Only heaven knows how many more are in the offing. It turns out, therefore, that the Magu debacle, in which the anti-corruption Czar is in the dock for corruption of unimaginable proportion is itself a metaphor for what appears to be the dystopia of the anti-corruption struggle once pursued with so much gusto. One of the curious side dramas of the ongoing Magu presidential probe is the suspension of 12 EFCC directors, most of who have been involved in the investigation of the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN. If this is not truly murky, then I’m afraid I don’t know what that word means, for it would appear that both the accused and the accuser are caught in a web of possible wrong-doing, desperate power play and political corruption. Undoubtedly, the Magu affair, apart from signaling that there is widespread graft in the political arena, may also be opening a Pandora's box of obscenity and serial scams. That being so, it is suggested that the reformism and moral high-ground once associated with the anti-corruption fight, has not only ebbed but has been replaced by the opposite of what it intended to achieve. This provides the background for reinventing the reform project currently hopelessly adrift.
We can begin this quest by asking simple questions like, why did it take so long for the Presidency to notice that Magu has faltered and derailed, in terms of the mandate of anti-corruption? Will it be fair to say that but for the political duel between Magu and Malami, the nation would be none the wiser for all the alleged heist within the EFCC? Could it be that there are no mechanisms whatsoever for detecting when a public official holding high office has become a cynical manipulator of the system for private gain? The answers to these questions, some of them rhetorical, may well provide the foundation for recasting and recrafting the anti-corruption ideal. For example, policy monitoring is almost as important as policy formulation suggesting that it made little or no sense to have given the suspended Magu, the kind of leeway that does not recognize boundaries or suggest that he himself holds his power in circumstances of checks and balances. True, it may not be healthy to micromanage high public officials but it is dangerous, as recent events have shown, to give them the impression that they are free to carry on in the way and manner they like.
It is almost indefensible that the administration appointed Magu in the face of opposition, without requisite accountability provisions that would have ensured that he stuck to his brief. This government, as well as previous ones, spoke glowingly about performance audits designed to hold public officials to their contract and assignment, but as far as this writer is aware, little or no action followed the high-flown rhetoric. I bring this up so that we avoid a situation in which, some years down the line, the newly appointed helmsman of the EFCC will go the way of his predecessors, sacrificed to the gods of a system that perennially refuses to police itself. In the same vein, reimagining the EFCC would mean that it is insulated as much as possible from the hurly-burly of partisan politics, considering its tendency to erode the credibility and viability of anti-corruption agencies. Those reform agencies that became formidable in other parts of the world were granted relative autonomy, as well as adequately funded in order to provide a buffer between them and partisan politics. Were this to happen, it would attract the focus, discipline and commitment that the organization needs to catch-up on lost time and to thrive.
A corollary of this formulation is that anticorruption shall not be politicized or considered as one more tool to beat the opposition into submission, sadly, it was only recently that Buhari began to take seriously, the need to provide a level playing field for his reformist agenda, so that it looks less of a witch-hunt of opposition figures. Obviously, party loyalists who look out only for their interests are unlikely to care whether the anticorruption fight is one sided or not. Indeed, some of them would prefer that it is, so that they can safeguard their own political fortunes and illicit wealth. Someone hoping to build a legacy that would endure should be of a different mindset, however, given that he ought to be more concerned, not just about his place in history but about the longevity and stature of his intervention. Hence, a cardinal principle of a successful anti-corruption reform is that it be disentangled from the web of political partisanship. Fortunately, Buhari does not need to seek reelection and is therefore free from the political IOUs that are so subversive of the political will of reformers and their vision. He has time, therefore, to steer the struggle in the direction of principle and integrity. If we must strengthen the EFCC, as well as rescue it from the current doldrums, then we must take more seriously, the office of the Auditor-General, who tirelessly issues queries to several government agencies, including the EFCC and the Presidency, most of which are ostentatiously ignored. In the absence of a vibrant and vigilant civil society, the only way to get government agencies to be accountable is by ensuring that they are subjected to the routine appraisals of auditors as a form of horizontal accountability. There is little or no point crying foul after the horse has bolted from the stable while there was time to have prevented the action in the first instance. Too often, we only hear of the theft of resources through leaks to the media, whereas, the regulatory agencies of government ought to provide the first order of business.
