Leadership Under-developing A Country By: Hannatu Musawa on November 13, 2013 - 5:16am Massive corruption pervades all levels of government in Nigeria and has become a threat to the nation’s economy and a danger to our democracy. As the scathing “US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012” on Nigeria estimates, the country lost about $6.8 billion (N1.067 trillion) to what it calls “endemic corruption and entrenched inefficiency”. Corruption has become an endemic disease, a hydra-headed monster that is gorging every facet of the Nigerian society. Indeed, it is a crime against development. According to the 2012 Transparency International CPI index, Nigeria is ranked 139th out of 176 countries globally. Noteworthy, however, there has always been a salient yet silent form of corruption insidiously contributing to the under-development of Nigeria: it is known as “quiet corruption”. The World Bank defines quiet corruption “as the failure of public servants to deliver goods and services paid for by governments”. This form of corruption does not make sensational headlines in the way bribery scandals or other infamous corrupt practices do, but it is just as corrosive and detrimental to the development of the country. It focuses on the inability and inefficiency of public officials in delivering goods and services, which have been made available and paid for by government, to the majority of the populace due to petty bribes, nepotism, greed, theft, cronyism, etc. For instance, when people pay bribes to access public services that should ordinarily be freely available; when a child is denied proper education due to the reason that the teacher supposed to be teaching full-time as stipulated by the government budget is instead non-existent because salaries to pay the teacher have been fraudulently diverted to corrupt officials, and so on, are regarded as quiet corruption inhibiting Nigeria’s long-term development. Inevitably, such leads to distrust, lack of confidence and negative expectation of delivery of government services and public facilities. Another major form of quiet corruption prevalent in Nigeria is what is known as “tenderpreneurs”. These are individuals who enrich themselves through government tender contracts, primarily based on personal connections, cronyism, family ties and corrupt relationships. They largely consist of friends with personal connections and ties to those in power, nuclear and extended family members, non-re-elected politicians, etc. In most cases of tenderpreneur, outright bribery takes place and involves an elected or politically appointed official holding simultaneous business bidding for a particular contract. The end result of this is often accompanied by overcharging and tawdry workmanship. The evidence of this is the lack in quality, half-finished and abandoned projects which, as of October last year, amounted to a stack of some 12,000 abandoned public projects scattered across the country, worth an estimated $50 billion. They have sat idle for various, often indiscernible, reasons. Another group of tenderprenuers are heads and top officials of government agencies/public institutions who scheme and award government contract to themselves, without due procurement processes such as open advertising and bidding; they set up companies fronted by close relatives and associates. Inevitably, quiet corruption, unaddressed, fosters poverty and exploitation due to the total reliance of majority of the populace on the skeletal and non-existent government services and public systems as a result of moneys and revenue embezzled and siphoned off by government officials. Unaddressed, it erodes institutional capacity of government, when procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices are bought and sold. Unaddressed, it increases the cost of doing business especially in the private sector through the price of illicit payments, the management cost of negotiating with officials, and the risk of breached agreements of detection. Unaddressed, it lowers compliance and enforcement, contributes to the violation of laws or regulations, as it is mostly ignored by people and cannot be enforced efficiently since enforcement officials can easily be cajoled, coaxed or bribed. Indeed, quiet corruption has pervasively permeated government ministries, department and agencies, significantly reducing the quality of government services and infrastructure. Though laws in Nigeria provide criminal penalties for official corruption, government has done little or nothing to effectively implement these laws, as it is a well-known fact that public officials in Nigeria frequently engage in corrupt practices with impunity. It has also become especially harmful to the nation’s poor, who, according to the Bureau of Statistics, constitute about 112 million Nigerians living below the poverty line. Similarly, the World Bank also states that more than 67 per cent of the entire population lives in poverty, particularly in rural areas. This huge number/percentage of people is primarily dependent and relies on government services and public systems to satisfy and provide for their basic needs and amenities. Hence, tackling this scourge would require: a strong and committed leadership with genuine political will, policies and institutions; increased accountability and participation by citizens; protection of whistle-blowers from harassment, intimidation or persecution by the authorities, so as to encourage prospective whistle-blowers in exposing future corrupt practices of public officers; a free and vibrant press that is informative, authoritative and responsible, especially via reports on government budgets and pending projects, enabling citizens to have adequate information and can further question leaders on the status of on-going and finished projects and the use of funds for the projects. Lastly, we need a truly independent judiciary devoid of favouritism, bias and partial judgments, prosecuting culpable public officials accordingly, under the law.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 18:15:15 +0000
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