The Fight Against Corruption

Devsectorseries: Dr. Kole Shettima, Director, MacArthur Foundation Nigeria

This particular episode of Devsectorseries is an interesting one.?MacArthur Foundation has supported Civil Society Organizations, Government, and Media to address the cancer of corruption in Nigerian society.?I was intrigued by my conversation with Dr. Kole Shettima as we highlighted the foundation’s theory of change which is addressing corruption through the government, private, and development sectors working together to ensure transparency and accountability in society.

This episode took place Wednesday, July 28th, 2021 at 12 noon.

Efua: How has corruption affected National development in Nigeria and developing nations?

Dr. Kole:?I recently read somebody making a point that corruption has cost more lives than civil wars in Africa. People feel frustrated and marginalized because they don't have any hope in life.?Therefore, they fight in order to get what they feel that they are entitled to and express their frustration. In spite of the resources spent in our country and the continent, there are several road accidents and maternal mortality rates amongst other societal issues.?Our children receive sub-standard education, the teachers have not passed through the basic exams resulting in the students come out as illiterate. The youth feel alienated because they do not access the opportunities and benefits of the elite.?This is not because the resources are not available, but one person has decided to corner the resources that should have gone into providing education to the children, water sanitation, and road infrastructure to prevent accidents.

Mothers are unable to access primary health care for their children. They are not able to receive medication to address hemorrhage or eclampsia and can result in death. Maternal mortality rates are on the rise because somebody has decided to put the money in their pockets. I think that the impact of corruption in our daily lives is so significant.??For example, in driving from Abuja to Enugu there are checkpoints where drivers have to drop money in order to move forward. There was a study by ICIR that a truck drive from Jalingo to Port Harcourt, running costs about 450,000 naira. Those funds can be allocated to improve social services.?However, funds end up in the pockets of a few people which deprive the country of the resources.?

Let’s backtrack to the Ajaokuta Steel mill which was promised from one administration to the next. From Shagari to Buhari, it looks like it will never come to fruition. This has deprived the nation of steel and basic industrial needs in order to develop.?Another example is the second mainland bridge, which has been a conversation for over 40 years. Those are examples of basic infrastructure that can significantly improve the quality of our trading, and the quality of the services for our people. Unfortunately, every government seems to be interested in awarding the contract but nobody seems to be interested in implementation. Nobody seems to be interested in the completion of any of these projects.?From road infrastructure to health facilities and many other national development initiatives.

I think arguably the most important problem of Nigeria is corruption. Our youth do not believe that they can actually apply for a job anywhere in the country whether at the federal level, state-level, or even in Civil Society unless they know somebody. The level of corruption has alienated our youth and made them look for other ways to express themselves. The challenge is endemic corruption and as a society, we have to work very hard in order to ensure that we reduced it to the minimum. I'm not saying you can eradicate corruption, but we can reduce it significantly so that our people can get the basic needs of their lives. The country may not be as rich as other countries but I believe that it has the resources to provide the minimum basic needs of our citizens so that Nigerians can feel like Nigerians.

Efua:?What made the MacArthur Foundation include anti-corruption as part of their strategy?

We may have 5 million 10 million 20 million even if we have a hundred million dollars for example, however, how many roads can we build? How many hospitals can we provide? How many schools can we build? Giving the resources that we have, one of the contributions that we can make is how do we contribute towards ensuring that government spends its allocated resources??Government makes a budget. At the federal, state, and local government.?All we are asking is, can you spend the money that you have budgeted accordingly? If we're able to spend the resources of our country accordingly, provides a bigger contribution than the money that MacArthur can possibly spend on roads, electricity, water supply, or sanitation that are needed in Nigeria.?Enabling government to spend its resources effectively and efficiently is a better strategy from our perspective.

The private sector's contribution to corruption is very significant. Professionals, for example, lawyers, bankers, auditors should ensure they are able to perform their role according to professional ethics. This would help provide the needed services for the public. That is why the MacArthur Foundation supports the government in performing its duties.?Professionals in the private sector should be ethical to avoid being culprits in money laundry practices by perpetrators of corruption. As a foundation, we help to ensure that what is meant for Nigeria is actually used in and for Nigeria.

Efua:?What are some of the successful projects the foundation has supported and the impact?

Dr. Kole:?Some of our most successful outcomes and impact are aside from the big stories. For example, we support the feeding program.??These children who would come to school hungry, have been fed during the feed program. For many of us who are in the middle and upper-class, we take these things for granted. These children who receive these resources are more grateful and are able to learn effectively. Some of them put food in their pockets and take it home to feed their siblings.?When we see the joy in children’s facial expressions, it means a lot to us at the MacArthur Foundation because we directly see the implication of our work.

