Corruption in governance is generally seen as the use of public office for private gain, which has been one of the problems that have contributed to the socioeconomic underdevelopment of many African countries. However, as evidenced by scandals in Italy, the United States, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, the Russian Federation, and many other countries, corruption is a universal problem affecting the economies of both developed and developing societies. Corruption has been a constraint to the development effort of many countries for a long time, but my focus is in Nigeria. The citizens of this country seriously frown upon this practice but what is the source of this corruption?
This paper will talk a little about independence during the colonial period, and how colonization affected todays Nigeria. Also, it will look at corruption in government, weak bureaucracy in institutions and the best way to tackle these issues.
Independence in Nigeria was supposed to usher in a period characterized by the peaceful coexistence of population groups and significant improvements in the wealth creating capacity of the nation. First, independence was supposed to rid Nigeria of Europeans and their exploitive, alien, cruel, and non-democratic institutions. Second, Nigerians were expected to engage in democratic constitution making and provide themselves with new, locally focused, and more effective institutional arrangements. Finally, the new democratic leaders were expected to use public policy to enhance the creation of the wealth that could then be used to deal with poverty and significantly improve the welfare of the people.
One could argue that government and critics have marginalized Nigeria with emphasis drawn from how they go about the term “democracy”. They never took out time to plan the development of the country and the peaceful coexistence of citizens properly. Nigeria is characterized as the “Giant of Africa” but yet one of the poorest countries in the world. Because after independence the people of this country were faced with important choices; To choose economic and political institutions that were locally focused and hence reflected the relevant stakeholders values, culture, as well as aspirations, the nation should have engaged in democratic (participatory, inclusive, and people driven) constitution making. Unfortunately, the leaders as at then engaged primarily in opportunistic reforms that produced laws and institutions that were not geared toward maximizing the public interest (the collective well being of citizens) but offered the new state custodians opportunities and the wherewithal to maximize their personal interest. Nigeria operates a weak electoral system that cannot guarantee any form of modern day democracy. The inability to conduct credible elections in the country has been attributed to the long period of military rule, coupled with weak democratic institutions and processes, and hosts of other historical factors which has led to the emergence of a political culture characterized by electoral violence, monetized politics, low political accountability, abuse and personalization of power, general apathy towards elections and low participation of critical segments of the society especially the youths. Another point is the issue of money laundering. The Press revealed how a former aide of as at then president Obasanjo, Andy Uba, used the presidential jet to haul about $170,000 in cash into the United States. Their was the shocking revelation by Otunba Fasawe, during his testimony at the Senate investigations into Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) scandal, during the then Obasanjo administration the Presidency used billions of public money to fund the party’s 2003 election. These are public funds that should have been invested on social projects to improve the living conditions of the citizens but these leaders have nothing in mind but their personal interest. A scholar argued that institutional structures that guarantee and protect democratic constitution making, constrain the power of the state together with better financial management, wealth creation, sustainable development and corporate governance should form the basis of any anti- corruption nation. He provides an overview of the political and economic situation as well as governance structures that characterized Nigeria after independence. This was worsened by the adoption of foreign structures that were incongruent with local values, and the statist development model, which failed to achieve the desired socioeconomic results. He analyzes the relationship and linkage between what he calls bureaucratic and political corruption. He reviews the literature on the definition of corruption as well as the types and measurement of corruption. Making use of country- specific cases and examples from Ghana, Cameroon and Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), The scholar gives an overview of corruption in Nigeria and discusses the causes of this socioeconomic vice. I will argue that despite many anti- corruption initiatives by Nigerian government, the tide of corruption has still not been stemmed because of a wide variety of reasons; these leaders see corruption as a means of greasing the wheels of the civil service. Despite all this, corruption is overall very detrimental to socioeconomic development in Nigeria because it negatively affects wealth creation and does little to improve human conditions. Nigeria lacks institutionalization, which convincingly accounts for development in modern states today. Nigeria lacks good and strong institutions and bureaucracy because the colonial masters never emancipated the continent properly. Primarily, one of the political