The fight against corruption in Nigeria started way back in 1975, when Brigadier (later General) Murtala Mohammed overthrew General Yakubu Gowon. There were claims that General Gowon and some of his ministers were involved in corrupt practices.

The level of corruption in Nigeria increased during Alhaji Shehu Shagari civilian government of 1979 to 1983. In December 1983 Major-General Muhammadu Buhari overthrew Shagari with a promise to bring all those found to be corrupt to justice and instil discipline in Nigerians. Buhari demonstrated his seriousness when he attempted to bring back Umaru Dikko from London to Nigeria in a cargo crate. It was a case of desperate situation requiring a desperate remedy!

In August 1985, General Ibrahim Babangida overthrew General Buhari, with the excuse that General Buhari regime was callous and overzealous. From 1985 onwards corruption in Nigeria took a frightening dimension. Corruption became the norm and spiralled out of control.

A Nigerian newspaper carried an interview report with the former Ghanaian president, Flight-Lt. Jerry Rawlings (rtd). The former Ghanaian leader took a swipe at Nigerian leaders claiming that their corrupt disposition had held down the development of Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

Rawlings is also of the view that corruption has undermined Nigeria economic and political influences in Africa. He went on to add that corruption makes Nigeria extremely vulnerable.

According to Transparency International, a body that monitors corruption in different countries, Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Some have argued that corruption is a symptom rather than the cause of Nigeria under development. They argue that we need to look at our cultural values for a solution to Nigeria economic development. They believe this because our culture encourages or provides a fertile ground for corruption. In addition, Nigerian (and African) culture is too easily susceptible to external influences.

Corruption is more likely in a society where:

1. People do not consider it immoral.
2. People have the altitude that everybody is doing it.
3. Where people are less trusting of each other and the government.

People may be corrupt because it is the only way or easiest way to get what they want. In some societies, offering a bribe to a government official may be the only convenient means of avoiding punishment.

When citizens observe that law enforcement agencies and politicians seem to condone corruption either by ignoring or engaging in it themselves then the citizens are must likely to follow their example.

As corruption progresses in the society, it becomes a norm and morally acceptable. Those that are benefiting from the practice are unlikely to go against it.

Corruption is essentially a product of greed and selfishness. Corrupt people’ selfishness blind them to the suffering that their behaviour inflicts on others.

The more wealth they amass the greedier they become. 

Solomon observed: "A mere lover of silver will not be satisfied with silver", "neither any lover of wealth with income." (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

Contrary to popular opinion, poverty is not the cause of corruption. There are many poor people of high integrity.

The high level of corruption in Nigeria is a consequence of various factors. The most important of these are:

1. Culture
2. Illegitimate government
3. Greed and selfishness
4. The absence of effective rules, regulations and policies.
5. Lack of accountability and transparency
6. Lack of institutions to deal with corruption issues.

Culture is something we learned through our social processes. It defines what we grow up to consider as immoral. Through the social processes we develop our values and beliefs. To understand the influences of culture, one needs to understand why people engage in corrupt practices. We ought to look deeply at culture in order to deal with the modern day challenges it poses. An example of a culture that encourages corruption is the “spraying” of money at parties or burial ceremonies.

The Nigerian culture is a fertile ground for corruption. Giving gifts to Chiefs and others for services rendered or, as a show of gratitude is normal in African culture. A gift then was a farm produce. Today, politicians now play some of the roles of Chiefs and gift is now money.

In addition, our culture encourages greed and selfishness. We have a culture where people in high places are worshiped and not subject to the normal due processes that attain in other cultures. We have a culture where how you accumulate wealth is no of consequence. The wealthier you are the more honour is bestowed on you. Public display of wealth in social occasions and in one’s neighbourhood attracts honour in Nigeria.

The illegitimate military rule in Nigeria has contributed largely to the increase in corruption. There are two reasons one can adduced for this.

