By Femi Falana
The World Bank has just issued a damning report which claimed that
80% of Nigerian businesses offer government officials bribe to
facilitate deals. While recognising that Nigeria remains the most
attractive investment destination in África the report noted the high
proclivity for bribery and corruption among Nigerian businesses.
Although the report may be an understatement of the rate of endemic
corruption in Nigeria the World Bank has failed to trace the root cause
of the menace. Hence the Bank is not prepared to suggest measures that
can arrest the growing wave of corruption in the country.
Author: FEMI FALANA, SAN
No doubt, there was corruption in Nigeria up to the 1980s. But it was
not so prevalent at the time because the State funded the welfare of
the majority of the people, provided social services at affordable costs
and created jobs for the unemployed. Education was virtually free while
health services were affordable. The Naira was higher than the United
states dollar in the foreign exchange market. Although it was a
neo-colonial capitalist economy which enriched a few at the expense of
the nation there were some safety nets for the masses. The Nigerian
Government placed emphasis on the building of an egalitarian society in
line with the extended family system of the African people.
However, the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme
which was instigated by the World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund ruined the Nigerian economy completely and destroyed the morality
of the society. With retrenchment of workers, abolition of marketing
boards, commercialisation of social services, sale of the assets of the
nation, trade liberalisation, currency devaluation and other dangerous
components of SAP mass poverty bacame the order of the day. The middle
class was wiped out while the manufacturing sector became extinct. In
the process corruption became the directive principle of state policy
under the Ibrahim Babangida junta. Successive regimes have since then
consolidated on official corruption.
Apart from condemning corruption the World Bank and Western
Governments including the Barrack Obama Administration have continued to
insult the African people on the issue of corruption. Stolen wealth
from Nigeria and other thild world countries to the tune of over a
trllion dollars is received and kept in the vaults of western banks in
violation of the provisions of the United Nations’ Convention Against
Corruption. For instance, the British judge who jailed Chief James
Ibori, ex-governor of Delta State made racist remarks as if Africans are
congenitally corrupt. But the British banks and mortgage institutions
which facilitated the pauperisation of the people of Delta state through
money laundering and fraud by Chief Ibori were not sanctioned. Was the
governor of Illinois, Mr Rod Blagojerich not jailed for selling Barrack
Obama’s senate seat in Chicago? Has the World Bank held the American
Government vicariously responsible for the criminality of its officials?
With respect to corruption in Nigeria why has the World Bank not
condemned foreign companies like Halliburton, Wilbros, Siemens, Julius
Berger and others which have been indicted and penalised for
perpetrating for large scale corruption in Nigeria? The NEITI has just
disclosed that foreign oil compnies have duped Nigeria to the tune of
over $2 billion. Instead of assisting Nigeria to recover such huge fund
the World Bank would prefer to package jumbo loans for the Federal
Government with fraudulent conditionalities. Why has the World Bank not
supported the current Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina who
is determined to arrest the reckless importation of food at billions of
dollars per annum?
Let the World Bank stop writing hypocritical reports on corruption
emanating from the neo liberal policies being sheepishly implemented by
the Federal and state governments at its own behest. Let the Goodluck
Jonathan Administration be told that no Government which operates an
economy on the basis of market fundamentalism can curb corruption. This
is the basis of the virtual collapse of the economy of Portugal, Italy,
Greece and Spain (the “PIGS”)which has defied the prescriptions of the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
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