Nsongurua Udombana
5 September 2008
opinion
Political corruption has done the greatest harm to Nigeria's economic, political and social developments, undermining the legitimacy of public institutions.
Nigerian leaders are so violent and corrupt that their conduct "more resembles criminal activity than democratic governance," according to a scathing report by Human Rights Watch, which also cited how politicians in Gombe State recruited violent cult gangs "who unleashed a wave of violence on local communities that included murder, rape, arson and other crimes." Government has become the biggest business in Nigeria.
Many of our leaders, finding themselves in positions where the entire public treasury is placed at their disposal and without the responsibility for statutory accounting, have embarked on shear delusions of grandeur and bruising preoccupations.
The problem is compounded by the 'Big Men' syndrome, "big men who cannot receive phone calls or read newspapers (someone else is employed to read the papers and then prepare a summary for the big man!) They can no longer drive a car or change a bulb, for every function that they have to perform, someone has to be employed and paid huge fees."
These big men treat the state as a prostrate victim to be ravished, metaphorically snatching away food, shelter, and healthcare from the poor, homeless, sick, widows, orphans, children, and the aged. As we shall shortly examine, corruption at the top translates into hardship at the bottom. Even some of our women politicians have failed to temper greed with moderation.
Patricia Etteh, erstwhile Speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives, was forced to resign in October 2007 after an inquiry found her guilty of breaking house rules to award contracts worth $5m to refurbish houses and buy cars - the "Imelda Marcos syndrome." Etteh's story is emblematic of many men and women who privatize their nations' treasuries from the privileged positions of leadership, insensitive or indifferent to the human rights of ordinary citizens implicated in their disgusting acts.
C. Impact of Corruption on Human Rights
Endemic corruption lies at the heart of human rights abuses in Nigeria and elsewhere. The twin sisters of corruption and mismanagement of resources are obstacles to the enjoyment of human rights. They devastate economic and social development and deepen poverty by distorting political, economic and social life.
They undermine accountability and transparency in the management of public affairs and make many states fall short of their commitments to meet the basic needs of their peoples. Given time constraint, this segment will interrogate the impact of corruption on aspects of human rights.
1.A Weakening of Human Rights Institutions
Advancing all human rights-civil, political, economic, social, and cultural-depends on effective institutions: an independent judiciary, functional and efficient ministries and units for civil service delivery, good labour relations, well trained and equipped police force, functional units for health-care deliveries and educational administrations, et cetera. A vibrant, independent media is also necessary to promote human rights through education and expose abuses through reporting. In Nigeria, most of these institutions have failed to deliver, due to structural weaknesses engendered largely by corruption. Corruption weakens governmental and non-governmental institutions and renders the realisation of basic human freedoms difficult, if not impossible.
The police and courts are the very agencies needed to enforce human rights, but there are deeper levels of corruption within these agencies. Delayed and/or shoddy investigation of crimes and incessant adjournment of cases by our courts are both acts and effects of corruption and make nonsense the right to fair hearing enshrined in our constitution and other international instruments. Justice delayed often translates into justice denied. Our prisons are terribly congested, with the result that inmates are denied the basic human rights to dignity. 2.Poverty and Escapable Morbidity Nigeria is a rich country of poor people.
The mass of citizens are so poor that the sum of their subsistence is less than a dollar a day. Even more threatening to society, too many employable youths remain unemployed. For those who manage to find jobs, their wages lag behind inflation. The minimum wage for civil servants is N5,500 per month, which translates to what lawyers term underemployment.
Those who are not so 'fortunate' to gain employment have turned to crime, prostitution, and other 'yahoo yahoo' vices to fight destitution. Such inglorious actions devalue not only the actor but also the entire society. Corruption drains away resources needed to provide social infrastructures and fight poverty. Eighty percent of Nigeria's roads are in bad shape. Nigeria's Transport Minister of State regretted that Nigeria's roads "are still in terrible state" despite billions of naira that have been appropriated for road construction and maintenance.
Many Nigerians have lost their lives due to preventable accidents; others have been robbed of valuable belongings at bad spots. Peasants and farmers have lost huge income due to lack of access to competitive markets that good roads could have engendered. The negative effects of corruption on the road sector can be replicated in virtually all others sectors, including health, education, agriculture, water resources, power, etc.
Many of Nigeria's public hospitals are mere consulting clinics; "per capita spending on health is shockingly $3;" and "[o]nly 38% of children are immunized against measles." Gombe State is rated as having the highest maternal morbidity in Nigeria, notwithstanding the provision of free medical care for pregnant women and children below five years by various levels of governments.
Experts rate Nigeria as having the highest number of illiterates in the world. No Nigerian university currently makes the list of the world's best 1,000 or Africa's best 100 universities; and the reason is not farfetched: facilities needed for qualitative education are almost non-existent. Portable water has been left to the dispensation of the skies.
Most of Nigeria's poor neighbours have overcome the problem of regular electricity, but Nigeria continues to supply darkness to its natural and corporate citizens, due largely to corruption in high places. Nigerians have recently been treated to a comic hearing on how $16 billion was wasted in the energy sector by the immediate past administration.
Both the cost of doing business and of living in Nigeria remains high, while the standard of living remains humiliatingly low. Paradoxically, the voice of pleasure is pouring out its notes on every side, as many of our public servants, especially politicians, openly display their ill-gotten wealth. Some own private jets among other accoutrements of splendour.
When viewed from the perspective of millions of beggars that litter our streets, the hit-or-miss level of our health delivery services or, indeed, the accessibility of the most basic structures of self-fulfillment for the teeming generations in a modern, competitive world, the acquisitions and lifestyles of our public servants are nothing but paeans to human vanity at the expense of social actualities.
3. Erosion of Human Values
The illicit acquisition of personal wealth by public officials and their cronies have had damaging effects on society, ethical values, justice, the rule of law, and sustainable developments in Nigeria. Corruption is a moral problem; and morality is 'secreted in the interstices' of the legal system. Just as blindness presupposes sight, so corruption reveals a standard of goodness, honesty and integrity, of which society has fallen short. As a people, we have come short of the minimum standards of decency and integrity a society needs for survival.
Continues next week
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