First is the desperate need for an illegitimate government to win support by planting and supporting “leaders” by all means in strategic locations. Each of these devil anointed leaders get whatever they want and get away with whatever atrocities they committed. Contracts are awarded to them at their price to keep them sweet. In return they spearhead the campaign to legitimise an illegitimate government.

Second is insecurity that a military regime feels. There is that believe that they may not be in office for long and therefore needs to quickly have some money tucked away somewhere, usually in foreign bank accounts. The junior ranks in the army who are used as couriers are given more power than their superiors. Promotion and postings are then based not on ability and length of service but on whom the leader perceived as loyal.

Government ministries and organisations do not have effective rules, regulations and policies that guide management behaviour and conduct. This state of affairs encourages corruption. Nigeria is renowned for having senior civil servants and ministers that flout court orders with impunity. The situation is made worse by the Nigerian police force that appear unwilling to enforce the rule of law. It is alien to Nigerian police to arrest and detain an “important personality”.

If people are not required to account for their stewardship corruption will flourish. There is likelihood that their authority will have no limit. I have never seen published audited accounts of NEPA, NITEL and NNPC. It is not that there is no requirement for them to produce audited accounts. That is a duty they own the citizens. But those to enforce the requirements are the same people whose hands are in the till.

All government ministries and organisations lack a transparent system of administration. The biggest corruption deterrent is when civil servants, ministers and all senior management in government corporations know that they are under scrutiny. I have lost count of how many times journalists have been detained in Nigeria simply for reporting the obvious. A transparent government have nothing to fear from the media.

Nigeria does not have independent external institutions that investigate cases of corruption. The EFCC was set up a few years ago with some fanfare. It didn’t take long before it was used to chase and frustrate government opponents while government supporters continue to loot.

Whilst it is true that some socio-economic conditions may aggravate the incidence of corruption, it requires weaknesses in the political, legislative and judicial processes for it to root. That is apparently the case in Nigeria.

Nosa Olotu, England.

Robot  Villager

# 1 We have a culture where people in high places are worshiped and not subject to the normal due pro...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 07.07.2007 09:48

Sapele Man  Villager

# 2 =Robot;189939>We have a culture where people in high places are worshiped and not subject to the normal due pro................ If people are not required to account for their stewardship corruption will flourish. There is likelihood that their authority will have no limit. I have never seen published audited accounts of NEPA, NITEL and NNPC. It is not that there is no requirement for them to produce audited accounts. That is a duty they own the citizens. But those to enforce the requirements are the same people whose hands are in the till. ................................................................................................................................. Nigeria does not have independent external institutions that investigate cases of corruption. The EFCC was set up a few years ago with some fanfare. It didn’t take long before it was used to chase and frustrate government opponents while government supporters continue to loot. ................................................................................................................................ I truly believe the problem lies with our moral values. The whole society has been battered by years of military dictatorship. Babaginda legitimised corruption as a way of life. Obasanjo publicly announced that government corporations, like NNPC and NEPA were to present annual audited accounts. Nothing was heard of it after the public declaration. As long as there are people who get away with it, the fight against corruption is an uphill task. Posted by Sapele Man| 07.07.2007 13:04

Enforcer  Villager

# 3 =Sapele Man;189985>I truly believe the problem lies with our moral values. The whole society has been battered by years of military dictatorship. Babaginda legitimised corruption as a way of life. Obasanjo publicly announced that government corporations, like NNPC and NEPA were to present annual audited accounts. Nothing was heard of it after the public declaration. As long as there are people who get away with it, the fight against corruption is an uphill task. Dear Sapele Man, Is it right to blame Babaginda regime? If Nigerians are not disposed to corruption, could Babaginda have succeeded in corrupting anyone? Was it fear that the military might imprison or deprived them of their livelihood that made people compromised themselves under the military rule? Can someone of high integrity be compromised under any circumstances? These are the questions that I have been wrestling with. Under Buhari, corruption appears deceptively under control. People learned discipline. Again, one could also argue that Buhari heavy handedness only suppressed but could not have eliminated corruption. Posted by Enforcer| 07.07.2007 15:26

