Combating corruption in Nigeria ‐ bliss or bluster?

Journal of Financial Crime

Volumn 12, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 69-87

  Shehu, Abdullahi Y ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG   (Hong Kong)

Author keywords

Corruption; Nigeria; Regulation

Indexed keywords

EID: 84993108411     PISSN: 13590790     EISSN: 17587239     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/13590790510625061     Document Type: Review

References (64)

1. Kaufman, D. (2003) ‘Rethinking Governance - Empirical Lessons Challenge Orthodoxy’, A Draft Discussion Paper, World Bank, Washington, DC.
2. Opportunities for such discussion are legion. These include formal and informal gatherings, media chats, seminars and conferences.
3. See Transparency International (TI) annual corruption perception index1996-2003. TI isanon-governmental organisation based in Berlin, Germany, that has as its objective the fight against corruption the world over. The criteria for this assessment have been criticised, yet TI's reports are always cited in anti-corruption literature. TI needs to review its criteria and develop a more empirical methodology for such assessment to give credibility to the perception index.
4. See the World Bank Data Handbook, 2003; Times Facts Book, 2004, among others.
5. Nigeria is the sixth largest producer/exporter ofpetrol in the world. See Queen Elizabeth II's remarks at a Pre-Commonwealth Summit reception in her honour in Abuja, 3rd December, 2003. It is hardly possible to talk about Nigeria without reference to its oil resources. Unfortunately, it is one of the sources of corruption in the country.
6. See for example, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Bank Human Development Indicators and Reports 2003, among others.
7. For example, marriage and naming ceremonies, burial customary requirements in some cultures etc. There was a time a few years ago President Obasanjo accused state governors of using state funds for Owa'be (a Yoruba jargon for ‘party/ceremony’). The most disgusting aspect of such parties is that the spectators throw money, on which the dancers then trample. How can the currency then be held in respect?
8. Pavarala, V. (1996) Interpreting Corruption: Elite Perspectives in India, Sage Publications, New Delhi, p. 51.
9. Hope, R. K. et al. (2000) (eds) Corruption and Development in Africa: Lessonsfrom Country Case Studies, Macmillan Press Ltd, London, p. 18.
10. See Quinney, R. (1997) The Problem of Crime, Dodd, Mead and Co., New York, p. 13.
11. It is not implied that such conduct is no longer pervasive, but at least the country is trying to show how it founditself where it is now.
12. Olusegun Obasanjo in a keynote address at a national conference on Nigeria: The State of the Nation and the Way Forward, organised by the Centre for Historical Documentation, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, held at Arewa House, Kaduna, on 2nd-3rd February 1994. Note that Obasanjo was a military Head of State from 1976 to 1979.
13. See Brigadier J. N. Dogonyaro's address on 25th August, 1985 and the subsequent address to the nation by the new military President, General I. B. Babangida, both of whom were top officials in the last administration.
14. The Chinese National Conditions Research Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in collaboration with Tsinghua University carried out a study on senior official corruption above Vice-Ministerial level over a 20-year period (1978-2002) and confirmed this. See also Shelley, L. I. (1981) Crimeand Modernization: Thelmpactoflndustrialization and Urbanization on Crime, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, IL.
15. There is strong cynicism regarding the implementation and success of this policy. In an interview with the Daily Trust sometime in September 2003, the Chairman of the National Revenue Allocation and Fiscal Commission expressed similar reservations.
16. A study by PriceWaterhouse, Investor's Road Map in Nigeria, 2003 and another one by an NGO in 2002 alleged that 50 per cent of corruption in the public service occurred in the Presidency, despite the present government's talks on stamping out the menace. See also Mez, ref. 15 above; Dan-Asabe, A. M. (2003) ‘The Road Map to Ending Corruption in Nigeria’, Daily Trust, June, Abuja; Dike, V. (2003) ‘Managing the Challenges of Corruption in Nigeria’, Lagos Forum Comment, 18th June; Toungo, B. M. (2003) ‘Mr. President, Where Is Our Money?’, Daily Trust, 2nd December; as well as interview with Colonel Abubakar D. Umar, in The NEWS Magazine, September 2003, among others.
