Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has revealed how 23,000 ghosts have been receiving huge monthly salaries and allowance, saying that they would be handed over to the anti graft agencies in the country to investigate the,
Adeosun who defended her ministry’s 2016 budget allocation before the Senate Committee on Finance today, said that her ministry discovered the 23,000 ghost workers in the federal civil service by the panel investigating payments of multiple salaries in the Federal Civil Service.
The Minister said that banks that connived with the workers to pad the Federal government payroll are going to be prosecuted too, saying: “we will not only sack them, we will ensure the recovery of the money they have been collecting over the years from the Federal government.”
Adeosun said that the panel was able to uncover the ghost workers due to introduction of Bank Verification Number (BVN), adding that the failure of the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS) to effectively deal with the issue of ghost workers in the federal civil service led to the unraveling.
According to the minister, investigation is still ongoing and it will be concluded in a month’s time. [myad]
Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo has deplored the deplorable conditions of border communities in Nigeria.
He vowed that the government would address the deplorable conditions of border communities in the country by engaging State Governments in tackling the challenges.
The Vice President who spoke today when he received the Senate Committee on States and Local Governments led by its Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Gumel and the Chief Executives of Border Communities Development Agency and the National Boundary Commission at the House, Abuja, said: “our border communities are in a state of despair. We need to pay a lot attention to them.”
Professor Osinbajo said that without the states cooperating there might be not much achievement either with the border communities or the boundary commission, even as he offered to make presentation to the Govovernors at the National Economic Council (NEC), in order to highlight the enormity of the challenges.
He said that phased approach will be taken in solving the problems, considering government’s lean resources, saying that roads, markets, schools and other social basic infrastructure must be provided at the border communities to avoid intrusion by foreigners.
Earlier, the Chairman, Senate Committee on State and Local Government, Senator Abdullahi Gumel had told the Vice President that they were at the State House to brief him on the result of their oversight which they conducted on some of the border communities with the finding that facilities at the border communities are in the state of disrepair.
Both the Director General, National Boundary Commission, Dr. Mohammed Ahmed and Executive Secretary, Border Communities Development Agency, Engr, Numoipre Wills attended the meeting. [myad]
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has promised to look into double taxation in the running of businesses in the city.
He advised those doing businesses in the FCT to be calm over the multiple taxation by various government agencies, assuring his Administration would look into it.
The FCT Minister, who spoke today when a delegation of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) led by its President, Dr. Frank Jacobs paid him a visit in his office said however that the issue of double taxation is a national one.
Muhammadu Bello stressed that he is out to seriously support the manufacturers in any way possible, even as he appealed to members of MAN to help woo investors to come and invest in Abuja which he said his Administration will make friendly for the manufacturers.
“We need industries to lubricate our economy and to also help generate employment for the citizenry,” the minister said, saying that such industries would create employment for the teeming unemployed youths in the Territory.
He promised to strengthen a department in the FCT Administration to serve as a focal point with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria to create the desirable synergy.
The Minister who revealed that the FCT Administration would later in the year, organize Economic Summit to discuss how to move Abuja forward said that the Administration will henceforth allocate plots of land in the Abuja industrial zones to only genuine manufacturers that have the capacity to develop it for the purpose the plots are earmarked.
Earlier, the President of the Association, Dr. Frank Jacobs complained of multiply taxation and called for harmonization of taxes in the Federal Capital Territory.
He appealed to the Minister to provide more infrastructure to the Idu Industrial Zone to attract more manufacturing activities. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has written the leadership of the National Assembly, drawing attention to the fact that he has resumed duty today from a six-day short vacation.
A statement by the special adviser to the President on media and publicity, Femi Adesina said that the letter was written and submitted to the National Assembly in accordance with the relevant provision of the Nigerian constitution.
“In compliance with Section 145 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution, President Buhari has sent a formal notice of his resumption to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.”
