It was reported recently that the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, is considering an upward review of the emoluments of judicial officers, as a means of abolishment of corrupt practices. This would translate into the assumption that higher emolument results in higher degree of personal integrity. This would be an interesting research hypothesis, but its result would hardly stand the test of validity. It is not difficult to understand that a predatory political economy, with an unstable monetary and exchange system, would breed an unstable society.
What is money if not a symbolic representation of productivity, and what is integrity if not the quality of being honest and upright in character? What sense does it make that one man’s integrity is exploited by another to make easy money, in a parasitic economy? What else does competition mean if not using available loopholes and opportunities for greatest personal advantage? Since it is a part of human nature to avoid cost and maximise profit, is the man of integrity wise to allow himself to be exploited?
What is corruption if subtle pressures which undermine and erode integrity are not included? Obviously such subtle pressures would include the prevailing ethos and aspirations in a society. What are the ethos and aspirations driving the prevailing Nigerian political economy? In spite of every show and claim of piety, Nigeria is deep in materialism and hypocrisy and those who do not recognise this reality fall prey to exploitation. Materialistic worldview includes the diminution of higher ethical values and the glorification of gold as a god.
Judicial officers whose emoluments are to be considered for an upward review as a means of fostering probity and integrity, include Federal High Court Judges. Considering the high stake which politics has assumed in Nigeria and the fact that justice for perceived malpractices are sought in the law courts, then several questions would arise. In spite of the doctrine of separation of powers in the political system, can it be said with any honesty and integrity that some organs of state are not more equal than others? Does the slogan of “stomach infrastructure” not convey a serious message in the Nigerian political practices?
Between money and integrity, would the head of a starving household not throw integrity to the wind, for money, to provide succour to his household? Can it be said with honesty and integrity that the richest people in Nigeria are also the most productive and possess the highest degree of integrity? Then where does the discrepancy between money and integrity lie, if not in hypocrisy and wrong value judgment?
Would anyone prove to be false the following statement from Shakespeare’s Othello, that: “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving”? Neither is it wrong to say that “the merit of service is seldom attributed to the true and exact performer”. What is common in human society is a situation where the strong of the winner makes history, and the anguish of the defeated remains a private misery. How else do we explain the arrogance and audacity of a bull-dozer-champion telling a beaten opponent to “go to court, if you feel aggrieved”! Jonathan Swift would tell us that the law which lawyers know is the art of calling black white, and white black, according as they are paid.
There was a historical era known as scholasticism and chacterised by clever argumentation whereby, through multiplicity of words and sophistry, truth could be stood on its head and then rejected as untenable. It was through the gradual growth of this culture of distortion of facts that the process of hustling for power began. Religious and political leaders took advantage of the use of might to assert and claim rights. It was not long that factions, schisms, disputations and wars escalated, as a part of the hustle to assert relevance.
The concept of integrity has to do with the development and cultivation of deep personal conviction and loyalty towards some sublime ideal or value which gives meaning and purpose to one’s life. The process of such conviction and commitment entails a deep and uncompromising search for what gives eternal meaning and purpose to life, away from the clamour and hysteria of the masses. It is the search for an elixir or the philosopher’s stone, which makes the finder a philosopher and far from the crowd.
Therefore, the real test of integrity has little to do with money or absence of it, but touches on what gives ultimate meaning to an individual, above everything else. Sadly only a few people stand in the league or class of those who have found this anchorage in life, and who would let go everything else to hold on to this cherished value. Where they are under any threat to decamp from the cherished ideal, they would resort to any strategy to remain faithful and loyal to what gives meaning and purpose to their lives. For this reason, those who reach this point of development do not expose their core values as subjects for discussion or debate, neither are they swayed by the flow and ebbs of political and economic tides. They are detached and stable.
The idea that increasing the salaries and improving the conditions of service of any special group of public servants, would be an antidote to corruption, can hardly or truly translate into high degree of integrity. It may be right to say that the environment moulds the individual, but it is also right to say that the environment is a mirror-image of the individual. This would mean that there is an interconnectivity between an individual and his environment, neither can the individual be separated from his environment. Thus a corrupt environment depicts the mindset of the people there.
Yet an environment characterised by corrupt practices serves like a firing impetus urging a few people therein to shift grounds, find higher meanings and separate from the clutches of the social malaise. Surely every society harbours the good, the bad and the ugly; with such mixture providing the impetus for a few people of integrity to explore the deeper meanings and perplexities of life. If such few people remain loyal to sublime ideals and values, they soon pave their way of exit from a stifling environment. Without contraries is no progression.
More money does not translate into greater integrity, but those who allow money to sink budding integrity miss what it takes to find the elixir that gives meaning and purpose to life. Surely integrity is not exclusive to any class of the workforce, neither is there any group prone to corruption. Those handling delicate and sensitive duties deserve to be protected with money and power of the state but personal integrity and professional integrity are two different issues. Professional integrity is enhanced where an official is protected adequately.

By:Bright Amirize
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.