Editorial
Corruption And Dev Nations:That World Bank Alarm
The recent alarm raised by the World bank to the effect that a whooping $40 billion belonging to developing nations, is stolen annually and stashed in dedicated foreign accounts by corrupt leaders, presents another opportunity to address corruption and its negative impact on poor nations.
World Bank Managing Director, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, while lamenting the perpetual under development of beggerly nations, most of them, from sub-saharan Africa, blamed their perennial backwardness on rogue leaders who, rather than address basic infrastructal needs of their people divert scarce resources into their private accounts.
This would not be the first time corruption among African leaders would attract attention of the international community, but coming from a World bank chief, without doubt, typifies the degree of the malaise and a such, must not be treated with the familiar levity of the past
Apparently disturbed by the retrogressive level of the economies and peoples of the affected nations, Okonjo-Iweala called on World leaders, especially, those of the top most industrialised nations, to address the situation, as they gather in Canada between June 26-27, this month, for the G-20 summit.
It is no secret that, in Africa and most developing nations, corruption is not merely pervading or growing but rather entrenched since independence. It is on record that corruption in Africa started about 50 years ago, when, many African nations gained independence but assumed very disturbing proportions with emergence of military dictatorships which unfavourable political and economic environment encouraged capital flight to Europe and United States of America, through the connivance of foreign crooks.
Instructively, most African countries became increasingly indebted to their colonial masters through whose stooges and foreign accomplices, legitimately acquired wealth found safe havens abroad for fear of the then prevalent economic and political uncertainties, while illegitimate wealth was easily spirited away by corrupt leaders who preferred to flee from the unconducive environment they created. In all these, the wealthy nations looked the other way, because the stolen funds boosted their own economies at the expense of the poor nations into whose development such funds should have been channeled.
A study of 33 Sub-Saharan African countries, revealed that between 1970 – 2004 private external assets far exceeded public external liabilities which made some powerful individuals far richer than their countries and by 2004 total capital flight of such countries was $443 billion compared to external debt of $195 billion.
Without doubt, capital flight has become the safest means of underdeveloping already poor nations. Besides the fact that such money ought to be used for developing such nations, it also denies the concerned masses the benefits of direct investment and the multiplier effects of their own country’s resources. Even more painful is the fact that such monies in foreign accounts are not ever taxed by their primary owners thus denying such countries of funds, and the people left with the burden of direct denial of amenities and indirect payment of external debts.
Not only that, it is estimated that 30 per cent of every dollar spent on imports leave the country as capital flight by corrupt officials through over-invoicing of imports and under-invoicing of exports.
Also worthy of note is the high level of internal corruption in Africa which undermines the impact of investments made to meet the target of the Millennium Development Goals.
It not only caused preventable deaths but increased the number of people living on less than two dollars a day from 292 million in 1981 to 555 million in 2005.
Rather than count our gains and pride in our developmental strides since independence, it is indeed sad that African nations through their corrupt leaders are entangled in retrogressive actions that perpetually enslave their peoples over the years with the collaboration of their foreign counterparts.
This is why we support the clarion call by the World Bank to redress the situation, by enlisting the cooperation of the G-20 Summit scheduled for Canada, this weekend. With the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank as members, and with countries representing 90 per cent of global gross national product, 80 per cent of World trading and two-thirds of world population, the G-20 stands the best option to tackle the menace of capital flight from developing countries.
Another way of checkmating corruption is for global bodies such as the United Nations to institute sanctions on countries like Switzerland, that directly or indirectly encourage corruption among African leaders by safeguarding their dubious secret accounts. It will also be necessary to force such finance houses to expose identities of such ‘big-time’ customers periodically
To further tighten the noose on perpetrators of global corruption, we believe that an independent central bank for Africans, if established would help prevent corrupt officials from transferring money to foreign accounts.
But should they scale the hurdle, the masses would wish to see their corrupt leaders transparently prosecuted through functional and proactive anti corruption agencies instituted locally and internationally and strengthened to facilitate their arrest.
The World Bank also has a role to play in redressing the woes of developing countries through humane lending policies to Africa rather than imposing very strangulating conditions like structural adjustment programmes, privatisation and import liberalisation that mainly favour the developed world. It should instead help discourage corruption at the highest level through its international network.
Most importantly, the World Bank should support positive efforts at instituting democracy and good governance in African countries such as Nigeria, where, such collaboration would have immeasurable impact on current electoral and banking reforms as well as encourage other fledging anti-corruption agencies.
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