President Buhari was on vacation from February 5th 2016 to February 10th 2016. [myad]
Corruption stories have been the dominant theme of governance since the President Muhammadu Buhari government came into being more than eight months ago. In many ways this is not surprising. His candidacy was marketed on his well-known integrity and apparent incorruptibility. Buhari was also reported to have said that he would like to be remembered as a President who fought corruption to a standstill. One of the most recent of the corruption stories is the one from the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who was reported as saying that about 55 persons looted N1.3 trillion in seven years. To lend credibility to these figures, the Minister sought to speak with the specificity of a statistician by breaking the figures down: “15 former governors allegedly stole N146.84 billion; four former ministers allegedly stole N7 billion; 12 former public servants, both at federal and state levels, were said to have stolen N14 billion. Apart from public officials, 19 persons in banking and business were indicted in this looting. Eight of these were banking officials who allegedly stole N524 billion, and 11 businessmen who helped themselves to the tune of N653 billion.” Not to be out-done, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was also reported to have said that the country recovered more than $2 trillion that had been looted from the national treasury over the last twelve years. Dasukigate and the alleged $2.1 billion meant for arms procurement which was reportedly shared among friends and cronies is now an old tale. Apart from the question of the veracity of the above huge figures, there are several unanswered questions around these apparently unending corruption stories: What is the real reason for these corruption stories? Is it to de-market the PDP? Or to mobilize a sense of outrage against impunity? Or to appropriate a moral high ground by playing the ostrich? Is it because the APC-led government is truly enraged by the cases of corruption it met on the ground? Or is it because corruption stories are the government’s comfort zone? Largely because the country is deeply polarized it is highly unlikely that Nigerians will ever agree on why corruption stories have completely drowned other conversations on how to resolve other compelling challenges that the country faces. Anyone conversant with my writings will obviously know I have been a consistent critic of the system of fighting corruption in the country – from as far back as the days of Nuhu Ribadu’s EFCC. There are a number of issues to ponder about in the current corruption stories: One, is corruption really the fundamental problem of the country? I have never believed so. It is more a symptom of a more fundamental problem. I have consistently argued that what the country needs more than anything else is reconciliation and re-energizing the nation-building process because unless this is done, any solution thrown at the country’s numerous problems will only quickly become part of the problems. Is it then any wonder that some are already sneering at the current corruption fight as being selective? Selectivity is of course embedded in any form of fight against corruption in our type of society because no government will realistically be expected to move against its core supporters and sponsors. This creates a big room for those currently being accused of corruption – including those who know that they are guilty as charged – to use ‘selective justice’ and ‘persecution’ to turn themselves into heroes and heroines as soon a new government replaces this one. That has been the standard practice in the country’s history of fighting corruption. Meanwhile, while we are regaling in the numerous corruption stories foreign news headlines create a profile of a country on the verge of implosion. For instance the highly influential bi-monthly Foreign Policy Magazine of 8 February 2016 titled its story on Nigeria: ‘Nigeria Is Coming Apart at the Seams’. Similarly Wikistrat, the crowd-outsourcing consulting firm (founded in Australia in 2009 but headquartered in the United States) recently opened a forum on Nigeria, which it titled ‘Nigeria: From Opportunity to Crisis’. A key question we must ask ourselves therefore is whether the numerous corruption stories are accentuating a certain negative profile of the country in the international imagination. Put differently, are we unwittingly de-marketing the country with these corruption stories and the fantastic figures of stolen money being bandied about? Two, is also the question of what we have benefited from the corruption stories? How many people have been convicted as a result of the corruption stories? Have we really established the necessary frameworks for fighting corruption? What became of the idea of corruption courts that were mooted several months ago? Have we defined what we mean by corruption and separated it from impunity? Three, the corruption stories raise the question of the place of ‘name and shame’ or media trial in a country like ours. Why are ‘ordinary people’ fascinated by such corruption stories that will at least show that the super rich are only rich at their expense? Does name and shame really deter corruption in a country like ours? If so, why is it that ‘budget rats’ are being accused of padding the 2016 budget proposal despite the current corruption stories and the no-nonsense mien of the President on matters of corruption? Four, there are legitimate fears that the promotion of competitive stories of corruption may be turning the regime into a single issue government. In the process, the country is missing an opportunity for earnest conversations on how to find solutions to her other and