By: Sunny Anderson Osiebe.
PROTOCOL
For
more than 40 years now, the ‘anti-corruption’ fight has remained a
major policy thrust of successive administrations. While this is true,
it is also unfortunately
true that not much traction has been achieved in preventing corruption
in our public life. There is no doubt that corruption has significantly
impaired our growth and development as a nation. More importantly, it is
the poor that are most affected by corruption.
This is why the war against corruption must now fight this current war
sustainably through systemic solutions.
It
is safe to say that we have failed before, for various reasons.
Whatever, those reasons are, we cannot afford to fail again. This time,
we must get it right. To lose
this opportunity will have untold impact on our history and
development. The current initiative must be insulated from being used as
a political tool for political witch-hunting. It must not be allowed to
be tainted in a manner that suggest selectivity.
In
the past, we have seen military juntas cite rampant corruption as a
rationale for assuming and holding on to power. We have also witnessed
firsthand how past democratic
governments have sought to eradicate corruption without much success.
In order to succeed this time, we cannot afford to make the fight
against corruption simply a mantra. We cannot also afford to make it a
chase in the dark, it must be rooted in effective
strategy, demonstrable plan with various layers rooted firmly in the
tripods of law, liberty and neutrality.
As
a nation, we still have a long way to go in the fight against
corruption. Having tried to solve the problem through spontaneous
institutional action, I hereby propose
that it is time to adopt a more organised and structure oriented
intervention strategy set up with concrete solutions for different
strands of the corruption matrix.
We
must ask ourselves, what have other nations who have been success
against corruption around the world done to achieve the result they
have? What do we need to do differently
to achieve better and different result? What is clear is that whatever
strategy that is adopted that does not include the following as priority
is likely not to lead to a sustainable fight against corruption; these
include, transparency in government processes
and procurements, reduction in bureaucratic bottlenecks, education,
technology adaptation, the adoption and enforcement of sensible rules
and reduction of discretions, neutral application of sanctions, capacity
building and oversight and monitoring.
All
of these must become acculturated in our public life through a
conscious and deliberate policy that is well audited and oversight
oriented. What this means is that
the challenge is not that of the Executive alone neither is the fight
against corruption just a matter for EFCC, ICPC and the other
enforcement agencies to contain. It is our collective responsibility.
Over
the past year and half, since we took office at the 8th National
Assembly, the Senate through its oversight powers have intervened at all
times it has been called
upon either through petitions or otherwise, to review the activities,
management and administration of ministries, departments and agencies of
the Federal Government. Through our legislative supervision we have
uncovered monumental leakages in the operationalization
of the Treasury Single Account regime, which has had the effect of
saving the country over 20 billion Naira. In the same vein, the Senate
has successfully nipped in the buds the issue of abuse of waivers that
has led to a huge loss of revenue for government.
We are currently investigating certain companies that have illegally
repatriated upwards of 12 Billion US Dollars out of the Nigerian
economy.
The
fight against corruption must remain driven by a well articulated and
delivered strategy. One that is robust, multifaceted and driven by
leadership across all aspect
of our political and social systems. It cannot be the fight of one man
but rather the vigilance of everyone of us in our various sphere of
influence. Let me share some of my personal experiences with you to
shade light on some of the strategies that I have
utilized in the past. In the 7th Assembly, I remember personally
leading the charge to expose the corrupt fuel subsidy arrangement that
was in place. Through a motion on the Senate floor, the Senate uncovered
a mindboggling corruption going on in the federal
government subsidy management scheme. This led to the indictment of
several individuals and companies who were exploiting the weak
institutional structures in the design of the scheme to the detriment of
millions of Nigerians to enrich themselves. This motion
alone saved the Nigerian government over 500 billion Naira, in the
first year and in my opinion would have saved a whole lot more
afterwards as a result.
These
are just several examples of arms of governments successfully operating
within their jurisdictions and mandates to further our collective cause
as a nation and
bring an end to the pervasive corruption that exists in our society.
Ladies
and Gentlemen, one of the reasons government create institutions is to
ensure that they act in such manner as best preserves the welfare and
security of our people.
I believe that institutional integrity and capacity holds the key to
sustainable success against corruption. This is so crucial as ordinary
Nigerians must be convinced that the problem of curbing corruption is
being treated seriously by the government, and
not in an opportunistic manner. This is especially so for our public
accountability institutions. Therefore, if we must make significant
inroad against corruption we must strive to protect our accountability
institutions from the virus of political interference
no matter how well meaning they may be. They must be enabled to operate
in an atmosphere of political neutrality, efficiency and fairness as
envisaged under the constitution. This in my view means that while these
institutions work in collaborative form, there
must be minimal intrusion in the operation decisions and working of our
apex institutions — like the EFCC, the ICPC and the Police Force —
that are tasked with ensuring accountability in our affairs.