17. Makanjuola is speculated to be a relation of President Obasanjo. For details see Dan-Asabe, A. M., Wada Nas (2003) ‘Minister's sack: Obasanjo fooled Commonwealth’, Daily Trust, 8th December.
18. Following the submission of the audit report to the National Assembly in February 2003, both the Minister of Finance (Adamu Chiroma) and his Information counterpart (Jerry Gana) addressed members of the press after an Executive Council Meeting and said the Acting Auditor General did not comply with laid down procedure for submitting an audit report. On his retirement later, the Information Minister justified the Auditor General by saying that after all, he was only in an acting capacity and was due to go retirement in 2003.
19. For more on this, see Mez, ref. 15 above, and many media reports and commentaries on this issue in the Nigerian media from October to December 2003.
20. At a three-day workshop organised by the African Diaspora Initiative (ADI) in conjunction with the faculty oflaw of the Ahmadu Bello University, on Corruption and Economic Crime, held in Kaduna, 1st-2nd December 2003, the Chairman of the Commission (Mustapha Akanji) restated that the Commission was not properly funded. At a separate seminar in Enugu, see ref. 26 below, Akanji refuted in the strongest terms the allegation that the ICPC was a toothless bulldog, though he averred that the ICPC budget ‘gets slashed to as low as one tenth of its requirements and for two years, funds for capital projects were not released’ (The Guardian, Wednesday, 3rd December, 2003J. But the issue of budget non-release is not a new thing under the present government anyway. Regarding the accusation of a vendetta, the National Assembly moved and almost succeeded in amending the ICPC Act but for the fact that their tenure had expired. Both the former Senate President (Pius Ayim) and Speaker (Gali Na-Abba) were accused of corrupt practices, which they refuted and alleged that the ICPC was being used against them because they wanted to impeach the President.
21. Those arrested included Hussaini Akwanga (Minister of Labour and Productivity and former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Internal Affairs), Sunday Afolabi (former Minister of Internal Affairs under Obasanjo), Mamman Shata (former Minister of State for Internal Affairs under Obasanjo), Ms R. O. Akerele, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mr Christopher Agidi, Director ofCivic Registration, and a Nigerian representative of SAGEM S.A. (a French company), Mr Niyi Adelakun. They were alleged to be involved in corrupt practices to do with the payment of a $214m National Identity Card Project. However, some commentators are curious that the arrests were made on or about 4th December, 2003, a day after Queen Elizabeth II arrived in Abuja, and the Commonwealth Summit was scheduled to commence the following day with corruption on the agenda. Whether that is ‘window dressing’ or not, people are keeping quiet and waiting to see how and when the officials will be prosecuted and punished.
22. Both Chairman oftheICPC andthe Governorofthe Central Bank ofNigeria (CBN)Joseph Sanusi, at the National Securities and Allied Matters seminar 2003 held in Enugu, accused the courts of delaying cases of fraud and corruption through ‘unnecessary adjournments, frivolous orders of stay of proceedings (the granting of ex parte motions)’. See The Guardian, Wednesday, 3rd December, 2003. At a separate seminar on Economic Crime and Corruption (see ref. 24 above), the Chairman of the ICPC and that of the EFCC (Nuhu Ribadu) expressed their frustration with the inability of the judiciary to diligently and expeditiously hear and pass judgments on cases of corruption brought before the courts.
23. Muhammadu Buhari (former Head of State and Presidential Candidate of opposition party ANPP) some years back in a distinguished lecture at Arewa House, Kaduna, 2rd-3rd February, 1998.
24. Shehu, A. Y. (2003) ‘Corruption and Money Laundering: A Comparative Study of Nigeria and Hong Kong’, unpublished PhD dissertation submitted to the University of Hong Kong. See also the UN Anti-Corruption Toolkit, Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna, Austria.
