Corruption: Between Civil Servants And Political Office Holders

The Insight

By Lateef Adewole

In the last three days, what has been trending is the news of the planned auctioning of bras of the former Minister of Petroleum during the time of former President Jonathan, Diezani Alison-Madueke. Initially, it sounded hilarious and absurd? “When did the federal government start to investigate an accused person’s underwears? What has EFCC become now? Are these people serious about fighting corruption at all?” These, and many others were questions that many Nigerians began to ask.

Just after, more details emanated. One prominent message that went viral on social media read: “FG Puts Dizeani’s 30 Bras, Other Property For Sale. They are the world’s most expensive bra @ the $12.5-million (£8.5-million), Heavenly Star Bra, by sapphires and as its centerpiece a 90-carat emerald cut diamond that was worth $10.6 million (£7.28 million) alone at the time.”

When I saw this, I had to wash my face again and re-read over and over. What the hell is this? This is incredible. Many of us initially suspected that message as being another of the propaganda by the government to bamboozle the country and possibly divert attention from the excruciating hunger, general insecurities and poverty that are ravaging the country. This used to be their stock in trade. Whenever serious concerns are agitating the minds of the citizens, the government will simply throw one diversionary news to take the attention of the people away from criticising the government. This is the type of news that serves such purpose.

As time went by, it seems the story was actually true. This is the same way many outrageous and bizarre things have been associated with the woman, in the course of investigating her for corruption and for corruptly enriching herself while in office. Previously, it was how her jewelries were confiscated and they were worth 14.5 billion naira. Likewise, many other properties worth tens of millions of dollars and billions of naira, all over Lagos, Rivers, Abuja and overseas. Yatch and other exotic and luxurious assets were also mentioned in the past.

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But this time around, with bras worth than monthly IGRs of many states in Nigeria, “I weak”. With stories like this, I wondered who the head of that administration was; President Jonathan or Diezani? The kind of mind-boggling revelations about corruption are shocking. This is one of many others being investigated or yet to. I didn’t consider writing about it initially until I read another news on Thursday night where Independenct Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) reported that they recovered 301 “illegally acquired” houses from two civil servants in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. This was disclosed by the chairman of the anti-corruption agency. Mr. Bolaji Owasanoye.

There have been unending stories like this. This triggered my thought as to ask who is even more corrupt in Nigeria between the civil servants and the political office holders, whether elected or appointed? With no statistical data to back this, it might be difficult to come to a very accurate conclusion. Corruption is not only financial. Every act that compromises the system and circumvents the due process is corrupt act. INEC officials rigging election, illegal recruitment, nepotism, favouritism and other similar acts are all corruption.

Let us look at each and the avenues available to them for corruption. Civil servants are employees of the government at the federal, state or local government level. They have statutory right to work for 35 years or till they attain the age of 60, with some few exceptions like lecturers and now teachers, according to the newly approved guidelines for teachers. They form the core of a country’s administration. They are the engines with which government’s operations run.

Political office holders on the other hand are people who are politicians or technocrats, elected or appointed to public offices. Their positions are usually tenured. For elective positions in the executive arms, it’s four or eight years as president, vice president, governor or deputy governor. Legislative arm has no limit of terms of four years per term. Appointed officials could be tenured or be retained or sacked at the discretion of their principals. Ministers, Commissioners, board members, and many appointive positions are at the discretion of the president or governors. Whichever way, they have limited number of years to serve at a go.

Now, with the brief highlights above, who has the tendency to be more corrupt? A Yoruba saying that “it’s the in-house rats that usually inform, invite and guide outside rats to where the pot of soup is located in the house”. Many people who get to political positions might never have worked in civil service before. They would not know which is which and how to navigate the intricate bureaucracy of government. Who guides them? The civil servants.

Who knows all the “juicy” avenues to steal public funds from, the lacuna that could be exploited, the ways to navigate them? The civil servants. So, when a political appointee wants to steal, he can only do so successfully with the connivance and collaboration of the civil servants. No such persons could do so independently.

While these political office holders may be the “bosses”, as often is the case, which placed them in positions to take the lion shares of the loots, the civil servants who aided them and facilitated the stealing must take for themselves too, in the process, with or without the knowledge of their bosses. Even where there are no direct boss telling them to steal for them, they help themselves in the stealing. The people who will cover for them are also the civil servants. This is how stealing takes place. Same as other corruption acts.

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But, while political office holders come and go, the civil servants remain in service, at least for 35 years, moving from one position to another. So, the avenues for stealing by corrupt civil servants are available to them for that long, as against four or eight years of elected office holders or less years for other appointees. That may be the reason why political office holders greedily steal massively. They know they have limited time. So, they steal for their generations to come. Unlike the corrupt civil servants who have their entire career life to steal.

Someone once told me that all those abandoned estates, beautiful houses, shopping malls and the likes, that littered Abuja, are owned majorly by civil servants. The report from ICPC just confirmed it.

