A Personal Behavioural Look at Corruption; Ending the cycle of Corruption in Nigeria!

This paper looks at corruption as a security threat to development in Nigeria. It discusses the impact of corruption on the nation and also identifies some entry points for the unhindered expression of corrupt practices in Nigeria.

A Personal Behavioural Look at Corruption; Ending the cycle of Corruption in Nigeria!

Onakpoberuo Onoriode Victor

24/05/2016

Introduction

Sometime before the year 1960, it was very possible to see the simplicity with which we conducted ourselves and the sincerity from a personal locus to pursue collective ideals of selflessness, nationalism and progressive development. Somehow time bored us and perhaps we became uninterested with the simplicity of fairness, good conscience and collective inclusion. A wild fire that propelled the drive for self-pursuit was lit in our midst and like foxes with lighted tails we have been scampering about searching for every viable means, schemes to gratify the self. Now the cohesive grip from the center is being threatened and there are compelling motivations for division along ethnic and religious lines. Intuitively, the agenda for a better Nigeria seem to be an ideal held by unrealistically optimistic persons. What appears to be the drive amongst the average Nigerian is to take his future in his hand and attain a wealthy status by whatever means. Most people are lethargic, uninterested and indifferent to issues of patriotism, good governance and collective good. There is the apparent feeling of powerlessness from the people.

So, we all took off and inadvertently left Nigeria behind.

Nigeria is not plagued by an alien disease but a local one, and if anything, aliens have merely taken advantage of the porousness created by the common non-commitment to the development of this nation by us citizens. What we have today is a story and history that we all have contributed to and are still doing; we are actually recycling failure but expecting by some miraculous means that change should come. Who will bring Change to Nigeria?

 

What is Corruption?

According to Prof. Patrick L. O Lumumba;

“Corruption is something that we talk about. It is something that we complain about. It is something whose negative impact we recognize. It is something that even the corrupt acknowledge it’s a bad thing. But the irony and the tragedy at once is that those who engage in corruption love it. The tragedy at once is that those of us who do not engage in it directly accommodate it. Our levels of tolerance for corruption in Africa is amazing. Long time ago, a great Greek philosopher said that it is in the nature of man to hang the small thieves and to elect the great ones into public office. We do that in Uganda, we do that in Kenya, we do that in Tanzania, we do that in Africa. And that is why Africa remains the poorest continent on earth” (a Keynote Speech by Professor Patrick L.O. Lumumba at the Third Anti-Corruption Convention that held in Uganda on December 2nd, 2013)

Corruption is as a mutating virus, whose nature continues to change given the context and sector where it thrives. However, the following characteristic elements may be used in identifying it.

• Legal Component
• Common Impact Component
• Religious Component
• Ethno-Cultural Component

Legal Component:

Corruption here is strictly as captured in our statutory provisions of law. For example the Fifth schedule of the 1999 constitution provides an ethical guide for public officers, in the areas of asset declaration, non-solicitation of personal benefits, gratification etc. The Criminal code also captures some elements of corruption especially as represented in sections 419, 463, 484,494 etc. These sections of the Criminal code only provide descriptive elements of aspects of corruption. However a statutory definition of corruption is provided for in the Corrupt Practices and other related offences Act, 2000. The Economic and Financial Crimes Act, 2002, also handles some aspects of corruption specifically related to financial crimes. A study of both Acts shows a distinction in core mandates. For example; while the subject matter of Fraud, Gratification, bribery, fraudulent Acquisition, False Return are aspects of corruption covered by the Corrupt Practices and other related offences Act, 2000; the subject matter of, Advance Fee Fraud, Money Laundering, Counterfeiting, Illegal Charge Transfers, Futures Market, Computer Credit Card Fraud, Contract Scam etc. are aspects of corruption covered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Act, 2002.

Specifically speaking, corruption is defined in the Corrupt Practices and other related offences Act, 2000 as; “includes bribery, fraud and other related offences”. Three elements come to light from this definition; “bribery, Fraud and other related offences with the same connotation”. Although the common interpretation of the “other related offences” by everyday Nigerians seem to suggest anything “Bad” or “Immoral”, the Commission is however very quick to restrain its operation within the limits of the concept of corruption as concretely provided for in the Corrupt Practices and other related offences Act, 2000. Not doing so will see the Commission stretching itself too thing and encroaching into the mandates of other statutory organisations.

