By Tabia Princewill
As we know, the very concept of corruption in Nigeria is contested. I’m surprised no one has thought of making “yam and goat” t-shirts or bumper stickers. I recently read an article by Susan Rose-Ackerman, an American political scientist in which she writes that to defeat corruption, one must analyse and understand the link between state and society in a given country.

I was reminded of Peter Ekeh’s landmark essay “colonialism and the two publics in Africa” where he argues that colonisation created two publics in African countries, that is one “primordial public realm” where ties to groups, sentiments (often ethnic or religious) influence   public behaviour. Within this realm, culture, traditions are often the basis of morality and behaviour.

The “civic public realm”, in contrast, inherited from colonisation, is comprised of institutions with no real anchoring in the “primordial public realm”, i.e they do not necessarily correspond to our pre-colonisation beliefs or ways. The military, the civil service, the media, the police or the professionalisation of politics, are institutions and ideas which are not based on pre-colonial structures.

Interestingly, the “civic public realm”, unlike pre-colonial African constructs, has no real moral arrangement or generalised code of conduct that is efficiently sanctioned upon any breach. “Most educated Africans are citizens of two publics in the same society. On the one hand, they belong to a civic public from which they gain materially but to which they give only grudgingly. On the other hand, they belong to a primordial public from which they derive little or no material benefits but to which they are expected to give generously and do give materially.

Colonial masters’standby

Their relationship to the primordial public is moral, while that to the civic public is amoral.” Therein lies the problem: the typical politician (or business person) believes he owes more to his village and to his “people” than to the general population or to the common good. To this one must add that the crop of leaders who came to power when African countries gained independence were often their colonial master’s standbys.

Having worked for the British or the French, many of the new African elite were in a prime position to inherit property, land, power or position from their former masters. So there was never, at any time in our modern politics or development, a level playing field where those competing for prosperity were distinguished by their talents and ideas: all that mattered was proximity to the colonials.

In truth, most of Africa’s post-independence leaders had little legitimacy outside colonisation. In today’s Nigeria, we have simply continued this trend, with proximity to a government official, as the arms scandal proves, being worth its weight in gold. “Pervasive corruption undermines the competence, fairness, and democratic legitimacy of the modern state”, says Rose-Ackerman and it has been this way from the very beginning as Africans struggle between the discordant primordial and civic publics, which has made corruption part of Nigerian social interaction.

Indeed, social interactions in Nigeria are personal, subjective, peculiar to each individual as opposed to the Western society which evolved to become impersonal and impartial where the same rules (the rule of law) apply to all groups, where loyalty to one’s kin has little if not nothing to do with public behaviour. But, I refuse to believe, unlike what some Western academics would have us believe, that corruption is intrinsically African or that it is based on our cultural and social norms. Behaviour is learned and emerges over time. It is the breakdown of the state (under the military in particular) and its inability to provide basic services which made politics become “ a do or die affair”, because of its huge benefits and rewards, therefore also encouraging corruption and the maintenance of clientelistic networks which provide jobs or contracts, unfortunately, at the cost of merit. So now that we are here, how do we move forward?

Personally, I believe we need to make our “negative” traits work for us: the existing greed and opportunism within our society can create excellent entrepreneurs, if our young people’s creativity is allowed to run free. If they begin to see, under the Buhari administration that it pays to be honest and hard working, then being profit-driven becomes a plus rather than a minus. Especially once the Sheriff shows us there is a cost for being corrupt and a reward for scrupulousness and sincerity. What should those rewards be? Paying civil servants well and on time is a start, so is ensuring pension funds don’t “disappear”.

But most of all, governance in Nigeria must go beyond building roads and airports to considering the welfare and wellbeing of those called to use said infrastructure. Reducing corruption, insurgency, conflict (which doubles as competition for scarce resources) comes down to reducing poverty and creating an opportunity society.

We need to increase education opportunities and give children more to aspire to beyond becoming a local government chairman. Rather than a petroleum subsidy that enables corruption, where, according to the World Bank “over 60% of total benefits accrue to the richest 20% of households”, conditional cash transfers to the poorest Nigerians could change the face of this country.

Health care centres

Imagine how many schools, teachers and health care centres could be funded with a year’s subsidy payments, or with funds recovered from corrupt hands. Personally, I believe the President should publish the list of those accused of looting public funds. If they care so much about their good name and reputation, they will ensure, in future, that it is not mixed up in such scandals.

Their counterparts abroad would never be accused of such horrors. Can you imagine insinuations or allegations that a former Prime Minister such as Tony Blair authorised central bank payments (tax payers money) to fund his re-election, taking money away from British soldiers fighting in Iraq? In our culture of greed, family background and connections still matter too much. Nigerians need economic mobility and that is the only real panacea for corruption.

Ayo Fayose

One might be tempted to  call him the de facto captain of the “wailing wailers” whose common denominator, by way of Femi Fani-Kayode, seems to be delusion, hubris, the spinning of tall tales and the resolute belief in conspiracy theories.

Faulting the would-be attempt to remove him as governor of Ekiti, Mr. Fayose, comparing himself to Obasanjo whom he believes he outshines, reportedly said:”I am going places, I have history to make. I am going higher and higher.

The very day Buhari’s administration faces me, his government will come down. I am a child of destiny”.

Destiny’s Child musn’t forget there is still the small matter, or alleged existence of a certain recording featuring himself, former Minister of State for Defence, Obanikoro and Service Chiefs plotting to rig an election.

Surely a child of Destiny, guilty of no wrongs, would trust in God (and justice) and therefore have no problem with the army setting up a board of inquiry to investigate the “alleged” (the most used word in a Nigerian journalist’s arsenal!) wrongful association or implication of its staff in the 2014 Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections. An inquiry does not “destroy democracy” or the will of the people. Quite the opposite.

If it doesn’t reveal anything untoward, then so be it but why so vehemently refuse it? It just might be that Destiny’s child is not so full of grace.

Senator Ekweremadu

If the wailing wailers have  a captain, then they must have a high priest (Olisa Metuh) and many apologists to justify and explain a defunct, dangerous religion.

Senator Ekweremadu’s comments about the economy failing because of President Buhari are lopsided at best. 16 years of PDP culminates in an unreasoned, puerile attack to distract from EFCC’s most recent findings.

One day we will talk about corruption and economic mismanagement the same way scientists talk about dinosaurs, with wonder and surprise at the vastness of what once was.