25. See UN Hand Bookfor Investigators and Prosecutors, UNODC, Vienna, 2003.
26. For details on the types, locations and impacts of corruption on Nigeria's image and prosperity, see ‘Nigeria's Investor's Road Map - An Enabling Environment Strategy’, report prepared for the Federal Government of Nigeria by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, December 2002; See also UNDP (2003) Human Development Report.
27. President Obasanjo disclosed this in his budget presentation speech to the National Assembly in December 1999.
28. See the UN Anti-Corruption Toolkit GPAC, UNODC, Vienna, 2003.
29. Kaufman, D. (2003) ‘Rethinking Governance - Empirical Lessons Challenge Orthodoxy’, Draft Discussion Paper, World Bank, Washington, DC.
30. Allegations of weaknesses and corrupt practices in the National Assembly are legion. Whereas the first Senate President (Evans Enwerem) was impeached as a weak leader, the second President (Chuba Okadigbo) was impeached on ‘trumped up’ charges offinancial impropriety. See the recent allegation by a Minister, above, that the leadership of the Senate demanded bribes to clear and confirm ministerial nominees among others.
31. For example, the Kayode Esho Panel on the Judiciary, 1994, Cabinet Office Abuja, Nigeria (1985) Report of a Study Group on Law and Order, Federal Government Press, Lagos, and the Report of the Oputa Panel on Human Rights Violations (2002), The Presidency, Abuja, among others.
32. See Shehu, ref 28 above.
33. General Mohammadu Buhari was once a Head ofState, from 1984 to 1985. Most people were surprised to hear this from General Danjuma, who is highly respected and is regarded as one of the closest confidants of President Obasanjo. Indeed it was amazing to hear that he was frustrated during his tenure as Defence Minister, contrary to what most people had thought. According to him, ‘my tenure as. was one of the trying moments in my life.’ But if the issue of ‘clique’ refers to an interest group, then it could be argued that almost all the previous regimes had their own clique; people just had to wait for their turn. Some people's turns might never come!
34. More than four years after the inception of the present government and the establishment of the ICPC, there is no comprehensive blueprint or master plan setting targets for the fight against corruption, although one is apparently in draft form.
35. Security is not only the absence of war. The lack of food and other basic needs of life are even more serious aspects of security. Therefore security encompasses the freedom from fear (safety) and the freedom from want (wellbeing).
36. It was reported some time injune soon after the inauguration of the newly elected state governors, that an Assistant Inspector General of Police (R. Ige) attempted to abduct the elected Governor of Anambra state (Chris Ngige) and no disciplinary measure has been taken against him. He was retired in absentia after it was reported that he was nowhere to be found. The Inspector General of Police himself (Tafa Balogun) was alleged to be demanding bribes. Nonetheless, he refuted those allegations and remained ‘in his seat’. For details see The News Magazine, September 2003.
37. See for example, Usman, Y. B. (2003) ‘Violent Ethnic Conflicts in Nigeria - Beyond the Myths and Mystifications’, Analysis, Vol. 2, February, Zaria: Indebt Communications; Presidential Elections 2003 Partition by the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP), Federal High Court, Abuja.
38. The Daily Trust of 3rd December, 2003 reported that the government had to spend money for the treatment of Dr Lawal Shehu (Commissioner representing the north-west in the Independent National Electoral Commission), who was shot in the neck by armed robbers in Kaduna at some time in October 2003. He was reported to have died in December 2003. There are many of such cases at both the federal and state levels.
39. Stockbeck, J. (2002) ‘The Hiding of Wealth’, Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp.372-379; Evans, J. (2000) ‘Investigating and Prosecuting the Proceeds of Crime: A Common Law Experience’, in Savona (2000) (ed.), Responding to Money Laundering - International Perspectives, Harwood Publishers, Amsterdam, ch. 6.
40. Shehu, ref. 28 above.
41. Evans, ref. 47 above.
42. Richards, J. R. (1999) Transnational Criminal Organizations, Cybercrime, and Money Laundering - A Handbook for Law Enforcement Officers, Auditors, and Financial Investigators, CRC Press, London, p. 11.