Eja  Villager

# 4 Honour Nosa Olotu You put your points across well, however, I disagree with the premise of your argument. Corruption is not the main problem we have in nigeria. Our problem is to do with incompetence. Nigeria is an entity that is well integrated into the global economy and one thing that you will find if you do some more research is that the dominant mechanisms that run the global economy are totally dependant on Corruption. The difference between us and say, the united kingdom is that although business people (and the real owners of government) in the UK are just as immoral/amoral as our nigerian 'leaders', the people who run the UK strive for some competence. What I am trying to say is, to focus on corruption as the one major barrier to progress without taking a good hard look at what we are seeking to progress into is a big mistake. Corruption and high level of competence is what it takes to succeed as a capitalist. Since we wish to be capitalists, we cannot just discard a constant in the equation of success. Since we wish to be capitalists, what we need to do is find a way to marry our already existing corrupt nature to a high level of competence. Then, we too can go out and rape some less clued-up foreigners (while we also exploit all our native natural resources more efficiently). Posted by Eja| 07.07.2007 15:33

Sapele Man  Villager

# 5 =Eja;190005>Honour Nosa Olotu You put your points across well, however, I disagree with the premise of your argument. Corruption is not the main problem we have in nigeria. Our problem is to do with incompetence. Nigeria is an entity that is well integrated into the global economy and one thing that you will find if you do some more research is that the dominant mechanisms that run the global economy are totally dependant on Corruption. Eja, I can't hold brief for Mr Nosa Olotu, but allow me to respond to your view on the matter of corruption in Nigeria. The issue of competence is separate from corruption. Competence is a training and education issue. Whereas according to SIDA: “Corruption occurs when organisations or individuals profit improperly through their position in an activity, and thereby cause damage or loss. Corruption can be found in all countries but is particularly widespread in states where the legal system, mass media and the public administration are weak and undeveloped. Three levels of corruption are usually referred to: petty corruption (bureaucratic corruption), grand corruption (political corruption) and state capture (corruption which affects the entire state apparatus)”, From my experience of working with Nigerians both in Nigeria and in the UK, I can say that Nigerians are not incompetent. Posted by Sapele Man| 08.07.2007 02:46

Enforcer  Villager

# 6 =Eja;190005>Honour Nosa Olotu You put your points across well, however, I disagree with the premise of your argument. Corruption is not the main problem we have in nigeria. Our problem is to do with incompetence. Nigeria is an entity that is well integrated into the global economy and one thing that you will find if you do some more research is that the dominant mechanisms that run the global economy are totally dependant on Corruption. The difference between us and say, the united kingdom is that although business people (and the real owners of government) in the UK are just as immoral/amoral as our nigerian 'leaders', the people who run the UK strive for some competence. What I am trying to say is, to focus on corruption as the one major barrier to progress without taking a good hard look at what we are seeking to progress into is a big mistake. Corruption and high level of competence is what it takes to succeed as a capitalist. Eja, You are wrong, you know! Capitalist corruption is more like an inducement aimed at winning or beating competition and encouraging creativity. The level of inducement is minor and the work must be done to the agreed standard. However there are laws and policing in place such that if you are caught you will be punished. Can you seriously say that is the case in Nigeria? There is also corruption in a socialist and communist regimes. Thank God, these forms of government are dead!! Posted by Enforcer| 08.07.2007 03:36

