Federalism is a system of government in which government powers that exist in a country are shared between the central government and its component regions. It is also defined as the system of government in which government powers are shared between the centre, that is, the federal government and its components. This arrangement as seen in Nigeria, allow the other components to grow at its own pace with the resources generated within their region. They are expected to contribute a certain percentage to the centre for its administrative| supervisory role; under this arrangement, the centre is structurally and economically very weak and therefore not attractive for economic\financial embezzlers or misapropriators. In a sense true federalism can be used to control corruption at least at the centre. As Soon as the nation restructures, most of the ‘lootocrafts’ operating the national stage will disappear from there and move closer home where if a strategy is put in place alerting the masses and opening their eyes to the indices of corruption and how to checkmate them with traditional disgrace
114
that will prevent their being given places of honour at public gatherings and chieftancy titles, corruption will at least reduce. This might be among what led to the maiden Nigeria political restructuring. Perhaps, soon after independence, Nigeria realized that the parliamentary system of democracy will not give it what it requires from democracy considering the multi-tribal nature of the country and the likely consequences- unbridled corruption. The elites were aware that the only governmental arrangement that will work well in the country is the arrangement in which each region of the country is allowed to grow at its own pace. Our political elites therefore changed the system of democracy on ground, from parliamentary to the Presidential form, infact Americans’ Presidential type, which support decentralized system of government. When therefore the powers are allowed to be excised by the components, Nigerians call it true federalism. Parliamentary system of democracy as obtainable in Britain is a centralized form of government.
Unfortunately, when the soldiers struck in 1966, with the first coup, General Aguiyi Ironsi took over and centralized the system of administration in line with the military system. When democracy was eventually restored some thirty years later with the ascension of rtd general Olusegun Obasanjo into the civilian presidential seat, for some corrupt reasons – high concentration of power and finance in one hand, the centralized system of administration was maintained. It became therefore, presidential by name but parliamentary in practice. Due to the nature of Nigeria- strongly ethnic, tribal and regional, they could not work for the common good, which is the main root of democracy. What it means therefore is that, if Nigeria do not restructure, even after Nigerianising democracy, it will still find it very difficult to properly practice democracy beneficiently, since the citizens and the leaders cannot work together for the common good of the citizens in the presence of the enduring high level of corruption.
115 5.3High Rateof Corruption
In the state of nature, the most fundamental instinct is the instinct of self preservation. This can even involve the taking of another’s life to achieve. Dishonesty, corruption, greed, and other societal ills are part of the natural outcomes of this self preservation. Corruption is, simply put, an illegal and selfish conduct, especially of people in authority for the purpose of financial gains or other personnal benefits. It is therefore clear that its common object is the self; the consequences are many of the time very unpleasant. For instance, it required the presenceof the Leviathan to tame the various products of this instinct in Hobbe’s state of nature. Nigerians in whatever form must have indulged in the self preservation but also escaped from the state of nature like other mankinds with the coming of civil society.
However, the coming of the colonialists with their unabridged selfish interest, looting and pillaging, may have also resurrected this obnoxious instinct of self preservation in Nigerians, where by, national or common wealth is seen as an object of scramble, embrzzlementand misappropriation for self preservation and relevance in the society. As if to make a case for this, “Zik faced the Foster Sutton Tribunal of inquiry in 1956, for diverting the Eastern Nigeria Government funds to his bank.”1 Awo in 1962 followed the same line of action.
Certain events in the country aggravated the already bad situation. Again for instance, the nature of the amalgamation that gave birth to Nigeria and the events of the Nigeria/Biafra civil war in no way engendered oneness among Nigerians,rather it reinforced the need for self preservation.The claim by a section of the country that they were “Born to Rule”, when they were the section the colonialists found not ready to take over the rulership of the country with their Southern counterpart during the decolonization era, now claiming that they were born to rule and ironically and selfishly supported by the same people who found them not even capable of pairing with others in the rulership of their country calls for more worry and fear;
therefore more urgent need for self preservation instigating more corruption.If the requisites
116
qualities for leadership or rulership are not on ground and there have been no known action that generate transformation taken, does it not amount to the blind insisting that he must lead the clear sighted, even in the night. The outcome is already known – disaster and therefore calls for caution. The implied insault is also very eloquent. These stipulated factors encouraged corruption whose economic gains, ironically enhances self preservation and national recognition. These approachesto self preservation and societal relevance appear to have filtered down even to family politics.