Finally, the EFCC must open itself more to expertise across disciplines such as Criminology, Public Administration, Philosophy and other areas of policy that have bearing on law, crime and the detection of crime.
- Prof. Ayo Olukotun is the Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Adetona Chair of Governance, Department of Political Science, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye.
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
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Ayo Olukotun
NDDC AS SITE OF PREDATORY CAPTURE
by Ayo Olukotun
“There is no way NDDC road can last for two years. I think people were treating the place as an ATM where you just walk in there to go and pluck the money and go away” –Senator Godswill Akpabio, Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
Conceived as a developmental agency, to fast-track the growth and welfare of the Niger Delta region, the Niger Delta Development Commission has, over time, morphed into a spoils sharing behemoth featuring a contracts bazaar of the most feral kind. Senator Akpabio’s eloquent portraiture of the commission, quoted in the opening paragraph has come back to haunt him as personnel changes, probes by the two legislative houses, and a forensic audit have failed to alter the picture of a Commission of scandals. There is now some controversy over the actual amount disbursed by the Commission in the period covered by the tenure of the current Interim Management Committee, a mere 5 months, with some putting it at roughly 40 billion Naira, while others say it is not less than 80 billion. Obviously, as allegations and counter allegations dominate the public space, it is clear that more than cosmetic reforms are required to change the situation. To be sure, both the Commission and its predecessor, the Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission, have accumulated eminently deserved reputation for easy money loosely drained off, making them look like bottomless pits. What is new is that in recent times, there has been an escalation of sharp practices, phony contracts, undergirded by a sense of entitlement, not just by citizens of the region, but by a widening circle of political actors dominated by contractor politicians, especially our legislators.
Hardly anyone remembers some of the founding objectives and mandates of the Commission such as, for examples, identifying factors retarding the development of the Niger Delta region, and helping member-states to formulate and implement policies that will guarantee sound management of the resources of the region; as well as carrying out works and other functions which are designed for the sustainable development of the region and its people. Littered across the Niger Delta are carcasses of failed or abandoned projects estimated by Akpabio to be in the neighbourhood of 120. One of the questions to ask is whether these projects were, in the first instance, meant to be executed or whether they came into existence as part of an elaborate schema of rip-offs and racketeering. Strangely, as Akpabio’s seat gets hotter, and he is been called out by several actors, including his former appointee, Joy Nunieh, it is extremely doubtful if the thought of stepping aside so that the investigations can proceed on a level playing field has crossed his mind. Hardly anyone will suspect, at the current rate, whether this is indeed a reformist administration, or whether it is one devoted to business-as-usual. A related and suggested tactic would be for the President, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to ask Akpabio to resign or suspend him so that we can get to the bottom of the weighty allegations, including the release of huge amounts of money without approval of the Federal Executive Council.