The conversation about anti-corruption is not esoteric.?It is about the life and death of a lot of people, whether or not they are able to receive clean water supply. The constituency projects are projects that legislators, executive members have promised to do for their constituents. When we work with our grantees, whether it is SERAP, Premium Times, and others to visit these communities to investigate the location of the water supply. The lack of water could lead to diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, or death. How do we ensure water supply so that the community can have access to clean water??Efua, you have just experienced the loss of power supply. This can happen at an operating table and can cost the lives of people. A woman could be going through labor or an operation and the lights go off.?What does that mean for a person who is operated on at that time? We work with the National Electricity Regulation Commission or the National Association of electricity distributors about consumers' rights. We work with the Benin DISCO or Abuja DISCO to ensure that citizens are provided power supply and not given estimated billing.

We also work with ICPC because they do a lot of work around constituency projects and asset recovery. In addition, we also support EFCC trying to make sure that people cannot run away with government funds. I think ordinary citizens are thinking about how we support programs that touch the basic lives of people. This is more important in terms of the impact of the work that we do.

Efua: How has the MacArthur Foundation empowered Civil Society organizations and the government to address the cancer of corruption?

Dr. Kole:?I am happy that you asked that question because from my own perspective if the government claims to be efficient, we support Civil Society groups to hold them accountable. We need to hold their feet to the fire so that they do no slack even in the best of situations. Civil Society organizations and others have a role to play. They can do all the yelling and naming and shaming; but our own theory of change is that when government, civil society, and the private sector work together as a group that change can happen. This is because Civil Society cannot provide some of the goods and services that government can provide.?This is why they need a government that is responsible and accountable. When citizens make demands in court through public interest litigation they request Freedom of Information from a government or Ministry.?

The Government stakeholders are not necessarily bad people, they lack the equipment, knowledge, and capacity to function in their role. As a result, the MacArthur foundation supports government agencies. We support a range of anti-corruption agencies from the ICPC, EFCC, NFIU, SCUML, code of conduct, TUGA.?We also support the Electricity Regulation Commission and Consumer Protection Council.?The combination of private, public sector, and Civil Society is the best way of ensuring an equitable society.?We also support media organizations like the Premium Times, Daily Trust, Sahara Reporters, The Cable, and many others. These media organizations sometimes speak against the MacArthur foundation.?You need independent media to conduct investigation and Reporting in order to raise the difficult questions. The Civil Society organizations take the story and advocate on the issues so that the story does not die.

Efua:?How has the government received the work that you have done?

Dr. Kole:?When started this work in 2015, we received request and encouragement from the vice president. Some of us supported him when he was working on "Integrity" many years ago. He became the Attorney General of Lagos State and we supported him during the transition. He actually invited us and said that now that he is the vice-president, he looking forward to the MacArthur foundation’s support. That was our conversation with him before his swearing-in as the vice president. It was in that context that we decided to set up a fund that primarily supported the workaround government. Especially the presidential advisory committee against corruption.

I think that by and large, the government is very supportive. Sometimes the government is unhappy because we support some of the media and Civil Society Organizations that are antagonistic against them. Sometimes SERAP would take the president to court and the vice president to court the following day.?Sahara reporters would write something negative about the government and they would angrily ask us why they have our financial support.?I would respond that it comes with the territory, we did not set out for them to investigate the government. I also tell them that MacArthur also comes under pressure from these organizations. On some occasions, the newspapers have written things about us but that is the nature of the work. But they are elements of our work that the government encourages such as the Zamfara feeding programs but when we support people who are investigating something against them, there's a problem.

Efua:?How has corruption affected peace and Security in a country like Nigeria?

Dr. Kole:?In the inception of our program in 2014, one of the requests of our leadership, is to inquire of the public to understand their priorities.?Upon our assessment, one of the major issues is insecurity. This was because Boko Haram was the major headline. Insecurity is critical and very important but part of the challenge that we have noticed following the transition, we found that extensive resources have been provided for fighting against Boko Haram.?Most of which ended up in the pockets of individuals. An industry that has developed through insecurity which feeds on the vulnerabilities of our people. Security officials, government officials, industry professionals, and contractors are beneficiaries of the corruption from insecurity.