Adeola Aderounmu  Villager

# 7 Stop arguing, sum the entire vices together! In Nigeria, corruption is a big problem. Due to federal character or maybe corruption itself, we have put incompetent people in the management of our affairs: what is the result? Poverty affecting more than 70% of our people. Nosa, I commend you for this wonderful piece. You re-echo some of the points that I made 5 years ago (see link below). I am one person disgusted by the level of corruption in Nigeria. One question that I cannot find the answer to is: Why can't we prosecute people for their corrupt practices? Is it that everyone that goes there steals? I wrote this piece in the Guardian in 2002: Why Politicians Steal: Maybe it is still relevant! Related Article: http://www.geocities.com/nigeriansinsweden/article1.htm May the Glory of Nigeria come, soon! http://aderinola.wordpress.com/ aderounmu@gmail.com Posted by Adeola Aderounmu| 08.07.2007 10:01

Eja  Villager

# 8 Honour Sapele Man From my experience of working with Nigerians both in Nigeria and in the UK, I can say that Nigerians are not incompetent. I don't doubt that you have worked with some highly competent nigerians. I have also met more than a few nigerians to whom any sort of corruption would be anathema. In fact, I would go as far as to state that the vast majority of nigerians can be easily included among the most honest people on Earth. Yet, we have a reputation as a corrupt nation. No my brother, I insist, the krapulousness of our infastructure is down to the incompetence of the intellectually lazy (and vicious) gluttons who have been in charge. Posted by Eja| 08.07.2007 18:41

Eja  Villager

# 9 Honour Enforcer If you check the manifestations of what you describe as "corruption" in socialist countries, you will find that this thing is nothing more than pockets of capitalist accumulation being practised by members of the elite. After all, all such instances of "corruption" involved someone using their position and influence to gather riches (i.e. capitalism). So, in fact, what you are using to make your point only emphasises what I said before : capitalism and corruption go hand in hand. Also, communism did not fail. There is a difference between communism and socialism and, what has been seen so far in the industrialised regions of Earth have been socialist states. By definition, communism is the end product of a State that has successfully organised the socialist means of production and consumption of material goods. According to Karl Marx, industrial societies start off as capitalist (primitive, then advanced), but are then forced by the inherent contradictions of this system to adopt a socialist mode of production/consumption (or perish). From socialism, according to marxist theory, a society will eventually evolve upwards into communism. So far, there is not one industrialised society on Earth that has successfully followed Marx's theorised trajectory. The furthest some have gone is the practice of socialism. I will now try to lay out the reasons (in my view), why some societies have reverted back to capitalism from socialism. Gravity is perhaps the most misoverstood (or, incompletely comprehended) of all natural forces. Going by convention, most people think of gravity as being a thing that works only on physical bodies. However, there is a possibility that gravity affects EVERYTHING. There is a possibilty that it affects not just the physical body, but also the mind, the spirit and, most importantly, all individual components of the above named three sub-divisions of the whole being. Gravity is a mechanism that comes into play when a body of lesser mass comes into the gravitational field of a much larger body. This is the most basic description. Extending this basic description from the material into the immaterial world, we could say that gravity is the mechanism used by an idea/concept that has more adherents (or a more apparent usefullness) to subsume within its own field of influence, ones who were previously attached to a less attended (or, less apparently utilitarian). Capitalism and socialism/communism are all first and foremost ideas. Furthermore, they are ideas that share one common root : materialism. They are sub-divisions of this one original orientation and they represent the end-points of specific explorations that were made by the judeo-christian mind as it sought the most suitable way of ordering the material world. Please note that I used the description that recognises capitalism and socialism/communism as being ideals that were born out of judeo-christian thought. This is because, until the world-wide triumph of the judeo-christian west in the 19th century, there had been other human communities who ordered the material world strictly in accordance with precepts that were concieved within their own minds. However, from the 19th century onwards, the most apparently successful mechanisms for the present (and future) ordering of the physical universe were those that came out of western judeo-christian societies. (Remember that Karl Marx, the spiritual father of all future socialists and would-be ommunists, was a German-Jew and that his main work, Das Kapital, was completed in London). Now, when other societies came into the proximity of these west European mechanisms, their previous order was fatally disrupted by the superior gravitational forces of the alien ideologies. Packaging, a particular genius of the western mind, persuaded even where content was less than overwhelmingly convincing. From China to Africa, the old order crumbled and the power structures that had run societies lost cohesion, credibility, and eventually, the control they had once exerted over their communities. We should remember that it was not only the apparatus of civil governance and ways of ordering market forces that crumbled, vital appendages like the indigenous judiciary, religion and ways of giving meaning to the intrinsic value of objects were also dismantled (either rapidly or gradually) by the force of judeo-christian imperialism. Now, all the above is a way of showing the reason why, after their success in October 1917, the ideologues and activists of the Russian Bolshevik party decided to spread their revolution beyond their borders. It was a move to ensure the survival of their endvavour; they knew that for as long as they existed in close proximity to capitalist states, then, the eventually superior gravitational pull of these societies would impede their march towards communism. Unfortunately for the bolsheviks, they did not succeed in western europe. In fact, they failed at the first attempt. A failure due both to the internal dynamics of the bolshevik state apparatus and to the massively overwhelming force of the well-established counter-ideology : capitalism. And, eventually, socialist Russia itself fell. A triumph of one form of judeo-christian materialism over another. Therefore, nothing that we (who are sourced from outside judeo-christianity) should be inclined to celebrate or take any form of pride in. Most especially since we were ouselves defeated by the same advesary and still struggling with the dis-orientation that accompanied our loss. Posted by Eja| 08.07.2007 18:55

