Okey Ndiribe
19 July 2007
opinion
Lagos — CHINA sent a signal of seriousness about its desire to rid its territory of corrupt practices with the execution of Zheng Xiaoyu, head of China's State Food and Drug Administration Agency, SFDA. He was sentenced to death for approving untested medicines in exchange for cash.
The drug makers were discovered to have used falsified document to apply for approvals of six medicines that turned out to be fake during Zheng's reign as head of the agency between 1998-2005.
"The few corrupt officials of the SFDA are the shame of the whole system and their scandals have revealed some very serious problems" declared Yan Jiangying, spokesperson of the agency. China for some years has been battling to tackle endemic product safety crisis which led to enactment of a law providing death sentence for corruption. Whatever it is, China has demonstrated that its law has no respect for people no matter how highly placed. The execution of Zheng would serve a warning to other highly placed Chinese officials that the nation brooks no nonsense in its resolve to rid its enclave of corruption.
This is rule of law at its utmost best for whatever rule applies to lowly placed Chinese equally applies to that society's high and mighty. This is the purport of the ruling for the execution of the SFDA's henchman two years after his removal from his seat. China has proved that a public officer can be held responsible for his act while in office.
The international embarrassment unwholesome Chinese products caused could not have been the major reason for executing Zheng. Proven cases of corruption are penalised with the death sentence.
Nigeria has a lot to learn from the execution sentence placed on Zheng. This country still has a long way to go in its professed disdain for corruption. Contempt for the rule of law in enforcing anti-graft laws has not abated. This development has injured public safety and also proved to be one of the reasons the country remains perpetually undeveloping. No country ingrained in corrupt practices ever develops. Nigeria will not be an exception.
The hurt Tafa Balogun, convicted former Inspector General of Police, did to the police force by stealing billions of Naira from its coffers cannot be less than what Zheng did in China. For all he did to undermine the police that is responsible for the nation's security, he spent less than six months in jail and he is now out enjoying his negotiated loot.
Offenders who committed lesser crimes are languishing in jail. This was a monumental example of how not to treat graft. All facets of national life must be rid of the graft menace and this could be done provided a non-status sparing approach akin to China's example is emulated by the government. There is more to learn from China by the government.
Our laws do not punish corruption with death, but the application of the existing laws is a huge joke. There are obvious indices of corruption. Where people are living above their means, without a reasonable explanation, where their tax payments are below the affluence they parade and in the cases where their spouses and children - usually without visible means of livelihood - are awash in opulence, corruption practices could account for these.
The political willingness to tackle corruption must include official practices that inhibit corruption. Are the wages paid in Nigeria able to sustain anyone? Who is supposed to cater for the millions who have been sidelined from existence through excruciating economic policies?
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