The truth is that, to effectively curb corruption, more focused attention should be on the civil service. The avenues to steal public funds are there. The people who made it possible and happened are there. So, putting them under scrutiny could be of help. When civil servants know that they are not spared of punishment for corruption, then, resistance to corrupt political office holders will begin to increase. Consequently, corruption will be reduced, prevented or curbed.

What we see most of the time is the exposure of political office holders who stole public funds without exposing their collaborators in civil service. Many hide under the matra of “following instructions or orders from the boss”. This is hypocritical. Many of the civil servants who were directed to carry out those instructions that involved corrupt practices know that what they were asked to do were wrong. What did they do? They conveniently obey such orders and carried out such directive without raising objection. Why?

Many will say that it’s almost impossible to challenge one’s boss in Nigeria. But if one’s boss asked one to jump into fire, will one does? How do we arrest such situation? The first thing is our system. It is very weak. This makes it prone to abuse and manipulations by civil servants and public officials. Many countries around the world which we see as models, all have citizens with corrupt tendencies. What constrains them is their strongly effective system.

We were witnesses to the confusion that the former president of America, Donald Trump, nearly created after losing his re-election bid. Had it not been for their very robust system, the country would have been thrown into chaos and would have been in a mess. The system dealt with him and his shenanigans. So, an efficient and effective bureaucratic system will checkmate crooks in political offices or civil service from stealing public funds or manipulating the system.

Secondly, lack of proper consequences for actions. In Nigeria, people who steal public funds or commit any kind of corrupt act, especially at high levels, hardly get punished for them. It’s either they stole more than enough to bribe their way out or the people who are supposed to expose and punish them, are also beneficiaries of such stealing. If people who commit such crimes are adequately punished for their crimes, that would have served as deterrent to others.

This takes me to our dysfunctional judicial system. The arm of government with responsibility to adjudicate on such matters is the judiciary. They are the weakest among the three tiers of government, even when they are the most consistent. The courts are always there whether civilian or military administration. In military administration, political executive and legislative arms would be gone.

However, that has not strengthen the judiciary. The endemic corruption within the system made that arm a “toy” in the hands of other arms of government for manipulations. When people are taken to court for stealing public funds, the case can last forever without end until everyone is frustrated. There are always allegations of bribe taking by judges to scuttle criminal trials. Whereas, the same court will be quick to slam ordinary poor Nigerian who was caught stealing bread into jail, while give “big men” a slap on the wrist, if at all any punishment is given, with exception of some instances.

Decadent societal values contribute in no small measures to corruption in Nigeria. I asked who are the role models to the youths now, whenever I hear older people chastising the youths. The morality has gone through the window and it is caused by the older generation.

Before now, the common saying was that “good name is better than gold and silver”. In the olden days, people cherish their names and family names. They guarded and protected it with their lives. But now, “igboro ti daru” (everything has gone haywire). Who cares about any personal or family name again? It’s now about “when money speak, bullshit gets out”. “If you no get money, hide your face” (according to musician, Small Doctor). Money controls everything, irrespective of its source.

Therefore, people can go to any length just to make money. Stealing public funds, money rituals, kidnappings for ransom, armed robbery, internet fraud, human trafficking, drug trafficking, organ harvesting and all kinds of crime have taken over our society, all in bids to have money. Our leaders exemplified these while the youths follow in their footsteps.

Nobody questions the source of riches of anyone anymore, even parents. I once heard EFCC said that there are now “Association of Mothers of Yahoo Boys”. Parents take their criminal kids who are involved in internet fraud for prayers in spiritual houses or juju men, to bless and fortified them. Family are no longer ashamed to associate themselves with criminals, unlike in the past. When robbers were arrested, they take them to their family houses for public execution, as a form of shaming such families and to serve as deterrent to others, in those days.

But now, kith and kin carry placards in protest against the arrest and prosecution of “their children” accused of stealing public funds and corruption. People sent to jail for such offences were given hero’s welcome when they return from prison. State governments even organised receptions for some. Friends and families clad in “aso ebi”, organise lavish parties for ex-convict. Such persons have even become the power brokers and political king makers in some states. That’s how low we have sank in Nigeria today. How then can we ever stop corruption?

In all, like the Yorubas will say, “ile la ti n ko eso rode” (charity begins at home). To rebuild our society and country, we must start from the family level. What examples are parents laying for their children? What training are they giving to them? What morals are they imbibing in them? Then at our community level. Who do we celebrate as achievers in our community? Do we ask questions how people came to sudden wealth? Who do we project as model in our community? Who do our traditional rulers bestowed with chieftancy titles?

What roles are our religious houses and leaders playing now? Are religious leaders not hobnobbing with people known to have stolen public funds, corruptly enriched themselves, or committed one crime or another, just because they benefit from them financially? Who built those gigantic worship centres? Where did they get such money to build them? Do our religious leaders ask questions? Are they not giving them front seats in our religious houses why sincere hard-working members are relegated to the background? Can our religious leaders speak truth to power? It’s time to re-evaluate our value system as a people and as a country. We cannot continue in the path of ignobility and expect miracle to happen. It’s time for a rethink.

May God continue to protect us and guide us aright.

God Bless Nigeria.

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