The Growing Corruption Industry

Incidentally, every corruption case in Nigeria has an expiry date. A few years back, we were entertained with the bribery cases of Halliburton and Siemens; and then came the pension scandals series – running into the highest billions. At the inception of the current dispensation, we thought the EFCC had woken up when it raised questions on the stupendous wealth accumulation of Mrs. Toyin Saraki, wife of the Senate President, when her husband was the Governor of Kwara State; Senator Godswill Akpabio was questioned over allegation of corruption while he was Governor of Akwa-Ibom State.

By Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) provides the best guide when it comes to superlative degrees of comparison.

In the telling paragraph of his great work, A Tale of Two Cities, his narrative remains intriguing: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…; and for our present purpose, we may also add, it was the best of enforcement, it was the worst of enforcement.

To show how differently people react even to similarly ugly situations, two Case Studies relevant to law enforcement are cited here – one in far-away Germany and the other in Nigeria:

CASE STUDY I: In the early 1970s, there was a crave for foreign education among Nigerian youths. That was when Wilson Okoro travelled to West Germany, as it then was.

After procuring the Basic Travel Allowance, BTA, of 48 pounds, Okoro still had some local currency in his possession.

He approached a friend, Eddy, who helped him buy three $10 bills from Mallam, at what is today glorified as the parallel market.

On the day Okoro travelled, the Munich-bound Lufthansa flight stopped over in Frankfurt. It was for one hour transit.

At Frankfurt airport, Okoro took one of the $10 notes to change at the bank to buy some soft drink.

Rather than change the money for him, Okoro observed some unusual delay. After a while, the gate was opened for him to come into the exchange bureau.

A few minutes later, two polizei arrived and that was when Okoro was told that the $10 note was a counterfeit.

He was whisked away to an underground cell where he spent the night mainly undergoing interrogation.

Okoro had missed the Munich-bound flight. In his statement, Okoro informed the police that there were two other $10 notes in his luggage that had left for Munich.

Interpol was then alive and active at both ends. Okoro gave them Eddy’s address in Lagos. At the Lagos end, Interpol picked up Eddy who also took them to Mallam.

All the investigations that would ordinarily take months to do were concluded in about 18 hours. The following morning, the $10 note was destroyed.

Okoro was released to continue his journey to Munich. This time, Okoro was not alone: the authorities booked a flight for a Security Officer to accompany him to Munich to collect the two $10 bills that Okoro had mentioned in his statement.

CASE STUDY II: 1983 was one Election Year that witnessed real turbulence and massive manipulations. In large measures, it was Cash and Carry and victory belonged to the highest bidder.

In a particular State, the political high command made Samanja who was the State Electoral Officer an offer he couldn’t reject.

Samanja was asked to name his price and regard same as a done deal. He asked for N6 million, which was promptly delivered in crisp Naira notes carefully arranged in those Central Bank metal boxes. The election was signed, sealed and delivered.

First thing Monday morning, Samanja rushed to the bank to deposit his plunder, only to be told that they were all fake Naira notes.

The Bank Manager asked Samanja to quickly remove his debris because the same cabal that arranged the deal could also arrange to swoop on everybody.

Wealth became waste. That essentially is the price that corruption pays for corruption. That, in fact, was the day that Samanja died before he finally passed on a few years later.

In our twisted system, the same Samanja still had the temerity to proceed to the Election Petitions Tribunal, perhaps with the hope of eating his vomit and asking for “justice”. The Buhari coup finally put paid to all that.

The two Case Studies provide the best of enforcement and the worst of enforcement. And between the two extremes, reside Nigeria’s predicament.

We must insist that our current war against corruption should begin from the beginning. Sadly; corruption is becoming a veritable industry that is growing faster than oil and agriculture, principally because of lack of diligent enforcement against offenders.

See how our people have re-looted the Abacha loot with impunity over and over again? The time has come to start asking the supplementary questions:

First, who is keeping an inventory of all the recovered assets from looters of our patrimony?

It is not enough for us to keep celebrating the seizure of those properties only to find that they remain in firm possession of the looters.

Second, to what use are the confiscated assets being put? It is also not enough to seize the assets; put the EFCC stamp on them; and leave them desolate, to the overgrown by weeds.

Incidentally, every corruption case in Nigeria has an expiry date. A few years back, we were entertained with the bribery cases of Halliburton and Siemens; and then came the pension scandals series – running into the highest billions.

At the inception of the current dispensation, we thought the EFCC had woken up when it raised questions on the stupendous wealth accumulation of Mrs. Toyin Saraki, wife of the Senate President, when her husband was the Governor of Kwara State; Senator Godswill Akpabio was questioned over allegation of corruption while he was Governor of Akwa-Ibom State.

And could the corruption allegation against the former EFCC boss, Ibrahim Lamorde, have been a hoax? Today, all these cases have been relegated to the back-burner and no one is being told anything.

Today, the Dasukigate scandal occupies a center-stage, providing comic relief to Nigerians. Like its fore-runners, the Dasukigate will also soon expire.

No war is ever won with the fighters sleeping. All those involved in the current war against corruption must wake up to their responsibilities. Not many Nigerians are still excited over the theatricals in our media, on the arrest and handcuff of purported corrupt elements.

If the war against corruption is as important as the current administration claims, there must be a change in procedure — the people must be given a monthly up-date on the progress, prospects and problems on the war!

Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan is a public affairs analyst and Chairman, Board of Directors, Edo Broadcasting Service. He can be reached at: joligien@yahoo.com