Corruption’s Extremely High In Nigeria, US Insists

Sympathizers at the scene of a fuel tanker gutted by fire while discharging product at Conoil Filling Station on Ahmadu Bello Way in Jos ,last Saturday

The United States Government has expressed reservations over President Goodluck Jonathan’s comments recently, alluding to the fact that corruption in Nigeria was being overblown.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, Bisa Williams said in an interview at the weekend that “if you ask me, I would say that corruption is extremely high in this country; there is no other polite way to say this”.
Williams, who is also responsible for West African and African economic policy issues, said that “it is extremely unfortunate, because Nigeria as a country has tremendous intelligent people who do not have to be corrupt, because they have all it takes to be successful”, adding that “Nigerians are resourceful and they are living in abundance of wealth and to acknowledge the fact that there is corruption in Nigeria is disheartening”.
The deputy assistant secretary of state, who visited Nigeria, recently, noted that “corruption is something that Nigerians ought to handle in order to restore the image of the country. They ought to be proud of their country, and it is not acceptable for the citizens to say, ‘that is how life is in Nigeria’.
“Your government should really insist on application of rule, accountability, rule of law and transparency in receipts and documentation. These are honest steps to addressing the issue and your government should take that decision,” she stated.
She expressed the US Government’s “sincere hope that President Jonathan would join other African presidents who have been invited to the leaders’ summit that President Barack Obama would be hosting in Washington DC.”
According to her, “we just had a successful bi-national meeting weeks ago and we sent the number four person from State Department and they talked about the burden of the society and good governance,” adding that “we are good friends with Nigeria and as we consider these bothering issues, we would ensure that the country gets high level of policy attention from Washington, DC.”
On the US position on the 2015 elections, Williams said that “Nigeria is a very fascinating and dynamic country, and there are enormous interests and attractions from the international community, particularly the US, concerning the 2015 elections.
“Our government has said several times that we are looking forward to the elections being credible, fair, transparent and non-violent. And that is the key, because Nigeria is such a model for the young democracies in the continent, so it is important to us that the elections are conducted credibly.
“United States government and those in the private sector have very great interests in Nigeria, and, during my visit here, I have met with your government, civil society leaders and business people to discuss better ways to progressive elections in your country and also ways that Nigeria can attract new investments, and curb oil theft.
“As a matter of fact, I was part of the delegation that came to Nigeria last December at President Jonathan’s request to assess what is happening in the Niger Delta concerning oil theft. We met with the oil companies, and the Nigerian authorities who are responsible for securing the waterways.
“We also held a meeting in Abuja with the governments of the region, and we returned to Washington DC with reports to the Nigerian Government on what they could do to stop oil theft that is going on in the Niger Delta region. Interestingly, most of our assessments actually coincided with what the Nigerian Government’s analysts came up with, so the problem and ways to approach the issue is well known.
“The level of support the US government would give to Nigeria to ensure they operate fair and transparent elections would come in many ways. Although, Nigeria is one of the wealthiest countries in the African continent, and is quite capable of handling its elections, I am sure that the US will not relent in supporting INEC to conduct transparent elections,” Williams said.
“We will definitely have observers. The Nigerian Government has not necessarily indicated a need for support, but when we had discussions with officials in Abuja, the civil society and politicians, a lot of what was said focused on the need for government to ensure that INEC has all the resources it needs to conduct the elections the way they should be. The US is ready and willing to support everything that INEC needs to make sure there are no technical confusions during the elections.
“You have the structures and what you need are the people who are committed to ensuring things work the way they are supposed to, and that takes political will, rule of law, meaning enforcing the law. It also takes respect for human rights, accountability and willingness to make all the people accountable, regardless of their position, political party or affiliation to a particular person. There has to be a robust determination and political will to do the right things,” she emphasised.
On Boko Haram, Williams said, “I think it is important for Nigeria, and perhaps, other affected countries to get together and map out better strategy to curtail and or sanction the perpetrators and sponsors of Boko Haram. Many of them take refuge in neighbouring countries and it is worse in the northern part of Nigeria. In our view, there has to be a way for the countries that are affected to come together and solve the problem non-violently while looking at the issues of cooperation on border security”, she added.