even more compelling challenges. For instance most of the current Ministers are made to look ‘ordinary’ because the hot stories are about corruption. They do not seem to have enough space to engage the public on what they do or want to do for their ministries. Compare this with the Obasanjo era and even under Jonathan when some Ministers were allowed to become ‘celebrities’ who could bounce off ideas on the populace. Who are the ‘celebrity’ ministers in this dispensation? Five, while the corruption stories may, at least in part, be aimed at mobilizing the citizens’ sense of outrage against impunity, the steady stream of such stories can also paradoxically numb that sense of outrage. For instance, with the humongous sums being mentioned in the corruption stories, if you come across a story where one is sentenced to a jail term for stealing say N2m, the instinctive feeling is that the punishment is disproportionate to the crime. Suddenly N2m seems like a peanut compared to the figures that are being bandied around in the steady stream of corruption stories. Six, the country needs to do an impact analysis of the previous efforts at fighting corruption? How do you know if we are winning the war? It is wrong to assume that just because you have scared those prone to corruption to go underground, that you are winning. In the same way, the amount of money recovered by the contraptions used in fighting corruption may be important but hardly a reliable metric for measuring the success or otherwise of any fight against corruption. The metric should be: has it lessened the incidence of corruption? Unfortunately such a question cannot be answered by any regime waging such a war because our experience is that it is the succeeding regime that determines how corrupt the preceding regime was. I am not against fighting corruption. I will however have preferred a conditional amnesty (you can call it plea bargaining) for those facing certain cases of corruption allegation. Those who have committed impunity will simply have to face trial quietly. Media trial and politicising the fight against corruption ends up polarizing the country the more. We can still achieve the same objective without the unnecessary ‘gra gra’ and a narrative that is couched on the simplistic binary of ‘good guys versus the bad guys’. . Adibe writes from pcjadibe@yahoo.com and tweets at: @JideoforAdibe. [myad]
The Supreme Court has upheld the election of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Darius Ishaku as the governor of Taraba State, dismissing an appeal by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aisha Alhassan.
The Judge, Justice Bodeh-Rhode Vivore declared at the ruling today: “I am firmly of the view that there is no merit in this appeal. It is hereby refused.”
Justice Vivore led a seven-member panel.
He further ruled that the judgment of the court of Appeal is affirmed and the return of the first respondent as the governor of Taraba is affirmed.
Aisha Alhassan had approached the highest court to challenge the decision of the Appeal Court, which nullified the victory that was given to her by the Taraba State Election Tribunal.
A five-member panel of the Appeal Court in Abuja had on December 31 nullified the ruling of the Taraba State Election Tribunal on November 7, which declared Aisha Alhassan winner of the April 11 election of the state.
The tribunal had ruled that Ishaku was not nominated by his party, and therefore not qualified for the said election.
Counsel to the APC and its candidate, Abiodun Owonikoko, told the Supreme Court that the reason for the judgment of the tribunal, was that the important determinant for the sponsorship of a candidate for election, under the Nigerian Constitution, remained the conduct of a primaries by the sponsoring party.
“What is decisive of this appeal is the sponsorship as a ground to qualify for contesting in an election, by the constitution.”
Citing the previous judgments of the Supreme Court in the case against, Benue State’s Tarsus and Ortom, which was held on January 15, and another judgment regarding the case of Zamfara State’s Yari and Shinkafi, Owonikoko said that the applicants in the aforementioned appeals founded their application on an alleged lack of conduct of primaries by the respondents.
He said that their argument was that no primaries were conducted at all by the PDP, which would have resulted in the emergence of Ishaku as its candidate.
But counsel to Ishaku, Kanu Agabi, said the appeal court had in its ruling stated that the APC and its candidate were bound by their pleas, adding that the appellants had admitted in the third paragraphs of their applications that Ishaku was a member of the PDP and a candidate of the party in the April 11 elections of the state.
“The second respondent is a duly registered party and ‘sponsored’ by the first respondent,” he said, citing a quote from the appellant’s brief.
Agabi further said the appellants repeatedly fielded the first respondent as being sponsored by the PDP even as he told the court that they had presented 51 witnesses before the tribunal, who were not reviewed.
Also in his address, counsel to the PDP, Solo Ahmed, said that the party had never denied sponsoring Ishaku, adding that the appellants had submitted that there was no primary election, but went ahead to state that it (the primaries) was conducted in Abuja.
He further told the court that the previous judgments cited by Owonikoko had indicated that issues relating to the conduct of primaries in an election were pre-election matters that could only be contested by members of the party in question, or by INEC.
The counsel to INEC, Joseph Daudu, reiterated the point made by Ahmed, regarding the position of the APC on the conduct of primaries by the PDP.