Maiduguri is called an ATM that puts money in people’s pockets. That is a significant relationship between insecurity and corruption.??As I said earlier, when you look at insecurities in a country, it is not a question of buying arms and appointing major generals. If I were president of Nigeria I will not appoint my National Security adviser to be a major general or someone from the military. Nigeria's problem is embedded in social-economic, political, and ethnic issues. We are not fighting another country; Boko Haram is a security issue that needs to be addressed. There are political issues that are leading to insecurity in our country.

To deal with those problems, appoint people who understand and appreciate the society, and provide historical context, and knowledge.?You don't just send a battalion to Zamfara and kill them; though it may help, will not solve the problem.?An approach is needed that understands the context and issues which will not be done by the military. Their job is to kill people and defend our international borders. We need to identify the connections between insecurity and lack of peace. The challenges and the issues have eliminated a lot of our people. Resources and decision-making are implemented in a way that does not support the people in our society.

Let me make it clear, I support military involvement in situations but I don't think it is the only solution. We need to understand how this problem started and its historical context and the military does not address these kinds of problems.?The issue of how corruption affects our own people and leads to insecurity and lack of peace in the country is critical.?We see how and why these challenges of insecurity are tied to Corrupt Practices. Let us look at the example of Education. The children of the rich go to the best private schools in the country.?When they finish, get jobs in NNPC, CBN, and other choice places. The children of the poor go to public schools that even goats will not want to enter those buildings. When they finish, they lack any skills and wait 4-7 years with no jobs. It would take a lot of effort to stop them from engaging in anything that they think is necessary to survive. Unless we address issues that contribute to the challenges of insecurity and corruption, we have a very long way to go.

Efua: What is the foundation's long-term strategy for Nigeria and Africa and how does the current strategy on corruption contribute?

Dr. Kole:?Foundations like ours and other development organizations have cycles. Some 3 year-cycles some 5 year-cycles. At the moment, we started this work in 2015; following the first three years, we conducted an evaluation.?We are on the second phase which ends in 2024. After 2024, we may come back with another strategy which maybe a piece of the work that we're currently doing, or something different.?

We would like to institutionalize and support groups and organizations to ensure continuity. What we have been trying to do is institutionalize the Civil Society groups to ensure the organization is much better than where we found them. Improve the skills and processes of these organizations so that there is continuity whether or not MacArthur Foundation provides support. We support local organizations in Nigeria; right now, 98% of the organizations we support are all Nigerian. Therefore, our commitment is how do we support Nigerian organizations for sustainability whether or not MacArthur is supporting them. At the end of the day, Nigeria is our country and our people don’t have the choice to run away.??Even if 10% of us are able to leave, we still have 200 million Nigerians who have to be here because they don't have any choice. This strategy of the foundation is based on how we leave organizations behind in a better condition.

Efua:?Any final thoughts?

Dr. Kole:?My final thoughts are that the issue of corruption is a life-and-death situation. Sometimes the government may not have the resources however, with the resources that they have, do citizens have clean water to brush their teeth, wash their face, and drinking water? If I'm going to draw water from the well for four to five hours why will my children go to school? I will need them to help me draw that water rather than sending them to school. If I don't send them to school, they a growing up as illiterates. Even if they're able to go to school they go to the village School where governments have awarded contracts for the construction of buildings and employ teaches but the sad reality is that the building is not completed and most of the teachers are uneducated. A teacher who cannot write their name will be teaching children.?We cannot have this gross inequality because the youth will come out of this system and they can never get a job from the government because they never pass written exams. If they happened to attempt JAMB, they have never seen a computer. The children of the rich who have stolen money have unlimited opportunities and others have been deprived of the computer that should have gone to their schools. The Youth are going to be very angry which is why we cannot sleep.?The youth expression of this problem is through factions such as IPOB in the southeast, OPEC in the Southwest, Niger Delta militants in the south-south, Boko Haram in the North. All these conflicts are by young people you never hear older people like me who are a part of this conflict.

These are young people who have lost hope.?They see their Governors who cannot provide the basic necessities.?They are going to be angry and express it in different ways. In some ways, it is IPOB, other ways as Boko Haram and banditry across the country.??People are expressing their anger against a system that is so corrupt and rigged against them. They would do anything and everything to bring down this house. This house is falling down on us unless we see the big connection between what our Governors are doing in their respective states. We spend a lot of time in Abuja, but what are Governors are doing with significant resources and are never held accountable? Some of these Governors have become demigods and do whatever they want, and get away without accountability.? This cuts across university admissions and jobs for sexual favors towards women. What corruption does is use power for personal gain to enrich certain elite families, their generation at the expense of the 99.9% of the population.