Additionally,
as history has shown, it is not enough to simply round people up
forcefully throw them in jail under the guise of a successful
anti-corruption fight, as
a government and as a people, we must do more on the prevention and
perception side of the anti-corruption war.
Perception
is key in this fight. The anticorruption drive cannot be undertaken as a
media glitz. This is why governments across all levels must work to
strengthen the
capacity of our agencies to make informed decisions and be inclined
towards good knowledge of the law, rigor and transparency in all their
doing. The more open and transparent the process, the less opportunity
there will be for abuse of office.
In
similar vein, there is a lot that can be achieved with greater civil
engagement. Unless we achieve a wide citizen participation and belief in
the fight against corruption,
it will continue to be easy to erode successes recorded. This is why I
urge sensitization of our community leadership and the wider local
communities to join the fight through the denouncement of corrupt
individuals and those who normalize dishonesty, bribery
and exploitation; and those who clearly live far and above their
commensurate earnings. This must be incentivized by government paying
workers a living wage.
Ladies
and gentlemen, the fight against corruption cannot be fought and won on
the basis of prosecution of offenders alone, a greater effectiveness
can
be achieved by applying preventive measures across the public spectrum.
Such preventive measures must include adequate education, ethical
reforms, adaptation of technological support systems for better auditing
and public procurement systems that help cover
loopholes for corruption. For example,in
order to reduce the risk of corruption and increase the effectiveness
of public procurements, electronic tenders should be used more widely
where possible
On
our part, the National Assembly is ready to continue to use its
legislative time and authority to reform key areas of our laws that will
strengthen our institutions
and give a fillip to the anti-corruption campaign. We are working to
improve our oversight procedures by making the objectives and
recommendations of these activities more open to public participation
and feedback.
Additionally,
with the Whistleblowers Protection Bill, which is one of our priority
bills the National Assembly expect that when the bill is passed into
law, it would
help create a culture of greater freedom to expose corruption and
guarantee the rights of citizens who speak out against corruption. With
such laws in place, everyday Nigerians will be empowered to hold the
government more accountable, which will in turn reduce
the waste of public funds, and lead to improvements in the quality of
public services.
As
we play our part in the legislature, other arms of government must also
be determined to do the same. The judiciary on its part must take steps
to modernize itself
by creating an environment that improves the speed and quality of
justice. We are ready to play our role to make this happen. Already, the
National Assembly has recently passed a bill increasing the number of
judges of the Federal High Court and the Appeal
courts to reduce the work load of judges in these courts. We know a lot
more needs to happen. For example, it is no longer efficient to see our
judges record proceedings of court in long-hand. The implication of
this is that the will of justice is significantly
impaired, people’s access to judicial rulings becomes reduced and the
resolution of corruption cases negatively impacted.
Ladies
and gentlemen, it is no longer acceptable that we are still operating a
judicial system where there are conflicting judgments issuing from
courts of coordinate
jurisdiction over matters similar in fact and in law. In order to
further strengthen the anticorruption process, we must join hands
together to review these anomalies and strengthen the courts to act
judiciously, impartially and fairly at all times.
Finally,
I would not end my remarks without commenting on the need for every
authority under our constitution to abide by decisions of courts made
within jurisdiction.
This is the only way to preserve law and order and maintain the rule of
law as an essential ingredient for the survival of our nascent
democracy. As emphasized earlier, anti-corruption does not start or end
with the ICPC, or the EFCC, the Police or the DSS.
This fight is all-encompassing. This fight can only be fought and won
by all of us - the people and their government - working in sync and
playing our own part in the process within the ambits of our defined
powers.
If
we are truly serious about building a Nigeria that is free from
corruption and its myriad consequences, then we must fight to build a
nation of institutions under
law. We must work to ensure that there is order in all that we do.
Unless there is order, we will not get the right results. Unless the
anti-corruption war is underpinned on due process, the respect of the
rule of law, and a clear acceptance of the separation
of powers - with our Constitution as our guiding law, we will not
achieve lasting and sustainable results.
Now,
I urge us all irrespective of our party affiliation, religious leaning,
to work together to achieve a corruption free nation that works for all
Nigerians regardless
of their social and political status.
God bless you all. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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