The unfolding saga at the NDDC mirrors in several ways, the Nigerian tragedy of plenitude of resources in the midst of deepening poverty and squalor. Ironically, what were designed as facilitators and jumpstarts of accelerated development namely, releasing money to the Commission from the Federation Account on first line charge, as well as mandatory contributions from the Oil and Gas companies operating in the area, have been turned into a sour joke because of the reckless and unaccountable manner in which those resources are being pilfered. The heroes of the protracted Niger Delta struggle for resource control, Major Isaac Adaka Boro and Ken Saro Wiwa must be turning in their graves to see what has become of the vision that impelled their lifelong struggles. It has been widely noted, not the least among international staff of oil companies working in Nigeria, that there is no other oil-producing country across the globe in which communities remain in a state of picturesque desolation, environmental degradation, and hopelessness, in which the Niger Delta exists. Undoubtedly, this has been known for several years. The point is that nobody among successive leaders had exhibited the courage or political will to change the narrative. A time there was when the governors of the oil-producing States were being compared to the Oil Sheiks in the Arab Emirates, in view of their opulence and ostentatious lifestyles. The difference, of course, is that the political elites in the Emirates had the good sense not just to transform their countries, but to save up for the rainy day, through the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Given the amount of resources available to the Commission over the last two decades, computed at 4 trillion Naira, there is no justification, whatsoever, for the development arrest that continues to be the order of the day in those communities. One of the early promises of the anticipated Buhari revolution was to end, or drastically reduce corruption in our public institutions. Buhari’s famous mantra of ‘killing corruption before corruption kills Nigeria’ initially resonated with a Nigerian public crying out for change in the familiar story of corruption on an epic scale. 5 years on, the jury is still out as to what would be the exact character of his legacy, given the fact that grand corruption prevails in several spheres of our national life. Were there to be a determined assault on official theft, Akpabio, who already had his hands burnt during his tenure as Governor of Akwa-Ibom, would not have found himself taking charge of an important and strategic institution such as the Ministry of the Niger Delta. A fortnight or so ago, the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, said on national television, that the current miasma in that region has occurred because the advice given by some of them regarding fitness for appointment, was set aside. It is not difficult to imagine that such advice would have included the unsuitability for high office, in what is supposed to be a corrective regime, of people who have questions to answer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Is this not then, another case of ambling, half-blind, into avoidable moral crisis?
One can order probes as politically correct responses, employ them as chloroforms, or because they give the people something to talk about, while skirting around the real issues. On the other hand, one can also employ them to sanitise a decadent order, in order to produce real and desired changes. It is clear that the rot in the NDDC will continue for as long as we engage in the theatre produced by repeated probes that only serve to titillate the public without producing cogent answers. Even the actors in the National Assembly, leading the crusade, so-called, are deeply flawed, as some of them are enmeshed in the drama of primitive accumulation. There is even suggestion that, perhaps, the probes are being ordered as substitutes for the kind of gravitas that will turn the place around. Any satisfactory solution must begin by asking the Minister, and other compromised gladiators to step aside.
Ayo Olukotun
TERMINUS FOR THE ANTI-CORRUPTION STRUGGLE?
by Ayo Olukotun
“People have heard so much about the fight against corruption and yet have seen little apparent action especially among the big boys who are roaring again for the 2023 General Elections and remain untouched” – Dare Babarinsa, The Guardian, Thursday, July 30, 2020
Our President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) certainly not famous for oratorical skills or for original ideas, possesses however, in compensation, the strategic political resource of seizing the moment, of bending the nation’s energy towards an arresting overarching goal. In the course of researching a book, published in Sweden, a few years back, this writer stumbled on the fact the much touted War against Indiscipline of the mid-1980s was an idea thrown up by bureaucrats in the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture designed partly to harvest publicity dividends. In Buhari’s deft political hand, it became not just a signature tune, but a policy departure with which his administration would become famously associated. In like manner, the anticorruption policy designed by his civilian predecessors, has become an all consuming mantra and focus, for which he has been acclaimed nationally and internationally. The sticky problem, however, is that style and captivating slogans may seize the nation’s imagination, at least temporarily, but they do not necessarily translate into enduring policies that alter value structure or reorder political ethos and institutions. Unsurprisingly, therefore, in the face of so much revelation, recently of humongous theft of public resources across a spectrum of key institutions and projects, a national debate has broken out regarding whether the anticorruption struggle has finally unraveled or come to an ungainly terminus.