The level of corruption in Nigeria is noted to be very high even from the First republic. As pointed out above, “Zik faced the Foster Sutton tribunal of enquiry in 1956
for diverting the Eastern Nigeria Government funds to his bank, the African Continental Bank (ACB), thereby enriching himself substantially.”2
Toeing the same line:
in 1962, G.B.A. Coker commission of inquiry into six Western Nigeria Public Corporations, revealed ingenious and brazen devices by which Awolowo and his colleagues in the leadership of the Action Group government of Western Nigeria enriched themselves and their party fabulously at the expense of the accumulated funds of the Cocoa Marketing Board, property of the whole people of Western Nigeria.3
Plundering the wealth of the nation, is a major factor in intensifying and embittering the contest for political power along ethno-regional lines,
a process whose high points were the Action Groups Crises (1962), Census crises (1962 – 1963), Federal Election Crises (1965) making the country more or less ungovernable; culminating in the Kaduna Nzeogwu’s Military coup d’etat of January 1966 and the tragic and disasterous intrusion of the Nigeria Armed Forces into the political life of the country.4
The outright looting, embezzlement and misappropriation being instigated through contract inflations which culmulated in the disappearance of Umaru Dikko in 1983 with the huge
117
national wealth meant for him to import rice for the starving people of Nigeria, came in the Second republic. The crises of Alhaji Shagari’s second term as president and the heightened profligracy which almost closed down the country, invited yet another military coup.
Obasanjo’s civilian regime, which could be described as an exercise in wastage, massacre, thuggery, political manipulations and impositions, embellished with ‘Ghana must go’
politics, was the third republic. His experiences as the second time president; first as a military junta and now as a civilian president, made him more deadly, vengeful and a manipulator. His wealth of experience in the first and second time in office –as a military junta later as a civilian president were almost totally lost to Nigerians. The little he allowed to be established, were soffused with selfish interest. Adam Smith will call that selfish interest, the ‘invisible hand’ that moved beyond the selfish boundries to benefit the masses. More over, Obasanjo was said to have built a refinery in Cameroun but he could not refurbish effectively any of the ones we have in the country for the eight years he was in office, rather Nigerians were heavily dependent on the importation of petroleum products in which all the members of his family were businesswise involved. The salient questions here are: the monies he used in building the refinery and activating his oil wells in Cameroun, where did he get them? This is for the fact that his salaries even for twenty years will not be enough for these projects.
The discoveries of the uses to which the recent ‘bail out funds’ given to the state governors by the Central bank of Nigeria to pay their states’ mounting salaries and pensions arrears show that some of them collected and pocketed such fund, while others simply used it to buy houses in choice locations in choice countries of the world, not using it for the purposesit wasprovided for. The amount involved is in billions of Naira.
118
The cases pending in our various courts are cases of the misappropriation of billions of dollars meant for various contracts and recently for the procurement of arms for the prosecution of the ‘Boko Haram’s declared war on Nigeria. Our hapless gallant soldiers who were not properly armed were commanded to their deaths by their corrupt and conniving generals. An authentic story from a reliable source has it that these army generals collect money from ‘boko haram’ insurgents, to betray their wards.
Rtd general Babangida, a former military head of state, was alleged to have pocketed 12.5 billion dollars- ‘oil wind falls,’ on the day he was ‘stepping aside’ from office. How did rtd general Obasanjo get his farm land in Otta during his military days?by deception. Why is the president of the senate presently in court? What of the former head of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Who was allegedto have looted the organization’s funds? What of the former Inspector General of police, Balogun? What of Dasuki – the national security adviser to president Goodluck Jonathan? What ofgovernors Amaechi of Rivers state alleged to have used state fund to sponsor Muhammadu Buhari into office, Rochas Okorocha of Imo state, former governor of Lagos state, Tinubu? What of president Buhari who knowingly took campaign money from the known robbers of the State fund?
What of the billions of dollars being dug up in various grave yards? Septic tanks, luxury apartments, warehouses, bank accounts, and so on. All the members of the National Assembly, who presently take home about N30 million every month? All these are high level corruptions perpetuated by our leaders, who appear to have engineered same in the citizens giving birth to unmitigated corruption in the citizens.
Corruption has become a way of life in Nigeria and might require radical surgery and spilling of blood to tame, because our national psych is no more or has been destroyed. The end results of these situations are that, the dividends of democracy are no where to be seen or experienced in Nigeria. No economic growth, no development,increasing rate of
119
unemployment, increase in crimes and criminalities, poor health, poor education to mention but a few, because the financial resources to carry out these programmes have been embezzled or misappropriated lawfully or unlawfully, through budget padding or in the cause of the oversight functions of the National Assembly members and other government functionaries. In any environment where corruption exists, democratic practice finds it very difficult to trive, not to talk of consolidating. This is one of the major factors militating against the deliverance of the dividends of democracyand democratic practice in Nigeria.