 

Common Impact Component:

This is the definition of Corruption as experienced commonly from its impact by the generality of Nigerians. That is to say, how the common everyday person in Nigeria sees and experiences corruption. The definition here is almost endless. For example

• Corruption is bad road
• Corruption is drug abuse
• Corruption is Cultism
• Corruption is Forgery
• Corruption is dirty environment
• Corruption is police harassment
• Corruption is fake product
• Corruption is duping
• Corruption is telling a lie
• Corruption is prostitution
• Corruption is stealing government money
• Corruption is illegal arrest
• Corruption is delaying a process
• Corruption is Hooliganism
• Land encroachment and trespassing
• Corruption is “who know man” syndrome
• Corruption is doing machinery for people (examination malpractice)
• Corruption is Yahoo, Yahoo
• any bad or immoral behaviour

Religious Component:

This is corruption as defined from the tenets of the two main religious groups in Nigeria, which basically translates to SIN AGAINST GOD! The question now is, whether this opinion is still strongly held by practitioners of these religious groups. What we must understand here is that the drive for a corruption free society is akin to a call unto exhibiting righteousness in our national life, just as captured in Isaiah 14: 34;

 “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people”

Ethno-Cultural Component;

Under this component, corruption is defined in terms of the cultural norms and values of the people. Depending on the severity, it may be tagged as; abomination, taboo or Sacrilege. So, corruption here is perceived as culturally prohibited behaviours.

Why are we Corrupt?

There are several theories and probable explanations why people become corrupt; we have for example;

• The Idealistic Theory
• Resource Curse,
• Theory of Two Public by Ekeh, 1975
• Low Risk-High Risk Theory etc.

Notwithstanding all these explanations, what we must have in mind is that corruption is first a learnt behaviour, just as any other human behaviour. The only thing that would have to be clarified is the reasons for learning to become corrupt, which may differ from one person to another, from one situation to another. However an attempt shall be made to provide some broad, probable explanations why people become corrupt, within the Nigerian context

Some common probable explanations for this phenomenon are;

• The Basic Survival Instinct
• Social Recognition
• Reparation
• Marginalization/Social Exclusion
• Conflict of Loyalty
• Acquired Arrogance/Superiority

Basic Survival Instinct

The assumption here is that people adopt corrupt behaviours as a coping or survival strategy whenever survival is threatened with hash, persistent deprivation. The implication is that moral inclinations or the consciousness of right and wrong becomes significantly distorted or extinguished in the face of acute deprivation and poverty. This simply means morality or the sense of it may become an irrelevant concern to a person suffering acute deprivation and poverty. For such a person, his thoughts and ideas at critical moments as that may not hold issues of how to become a good citizen, but it may rather be occupied with how to stay alive and well by any available means. This is exactly what David did in the Bible, when he took sanctified bread and gave to his men (*see; I Samuel 21:4-6). According to José Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International;

“In too many countries, people are deprived of their most basic needs and go to bed hungry every night because of corruption, while the powerful and corrupt enjoy lavish lifestyles with impunity” .

 Most petty criminal behaviours may have this motivation as root cause. However in lawfully organized societies as ours, a crime is a crime, not minding the rationale. What we should take from this is, you don’t tell a people who are seriously deprived and poor not to be corrupt, you rather first, help them to have a means of survival and once they are revived, they will have the strength and passion to pursue patriotic conducts. This implies having a baseline welfare programme in place, to help secure citizens from the physiological drive to survive at all cost. This welfare programme should be able to provide a basic/minimum living standard for the least capable citizens. This is what Countries ranked low on Corruption in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index are already doing. Law enforcement must have to go side by side a non-discriminatory minimum welfare programme. Let me close this section with the words of Prof.Patrick Lumumba

"Our Women Cannot Afford to buy Sanitary Pads For Their Health, While Our Leaders Have Ipad Which They Don't Know How To Use"

Social Recognition

This assumption focuses on the human need for recognition and regard. In most societies of the world, people who are wealthy tend to command respect and wield huge influence, often tending into areas of governance and law. They rise to such heights in society where they are regarded as immune to the law, untouchable or sacred entities. In fact we could say they derive some form of worship from the people. This drive to attain unto this level of power and influence is another possible explanation why people become corrupt. From this, a youth who may have observed this trend in his environment, sets his mind to be rich at all cost, not minding the moral or legal implication of his choices. This may be one of the drives for the get rich quick syndrome amongst youths. It is actually about becoming powerful and influential to a level where the law can be manipulated or perverted. At this level, one cannot adduce hunger as primary motive. If you were to look at the examples of persons alleged to have corruptly enriched themselves, you will find that they are neither deprived in any way nor poor. This tells you the drive as said earlier was not to quench basic survival instincts, but rather may have been influenced by a higher craving, which may be to attain power and influence beyond the reach of the law. Also we may say here that cultism and youth banditry have been fueled to a great extent by the influencing models from affluent and corruptly enriched persons in our society.

We must therefore in view of this begin to advocate a change in our values.

• We must look again at the need to revive our national ethics of dignity in labour (*see section 23, Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999).
• Rule of law must be pursued with all zest, openness and sincerity, so that a level playing field of equality can be available to all irrespective of wealth or affluence.
• Regard should be accorded each citizen for the singular reason that they are Nigerians and not because they are financially/ economically influential.
• Wealth should be deemphasized as criteria for the award of honours, but rather honesty and patriotic devotion to Nigeria should be readily spotted and recognized, wherever they occur.
• Good conscience, fairness, Transparency and Accountability should infuse into our everyday conduct and disposition. Here, values education would have to be reinforced to actualize this.
• Justice must be without a financial price tag; and if any price to justice, it should be Truth, Fairness and Transparency.