According to Daudu, the APC’s claim that there was no primary election was premised on the contention that the primaries was conducted in Abuja. [myad]
Counsel to Chief Olisa Metuh, National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has cautioned the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) against fighting political war instead of corruption which is its statutory responsibility.
At the resumed hearing of the case instituted against the EFCC on the enforcement of his fundamental human rights, the counsel informed the court that the spokesman of the EFCC, Wilson Uwajaren was misrepresenting the proceedings of the court to the public.
“I wish to appeal to through this court to the EFCC, that it essence as an institution created through the instrument is not to fight political war.
“May I therefore plead through my Lord to the defence (EFCC) to first of all recognize that as a statutory body created by an Act of the National Assembly, it is meant to serve the interest of the public at large,” said Adedipe, SAN.
“Uwajaten was not here during the proceedings. Half truth is lie and we should not justify what is unjustifiable. It is your Lordship that is trying us, not the EFCC, not the EFCC, not the press and not the public.
Responding, C.O. Ugwu, the counsel to the EFCC said the journalists were in court on their own volition to report the proceedings, while trying to absolve the spokesperson of the commission.
He however reminded the court that the media has the penchant for misrepresentation.
“I know the press; they have the penchant for sensationalism. This is the problem we have in this country, they will hear what happen, go home and misinterpret it” says Ugwu.
The EFCC however defended the purported statement issued by Uwajaren saying that it was the true statement of the PW 8 (an EFCC witness).
In a short decision of the court, the trial judge declined to assume jurisdiction on the issue stating that this is a civil matter.
The court however said that the counsel to Olisa Metuh could raise the matter when the criminal aspect of the case comes up for hearing.
“This case is the continuation of hearing of the matter instituted by Olisa Metuh on the enforcement of his fundamental human rights against arbitrary detention by the EFCC.” [myad]
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has expressed sympathy to the families of the victims of yesterday’s suicide bombing of an IDP camp in Dikwa, Borno State.
The Vice President, in a statement by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, also condoled with the people and government of the state even as he prayed to God to comfort them and grant the injured persons quick recovery.
The Vice President said that it is regrettable that the heartless terrorists chose to unleash their wickedness on people who were taking refuge from previous acts of destruction in their homes.
He reassured the nation that the full weight of the federal government’s force will be deployed to hunt down the perpetrators of this evil act and also to confront terrorists continuously in the protection of life, liberty and property of all Nigerians.
Saying that there will be no hiding place for terrorists, Professor Osinbajo gave directives that formidable security in and around the IDP Camps in the country be beefed up and renewed measures put in place to guard against future occurrences.
The Vice President assured the people of Borno State and all Nigerians that the commitment of the federal government to safety of lives and property would continue to be of paramount concern to the Buhari administration.
The Vice President condolence message a few hours after suicide bombers hit the IDP Camp in Dikwa, Borno state, killing no fewer than 58 persons and injuring about 78 people. The casualty figure was confirmed by officials of emergency and response agencies. The incident occurred when the IDPs queued up to collect their morning food in the camp, which accommodates over 50,000 people displaced by the Boko Haram terrorism. The Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency in the North East, Mohammed Kanar, said some of the dead have been buried, while the injured have been moved to medical facilities for adequate treatments. In the last major attack on Borno State, the Boko Haram insurgents had attempted to hi the camp but were prevented from doing so by the military. Three of them, with explosives strapped to their bodies, were killed before they could reach the camp.
Meanwhile, two soldiers have been arrested with several unauthorized military items at a motor park in Yola, the Adamawa State capital. The soldiers, attached to 143 Battalion, have been identified as Sapper Eric Nwokorie (13NA/ 70/10183) and Sapper Macauley Fortune (13NA/70/10263). Both of them are Explosive Ordinance Device personnel. Others, according to Usman, include one axe, one cutlass, one Jack knife, nine jungle hats, 11 pairs of Camouflage (nine desert and three woodland green), four military pullovers, one black beret, one green beret, one pair of number seven dress, two General Duty belts, 12 Army t-shirts, two rain coats, two water bottles, one pair of rain boot and five pairs of desert boots. Usman said the soldiers were bent on tarnishing the image of the Nigerian Army despite all the successes being recorded by the Service in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency and other crimes. But Usman said this would not dampen the spirit of the troops battling the Boko Haram insurgents, adding: “this unfortunate incident notwithstanding, troops morale remains high as they continue to dominate the general area with aggressive raids, ambushes and patrols to clear the remnants of the terrorists hibernating in the area.” [myad]
Nigeria federal government is said to be thinking of handing over the $4.5 billion Ajaokuta steel complex to private operators this year as part of a plan to kick start its industrial and mining industries.