Amy  Villager

# 10 Lack of institutions to deal with corruption issues. Nigeria does not have independent external institutions that investigate cases of corruption. The EFCC was set up a few years ago with some fanfare. It didn’t take long before it was used to chase and frustrate government opponents while government supporters continue to loot. Whilst it is true that some socio-economic conditions may aggravate the incidence of corruption, it requires weaknesses in the political, legislative and judicial processes for it to root. That is apparently the case in Nigeria. The author hit it head on when he alluded to the lack of institutions to deal with corruption issues. The disaster called EFCC was a missed opportunity... it ended up hardening many corrupt officials... forcing them to refine their nefarious strategies rather than denounce their evil ways. As Achebe said and I agree, the problem with Nigeria is the dearth of credible/competent leadership. For the brief period when a leader, Gen. Buhari stood up to corruption, he evoked fear in the hearts of miscreants and looters in all corners of the nation as he left no one in doubt of his resolve to enforce the law to the later, in the event that any public official was caught in the act. It is not that our people have completely lost their sense of outrage with respect to corruption & stealing, after all, all across Nigeria, third-rate Oles are stoned to death for peanuts, while the real Baba Oles are revered as celebrities. The inherent contradictions abound and until we have a national leader that will exhibit an unbending resolve to prosecute, without fear or favor, & bring the full weight of the law to bear on ALL persons found guilty of official corruption, nothing will change. For as long as the likes of Tafa Balogun can get away with a mere 3 months imprisonment for stealing billions, there will be little to deter others like him from trying their luck with siphoning public funds abroad. After all, who can't live with just 3 months behind bars, if after serving your time, you get to keep a good portion of the loot? If you ask me, until such a time that we are blessed with responsible leadership that will hold looters accountable, we, the people, must proceed with the only weapon left to us... our moral voices! It's time we adopt the strategy of yelling- OLE... BARAWO... ONYE OSHI... through any and every medium available to us until perchance, we provoke them to conform to the dictates of our civilized traditions as a democratic entity... Frankly, I don taya for these looters. I have never been for booing people, but we live in peculiar times and peculiar situations demand peculiar reactions. The masses must rise up to the challenge and make Nigeria an uncomfortable place for these heartless members of the Nigerian society. Any strategy that is within the parameters of our civilized traditions is acceptable. In other words, short of violence of any kind, we have a moral responsibility to expose and humiliate these unrepentant thugs & common place criminals posing as political leaders, that see no shame in siphoning public funds abroad. Shameless bunch! Later O'jare! Posted by Amy| 08.07.2007 20:10

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