In focus are the recent uncovering of massive fraud to the tune of 100 billion Naira at the North East Development Commission, the ongoing trial of the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, over gargantuan corruption, the serial scams, involving over 80 billion Naira at the Niger Delta Development Commission, as well as the 3 billion Naira rip-off at the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund. Suddenly, it would appear that the leash exercised by Buhari on the political class and government appointees has been yanked off, they have all let down their guards, and are conducting the looting business with an unusual frenzy. There are some who will argue that anticorruption was never really more than a publicity gimmick, calculated to bolster the moral stature of Buhari, whose, admittedly ascetic ways, provide him a lever for reining in a notoriously predatory political elite. If this suggestion is valid, it means that the struggle was destined to come to naught. There is also some merit in senior journalist, Dare Babarinsa’s perspective, quoted in the opening paragraph that the new game in town is related to preparation for the 2023 Elections, notwithstanding the fact that it is still 3 years away.
There is, too, the explanation of a political vacuum, which has arisen either because of Buhari’s aloof style of governance or because of problems created in the interstices of age and infirmity, causing him to delegate much of the affairs of state without exercising monitoring auspices which would have ensured that feedback is provided to him, on a regular basis. Among the contending hypotheses is the argument that the anticorruption struggle has upped the ante by creating a new moral awareness and sensitivity to acts of corruption, thus making every revelation look like a big departure from a salutary norm. In this light, the anticorruption fight has become a victim of its own modest success, to the extent that it has raised expectations that it cannot fulfill. Whatever ‘theory’ one settles for, there is little doubt that there is a surge of corrupt behaviour among the political elite and their accomplices, causing a demystification of anticorruption. Indeed, the People’s Democratic Party has recently alleged, though without proof, that some of the monies recovered from those found guilty of corruption have been relooted by officials with itchy fingers. The allegation was made as a response to the defence of Minister for Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, that at least 800 billion Naira and 1,400 convictions have been secured in the last 6 years, as wages of the anticorruption fight.
Talking about relooting, in principle, nothing stops recovered resources from being stolen, a second time, in the absence of institutional safeguards built around those who are entrusted with the task of recovery. As the case of Magu has shown, when you put a man in charge of huge state resources without corresponding accountability, you have the moral equivalent of leaving the room of your house open, with your wife and a stranger as the only occupants. That apart, recent events point to the anomaly that we have in place an anti-corruption campaign which building blocks are noticeably absent. This may be part of the Nigerian character of substituting bombast and publicity for the hard work and attention to detail, which should have provided the backcloth. Is it not strange, for example, there is little or no connection between the work of the office of the Auditor-General, who perennially issues queries without getting replies and anticorruption institutions such as the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Crimes Commission. So, we have a disjointed institutional arrangement in which various anti-corruption agencies are working in silos without connecting with other agencies and without the benefit of an overarching moral and ideological compass outside the love of Buhari.
This writer has often lamented the incoherence of anticorruption which makes it look so often like policymaking on the hoof or a plainly experimental ride into a forest without the benefit of maps. When you add to that burden, the disadvantage of hyper-partisanship, in which people are being invited to change their parties so that their ‘sins’ can be forgiven, then you get a recipe for policy fiasco or an innovation sabotaged by its own internal contradictions. Yet another loose end is the contradictory pull of appointments on grounds of political expediency and appointments based on a modicum of integrity. In other words, you cannot appoint someone based on patronage, ethnicity or some subjective criterion and not look the other way when the appointee is stealing the place blind, unless you possess both the wherewithal and the focus to call him to order. This is where the entrenched habit of this administration, not reshuffling the cabinet or suspending people from office, except in extreme cases, has come home to roost. In vain, for example, did many critics advocate, during Buhari’s first term, that he should reshuffle his cabinet, change his service chiefs, or suspend erring officials, in order to freshen or bring new impetus to the system. Once public officials come to believe that no matter what they do or don’t do, they would not be sanctioned, you have given them a carte blanche for running riot.
To return to the question raised at the outset, has the anticorruption struggle reached a terminus? The tentative answer should be that it has, on present terms. However, there is a window of escape into new vistas of effectiveness, if political will is mustered to close up the leaking pots and to reset the programme in a more logical, rational and purposive manner.