This was disclosed by the minister of solid minerals development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi in an interview with Bloomberg in Cape Town, South Africa.
Fayemi said that the construction of Ajaokuta, which lies on the Niger River and was supposed to have an installed capacity of 5 million metric tons of steel a year, began in 1979.
“Work was delayed by the government’s failure to pay the builders, Russia’s Tyazhpromexport, on schedule. By 2004, when it was taken over by India’s Ispat Industries Ltd., it was yet to produce any steel. Ispat’s concession was revoked in 2008 and Nigeria is yet to resolve all outstanding legal issues.
“Ajaokuta steel mill is one of the major issues I have put on the table and “Under my watch” it will be revived
In addition to steel, Fayemi said that the government aims to improve the implementation of mining laws, make available better data on the country’s deposits and act to regulate informal mining. Because of the global rout in commodity prices, significant investment may not be expected soon. “The sector has been comatose for some time. We will be ready for the next boom.”
Initially the focus will be on industrial minerals for domestic consumption, he said. Limestone for cement production, iron ore for steel, bitumen for asphalt, barium for oil drilling and lead and zinc will be focused on.
The country will also try and attract investment into gemstone mining and will improve data on gold deposits in Zamfara state and elsewhere before trying to attract investors in 2017. An attempt will also be made to revive thermal coal production for power generation, he said. [myad]
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has conferred honorary citizenship of Abuja on the President, Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Joachim Gauck and presented him with the key to the City of Abuja.
The Minister made the conferment today at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, while receiving the President of Germany who is on a 5-day state visit to Nigeria.
The Minister described Abuja as the symbol of national unity of the country, adding that the key to the City of Abuja confers on him the Honorary Citizenship of Abuja, with all the rights and privileges.
He emphasized that the honour has been bestowed on the visiting President as a mark of respect for the strong friendship and cordial relationship between the people of Nigeria and Germany.
Responding, the German President, Mr. Joachim Gauck, who led a strong delegation of German Government and people to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari, appreciated the honour done him.
The President reiterated that Nigeria and Germany have long standing diplomatic relationship that should be further strengthened for the mutual benefit of the two countries. [myad]
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Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has revealed how 23,000 ghosts have been receiving huge monthly salaries and allowance, saying that they would be handed over to the anti graft agencies in the country to investigate the,
Beyond The Corruption Stories, By Jideofor Adibe
One of the most recent of the corruption stories is the one from the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who was reported as saying that about 55 persons looted N1.3 trillion in seven years. To lend credibility to these figures, the Minister sought to speak with the specificity of a statistician by breaking the figures down: “15 former governors allegedly stole N146.84 billion; four former ministers allegedly stole N7 billion; 12 former public servants, both at federal and state levels, were said to have stolen N14 billion. Apart from public officials, 19 persons in banking and business were indicted in this looting. Eight of these were banking officials who allegedly stole N524 billion, and 11 businessmen who helped themselves to the tune of N653 billion.”
Not to be out-done, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was also reported to have said that the country recovered more than $2 trillion that had been looted from the national treasury over the last twelve years. Dasukigate and the alleged $2.1 billion meant for arms procurement which was reportedly shared among friends and cronies is now an old tale.
Apart from the question of the veracity of the above huge figures, there are several unanswered questions around these apparently unending corruption stories: What is the real reason for these corruption stories? Is it to de-market the PDP? Or to mobilize a sense of outrage against impunity? Or to appropriate a moral high ground by playing the ostrich? Is it because the APC-led government is truly enraged by the cases of corruption it met on the ground? Or is it because corruption stories are the government’s comfort zone?
Largely because the country is deeply polarized it is highly unlikely that Nigerians will ever agree on why corruption stories have completely drowned other conversations on how to resolve other compelling challenges that the country faces.
