For my framework, I adopt a simple definition of corruption as the act of offering or receiving payment in cash or kind for the purpose of gaining undue financial or other advantage. In addition to this, prolific writer Chinua Achebe said and I quote “Corruption in Nigeria has passed the alarming and entered the fatal stage and Nigeria will die if we keep pretending that it is slightly indisposed”.
The current dominance of wrapped values in the society leads the public to celebrate corruption and to publicly cheer those known to have corruptly enriched themselves with no questions asked as to the source of wealth. The bigger your car, the larger your house, or the larger your money donations at public events, the louder the public
ovation. This encourages the corrupt to steal more and the not-yet-corrupt to actively actively engage in acts of corruption, at the margin. Religious organizations are not spared in the ongoing corrosion of societal values, some churches,mosques,herbalists and other practitioners of traditional religion receive donations that are
clearly the proceeds of crime with open arms with no questions and then pray fervently for the donors.
However, the more corrupt is a country’s judiciary, the higher the level of corruption in the society. With a corrupt judiciary, the probability of convicting and appropriately sentencing those arraigned before the courts for corrupt practices is very low. Corrupt judges receive bribes to pervert the course of justice, they grant ridiculously long adjournments, decide cases on narrow technical basis and choose mild sentencing options as if to tell the criminal…your sins are forgiven,go and sin no more. The weaker the laws on corruption and the loopholes in sentencing provisions, the greater is the tolerance for corruption in the society. Sometimes loopholes are left in the sentencing provisions by those who draft the laws as deliberate values for the discretionary use of judges.
In an infamous case not quite long that shocked the Nigerian society and the international community, a convicted pension thief who stole over N23 billion of pension funds was given the option of paying N750,000.00 fine, an infinitesimal fraction of his loot, a truly incredulous outcome. Weak or non-existent laws on the forfeiture or seizure of assets fraudulently acquired with the proceeds of corruption encourage corruption in the society. When laws send the petty thief who has stolen a goat to prison for 6 months but the same judicial system frees a thief that has stolen N23billion after the payment of a mere N750 000.00, then the penal laws are encouraging societal corruption.
Corruption persists in Nigeria because the probability of being caught and indicted for corruption cases is very low, the probability of being convicted once caught is even lower and, therefore, the expected cost of engaging in corrupt activity is abysmally low; little wonder, Australian negotiator Stephen Davis dares former Borno state governor, Alimodu Sheriff to go ahead and sue him in a recent allegation with his connection with boko haram.
He said and I quote”Goodluck to him if he decides to sue me in Australia, He cant buy the judges here. Truth
is not for sale”.
Many people engage in corrupt acts because the expected benefits from corruption activities far exceeds the expected cost. Government and the populace have a duty, a responsibility to raise the probability of corruption criminals being penalized by raising the two underlying probabilities.
Government should learn a modified war against indiscipline that inspires Nigerians to a new beginning in the full knowledge and preparedness that those benefiting from the current value vacuum will fight back in the media the same way they orchestrated opposition to WAI under the then Buhari-Idiagbon regime. When a public servant steals N23 billion of pension funds while pensioners perish, when a former minister reportedly authorized the purchase of two bullet proof cars for N255 million for her use,etc. Public servants have become not only insensitive to the plight of the common man but also clueless as to what constitutes acceptable behavior in present day Nigeria.
I wish to conclude and recommend that drastic action should be taken to raise the probability of those engaged in corrupt practices being penalized. To achieve this, steps must be taken to raise the probability of those engaged in corrupt practices being convicted and sentenced once caught, this requires rewards and incentives for law enforcement agencies to detect, investigate and charge those engaged in corrupt practices to court as well as resources to raise the prosecutorial capacities of law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to successfully convict those engaged in corrupt practices. The national judicial council should double its effort to cleanse the
judiciary of its corrupt elements for the fight against corruption to succeed. The NJC should accept that there are corrupt judges and other officials in the judiciary and stop pretending otherwise. Those found guilty should not only be sacked but should be prosecuted and made to forfeit ill-gotten wealth.
– Balogun Emmanuel Funsho writes from Kabba, Kogi State.
He can be reached on 07034444976 or irule9ja@gmail.com