43. President Obasanjo stated this during a lecture entitled, ‘Nigeria: From Pond of Corruption to Island of Integrity’, organised by TI in Berlin, 10th November, 2003. This is what he called ‘Publish-What-You-Pay’ and ‘Publish-What-You-Earn’.
44. Macfarlane, J. S. (1999) ‘Fighting Corruption into the 21st Century’, paper presented at the Silverjubilee ofIndependent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), 22nd-24th March, Hong Kong.
45. Ige, B. (Attorney-General and Minister ofjustice of Nigeria who was assassinated in December 2001) (2002) ‘Abacha and the Bankers: Cracking the Conspiracy’, Forum on Crime and Society, Vol. 2, No. 1, UNODC, Austria.
46. See Cross (2002) ‘Transnational Organized Crime: The Challenges’, in R. G. Broadhurst (ed.), Bridging the Gap: A Global Perspective on Transnational Organized Crime, Hong Kong Police, p. 28.
47. Chamberlain, K. (2002) ‘Recovering the Proceeds of Corruption’, Journal of Money Laundering Control, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 159-165.
48. See forexample, World Bank Economiclndicators f2002, 2003); UNDP Human Development Index (2003); Onimode, B. (2001) ‘Overview of Corruption and Organized Crime in Africa’, in Lame et al. (eds) Fighting Corruption and Organized Crime in Nigeria: Challengesfor the New Millennium, Spectrum Books, Abuja, ch. 5.
49. Ayua, I. A. (2001) Keynote Address to the National Conference on the Problem of Corruption in Nigeria, organised by the NigerianInstitute ofAdvanced Legal Studies (NIALS), in conjunction with ICPC, Abuja, 26th-29th March.
50. Jeffrey, H. and Olukoshi, A. (1994) ‘Nigeria: Economic and Political Reforms at Cross-Purposes’, in Stephen et al. (eds), Voting for Reform: Democracy, Political Liberalization and Economic Adjustment, World Bank, New York, pp. 453-502.
51. Ige, ref. 54 above.
52. Punch newspaper, published in Lagos, Nigeria, carried a full story of the Press Conference by Mohammed Haruna (Chief Press Secretary to General Abubakar), 11th November, 1998. See also Thisday, 20th October, 1999 and Vanguard newspaper, 30th October, 2001, respectively.
53. Ige, ref. 54 above.
54. Pratt, R. (2002) ‘Global Financial Business and the Implications for Effective Control of Money Laundering in Offshore Centres’, Journal of Financial Crime Control, Vol. 10, pp. 130-132; Langseth, P. and Mohammed, A. B. (eds) (2002) Strengthening Judicial Integrity and Capacity in Nigeria, UNODC, NIALS Press, Lagos, p. 139.
55. Ige, ref. 54 above.
56. For further details, see The News Magazine, 10th April, 2001, Vanguard newspaper, 15th November, 2001 and Guardian newspaper, 18th November, 2001, all published in Lagos.
57. Mainly, Nigeria owes the creditors of the Paris and London Clubs. A greater percentage of Nigeria's debt is owed to the Paris Club, which is responsible for all official/government credits and debts. Therefore ‘Western countries’ simply refers to the major creditor countries of Western Europe.
58. See The New Nigerian, Kaduna, 25th November, 1999 and President Obasanjo's budget speech to the National Assembly, 24th November, 1999, Abuja.
59. The way illegal funds behave in any environment is the fulcrum of an objective and dispassionate analysis of money laundering.
60. It may be unfair to arrive at this conclusion without taking into account the complexities highlighted earlier. It certainly takes some time to root out a systemic, deep-seated problem.
61. Mahdi et al. (eds) (1994) Nigeria: The State of the Nation and the Way Forward - Proceedings of National Workshop, organised by Arewa House, Centre for Historical Documentation and Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, February, p. 29.
62. See Kaufman, ref. 35.
63. It is easier under the Commonwealth because all members are English speaking and operate almost the same types of common law. Nigeria has an excellent opportunity to pursue this option vigorously, especially as President Obasanjo assumes the chair of the organisation in December 2003 for the next two years.
64. For definition of PEPs, see the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Money Laundering, 40 + 8 Recommendations 2003, Paris. Political office holders in Nigeria include all members of the Executive and the Legislature at local, state and federal levels; permanent secretaries; and heads of extra-ministerial departments.