Anyone conversant with my writings will obviously know I have been a consistent critic of the system of fighting corruption in the country – from as far back as the days of Nuhu Ribadu’s EFCC. There are a number of issues to ponder about in the current corruption stories:
One, is corruption really the fundamental problem of the country? I have never believed so. It is more a symptom of a more fundamental problem. I have consistently argued that what the country needs more than anything else is reconciliation and re-energizing the nation-building process because unless this is done, any solution thrown at the country’s numerous problems will only quickly become part of the problems. Is it then any wonder that some are already sneering at the current corruption fight as being selective? Selectivity is of course embedded in any form of fight against corruption in our type of society because no government will realistically be expected to move against its core supporters and sponsors. This creates a big room for those currently being accused of corruption – including those who know that they are guilty as charged – to use ‘selective justice’ and ‘persecution’ to turn themselves into heroes and heroines as soon a new government replaces this one. That has been the standard practice in the country’s history of fighting corruption.
Meanwhile, while we are regaling in the numerous corruption stories foreign news headlines create a profile of a country on the verge of implosion. For instance the highly influential bi-monthly Foreign Policy Magazine of 8 February 2016 titled its story on Nigeria: ‘Nigeria Is Coming Apart at the Seams’. Similarly Wikistrat, the crowd-outsourcing consulting firm (founded in Australia in 2009 but headquartered in the United States) recently opened a forum on Nigeria, which it titled ‘Nigeria: From Opportunity to Crisis’. A key question we must ask ourselves therefore is whether the numerous corruption stories are accentuating a certain negative profile of the country in the international imagination. Put differently, are we unwittingly de-marketing the country with these corruption stories and the fantastic figures of stolen money being bandied about?
Two, is also the question of what we have benefited from the corruption stories? How many people have been convicted as a result of the corruption stories? Have we really established the necessary frameworks for fighting corruption? What became of the idea of corruption courts that were mooted several months ago? Have we defined what we mean by corruption and separated it from impunity?
Three, the corruption stories raise the question of the place of ‘name and shame’ or media trial in a country like ours. Why are ‘ordinary people’ fascinated by such corruption stories that will at least show that the super rich are only rich at their expense? Does name and shame really deter corruption in a country like ours? If so, why is it that ‘budget rats’ are being accused of padding the 2016 budget proposal despite the current corruption stories and the no-nonsense mien of the President on matters of corruption?
Four, there are legitimate fears that the promotion of competitive stories of corruption may be turning the regime into a single issue government. In the process, the country is missing an opportunity for earnest conversations on how to find solutions to her other and even more compelling challenges. For instance most of the current Ministers are made to look ‘ordinary’ because the hot stories are about corruption. They do not seem to have enough space to engage the public on what they do or want to do for their ministries. Compare this with the Obasanjo era and even under Jonathan when some Ministers were allowed to become ‘celebrities’ who could bounce off ideas on the populace. Who are the ‘celebrity’ ministers in this dispensation?
Five, while the corruption stories may, at least in part, be aimed at mobilizing the citizens’ sense of outrage against impunity, the steady stream of such stories can also paradoxically numb that sense of outrage. For instance, with the humongous sums being mentioned in the corruption stories, if you come across a story where one is sentenced to a jail term for stealing say N2m, the instinctive feeling is that the punishment is disproportionate to the crime. Suddenly N2m seems like a peanut compared to the figures that are being bandied around in the steady stream of corruption stories.
Six, the country needs to do an impact analysis of the previous efforts at fighting corruption? How do you know if we are winning the war? It is wrong to assume that just because you have scared those prone to corruption to go underground, that you are winning. In the same way, the amount of money recovered by the contraptions used in fighting corruption may be important but hardly a reliable metric for measuring the success or otherwise of any fight against corruption. The metric should be: has it lessened the incidence of corruption? Unfortunately such a question cannot be answered by any regime waging such a war because our experience is that it is the succeeding regime that determines how corrupt the preceding regime was.
I am not against fighting corruption. I will however have preferred a conditional amnesty (you can call it plea bargaining) for those facing certain cases of corruption allegation. Those who have committed impunity will simply have to face trial quietly. Media trial and politicising the fight against corruption ends up polarizing the country the more. We can still achieve the same objective without the unnecessary ‘gra gra’ and a narrative that is couched on the simplistic binary of ‘good guys versus the bad guys’.
. Adibe writes from pcjadibe@yahoo.com and tweets at: @JideoforAdibe. [myad]