problems that significantly affect proper institutionalization is “patrimonalism.” institutions in Nigeria are susceptible to bribery and corruption, redtapism, nepotism, favoritism. The appointment of junior level staffs are not based on qualification nor competence, but the decision of the highly ruling elites in the country; and the failure to succumb to their opinions or decisions would lead to lose of employment by this elites. Political sociologists have made it clear that issue of uniting citizens to the state would help facilitate the development of modern Nigeria. Unity in a sense is essential to the development of any state today. Division among Nigerians plays a primary role in the administration of the state today. However, the implication of disunity has lead to increased crime rates, violence, bribery, corruption, cultural differences, witchcraft, different ideologies and perceptions contribute to division and anti-development in Nigeria. The process of assimilating Nigerians into western culture has contributed immensely to the failure of states. Primary reasons for lack of strong institutionalization results from an attempt to transfer western culture to Nigeria institutions. From my point of view, I would like to believe the substantial argument in regards to cultural incompatibilities. For example, three different major colonies, the French, the British, and the Belgians colonized Africa with different ideologies, like the French used the “policy of assimilation” on the Cameroonians, the British used the indirect rule in Nigeria, thus, the failure of proper emancipation of African states from the colonialists traces poor scope of governance and slow sustainable economic growth and political success on the continent which Nigeria is a part. A regime of poor institutional environment, which manifested in the lack of protection for human rights and ethics, corruption, undue influence, and government inefficiencies are among reasons attributed for Nigeria's poor ranking in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report for 2011-2012. The report, described strong institutions as policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country, and according to the report, the level of productivity, in turn, sets the level of prosperity that can be earned by an economy. Also, an overall score of 3.4, Nigeria maintained its 127th position from the survey conducted for 2010-2011 in 2011-2012, out of the 141 countries surveyed by the WEF. The pillars of measurement used by the WEF in its survey on global competitiveness are: institutions; infrastructure; macroeconomic environment; health and primary education; higher education and training and market efficiency. Furthermore, the WEF report explained that the country's poor institutional environment does not support a competitive economy because of concerns about the protection of human rights, ethics and corruption, undue influence, and government inefficiencies. The report maintained that the institutional environment is determined by the legal and administrative framework within which individuals, firms, and governments interact to generate wealth, noting that the quality of institutions influences investment decisions and the organization of production plays a key role in the ways in which societies distribute the benefits and bear the costs of development strategies and policies. Owing to what it described as an unfavorable institutional environment, Nigeria was ranked 111th. In addition to poor institutions, another factor is the desire to be in office without having the skills to do so. Poor leadership training is another factor that has impacted negatively on Nigeria’s brand. “Where are our leaders trained and how?” If our leaders are trained from the failed education system, then “we get what we train”. Similar to leadership training is the utilization of nation’s resources, believing that Nigeria is a brand waiting to evolve, Ufomba says, “If we utilize our resources well, it will affect the intangible assets such as morals and behavior which will influence the tangible asset”. He blames government for not deploying adequate communication to reach the people on values, saying government and security officials must show examples on values and when government therefore communicates values, the citizens will listen. Adding to his point, senator from Enugu West said, Nigeria would not witness development unless concerted efforts were made to fight corruption in the country. He also said efforts by the Federal Government to enhance growth of the nation’s economy would not yield fruit, if rule of law was not enforced in the country. No country has witnessed real growth as those who rape public treasury were given red carpet treatment, which speaks on the absence of rule of law in the society. In each of the economies that thrived, rule of law, honesty, and good conduct stand out as key factors responsible for the feat of such nation. He noted the untapped human and material resources in the country and Africa generally, stressing that failure of leadership in the country had over the years held the country down. In conclusion, if Nigeria and the rest of Africa continue with corrupt practices, it will yield no better result rather than making one of the richest continents in the world poorer. Nigeria should be responsible for their well-being and leaders should lead the people, they should carry out reforms that will make institutions stronger rather than maintain their selfish interest in the aspect of the “want” to remain in power, money laundering, use of thuggery, and other aspects that cripples an economy as it will continuously affect the development of the nation or any nation that seeks growth.
