Editorial
Nigeria: Beyond Anti-Corruption Anniversary
Recently, Nigeria joined other countries of the world to mark the annual global Anti-corruption Day. It is a day set aside by the United Nations, primarily to sensitise the global community on the debilitating effect of corruption on national development and for the assessment of efforts aimed at combating the scourge.
The theme of the 2010 World Anti-corruption Day is aptly chosen “Don’t Let Corruption kill Development” but more than any other factor, corruption has remained the major albatros militating against meaningful development in Nigeria.
In the language of the Political Bureau established in 1987, corruption takes many forms including: “…the inflation of government contracts in kickbacks, frauds and falsification of accounts in the public service, examination malpractices in our educational institutions including universities; the taking of bribes and pervasion of justice and various henious crimes against the state in the business and industrial sectors of our economy, in collusion with multi-national companies such as over-invoicing of goods, foreign exchange swindling, hoarding and smuggling”.
The celebration of the Anti-corruption Day was usually championed by some non-governmental organisations, such as Transparency International, but various nations support it through their anti-corruption agencies and institutions.
This year’s celebration was not different, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Code of Conduct Bureau among others were all represented and as usual reeled off statistics indicating progress in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
These statistics, however, neither reflect the dept of the scourge nor the perception of the average Nigerian who now sees corruption as part of our national public life, especially, because of the fact that those indicted for corruption hardly get any commensurate reprimand.
A clear case in point was the recent negotiated conviction of former Managing Director of Oceanic Bank, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, after she agreed to forfeit a fraction of her loot.
Though the main institutions in the vanguard of Nigeria’s anti-corruption enforcement have continued to take the opportunity of the annual ritual of Anti-corruption Day, to give themselves pats on the back, they are not generally known to have improved their results.
Over the years, Nigeria has, indeed, maintained several legislative frameworks and policies for fighting corruption. Some of them include the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, the Money Laundering Act No 3 of 1995, Failed Bank Act No 16 of 1996, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related offences Act of 2000, the Economic and Financial Crimes Act, 2004 and the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligent Unit. All are aimed at helping the anti-corruption agencies function effectively but there don’t seem to be any significant progress being made.
The Nigeria Police Force, the Code of Conduct Bureau, the ICPC and the EFCC are continuously perceived as standing still if not increasingly becoming ineffectual. And sure, the corruption ranking of Nigeria by the Transparency International based on such perceptions has not improved by any considerable margin since 2008 when the country was ranked 121st out of about 180 countries.
Since then, and in different parts of the world, a number of companies including Halliburton, Siemens, Wilbros, Nigeria LNG, and even officials of a Nigerian bank have been indicted for infractions, bribes and corrupt advantages in Nigerian business dealings.
But the silence of the Nigerian institutions that ought to co-operate with originating bodies and bring to book the Nigerian counterparts or accessories to crime in this regard, has not encouraged public trust and confidence in them.
On the other hand, the monumental corruption in our political life does not seem to be abating such that at both the executive and legislative bodies across the states and local government areas more havoc is being committed. Governors believe they are doing the people a favour by deciding who gets a chunk of juicy and overbloated contracts and who does not benefit and with the myopic connivance of the legislators who also share in these contracts through “oversight” committees and constituency project allocations, corruption reigns. At the local Government level, but for a few Chairmen that have tried to distinguish themselves in the way they try to address some basic needs for their localities, the entire tier of government may be turning into a statutory scandal with little or nothing to show for the average N100 million monthly allocation to the 774 local Government Areas in the country.
While tribalism remains a sign post of our national politics, corrupt practices and graft in the management of our national economy, have remained a uniting force because it seems all are agreed that the only way to justify ones presence in any public institution is to cut a chunk of the ‘national cake’ large enough to last for the tenth generation of one’s family members.
This tacit connivance by the generality of Nigerians accounts, no doubt, for the continued manifestation of corruption in our public and private lives and by extension for the absence of sustainable infrastructure and social amenities across the nation. It also accounts for the massive unemployment and the incremental poverty which over 80 percent of the Nigerian populace might be experiencing. Official corruption accounts for youth restiveness, illiteracy and all forms of social crime. It is to be blamed for the general state of insecurity because it is only when the nation’s resources are productively engaged that crime can be abated.
A look at the corrupt practices that rage in some Nigerian Public institutions such as the Nigeria Police Force, the Customs Service, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, (PHCN) the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and even at the nation’s educational institutions, gives little hope for a better tomorrow and calls for drastic and concerted action beyond the rhethrorics of annual celebrations.
The current realities call for intensification of pace in the war against corruption. Government and its agencies must move beyond slogans and talk shows and ensure intrepid investigations, diligent prosecutions and speedy but fair trial and punishment where deserved.
We say so because, no nation that hopes to develop and find itself among the developed nations of the world, as Nigeria is aspiring, will continue to condone leakages of its resources through avoidable corrupt practices.
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.