Reparation (payback time)

In the early days of internet fraud in Nigeria, this was a primary motive/excuse provided by perpetrators of the crime, who were attempting to show cause. For this reason one may say “Yahoo-Yahoo” (internet fraud) is still not perceived by most of us as a criminal behaviour deserving punishment by the state, as armed robbery, murder and terrorism. The idea of reparation started floating sometime in the later parts of the 19th century, that the Western Colonial Powers should pay back what they forcefully took from Africa and the Caribbean’s. It is an ongoing argument. What immediately comes to mind is the question of how the losses in terms of human lives, dignity, self-esteem and natural resources can be quantified and monetized? In some places the dark scares of inhumanity to man during the slave era would have to be left as they are, in other not to fuel hate and retributive sentiments. However they will remain as a painful relic from a black history.

Are these issues compelling enough to warrant our youths to begin to exploit the internet to defraud Whites and taking that crime as a payback? Now the business has shifted from Whites as the primary targets, to any person who falls Mugu.

What our youths need to know is that we live in a society governed by rules and there are established laws prohibiting conducts prejudicial to the interest of Nigeria. For example; The Money Laundering Act, 1995, the advance Fee Fraud and other related offences Act, 1995, Miscellaneous offences Act etc. These provisions of law come with stiff penalties on conviction. On the other hand, a better way to do a payback is to pursue developmental goals. This implies for the youths to begin a vigorous pursuit of functional education through the medium of the internet. Youths should utilize the internet to acquire relevant learning experiences that can help in meeting identified social economic problems in our society today. If the energy, enthusiasm and time invested in “Yahoo-Yahoo” can be positively directed at acquiring functionally relevant competencies, we would significantly drive out deprivation and poverty to an insignificant level in our society. Also I strongly believe that Nigeria becoming a highly skilled, developed nation is a better way to payback, than denting the economic reputation of the nation through internet fraud. This approach can significantly contribute to expanding our economy, while also frustrating the lure for corrupt acquisition of wealth.

Marginalization

At a point in our history, the term Marginalization became synonymous with the Niger delta areas of Nigeria. Somehow it is just history recycling itself; I mean the Niger delta areas for the last 300 years have been a troubled region and the psychological conditioning from that commonly shared past has helped in reinforcing the present outcry. But the issue of social exclusion as rational for the proliferation of corruption is not merely a Niger delta peculiarity. Recently the North’s east have begun to experience some deviant tendencies from disgruntled persons there; an act traceable to the underdevelopment in the region. In this context, we see corruption emerging possibly as a reaction against the government due to perceived exclusion from the common wealth. Here you find ethnicity and political affiliations playing a huge influence in the citizen’s attitude and conduct towards governance. The people who feel socially excluded team up and form a common sentiment against those seen as master minds of their exclusion. At this stage of the conflict, national consciousness is skewed and replaced with parochial sentiment, patriotism with self-gratifying interests. So if a kinsman/party man gets into power, it is immediately taken as their opportunity for enrichment from the common wealth. Whatever is done during this period is seen as a necessary reaction given the years of perceived marginalization. Corruption here is only called by its real name in the hands of those who are opposed to the ruling sentiment. In this situation, if one embezzles public funds, it is perceived as a necessary strategy to help ones kinfolk or party men to measure up in terms of benefits derivable from the common wealth. This may come in form of;

• Job appointment outside of the due process.
• Contract bid influencing.
• Lack of Integrity compliant measures in the collection and utilization of revenue.
• Diversion of funds for political settlement, money laundering etc.
• Lack of will and interest to institute the practice of monitoring and supervision in governance etc.

This may be a reason corrupt enrichment at the community levels are still not frowned at. In fact, in most Nigerian cultures, speaking in terms of the prevailing attitude, there are no taboo classifications for corrupt enrichment. A corruptly enriched individual is seen as a veteran of war, who has conquered and returned with the spoils of war. In did governance appear to be as a warlike situation, everyone tearing away from the center to defend their local forts!

A way out is for collective inclusion, rule of law, Transparency and Accountability to become revered norms in our shared space of governance and in our consciousness as citizens. This will have to be driven by functional education; that is, providing learning experiences and building occupational competencies directly linked to current challenges in our environment.

Our people must now begin to move away from sectionalism and embrace collectivism. That is to say, Nigerians should be on alert against the pervasive use of this sentiment of “marginalization” as rationale for corrupting laid down processes of law and impoverishing the nation. You can imagine the huge sums of public funds alleged to have been diverted for personal benefits by some individuals in recent times.

There is also the need for increased participation by the people in governance, especially in the areas of;

• Budget Planning/Needs assessment; making inputs as regards required projects in the communities
• Project monitoring and Tracking to assess level of compliance with the appropriation Act across the three tier of government
• Impact assessment (feedback); providing feedback on the impact of executed projects/or ongoing projects in the communities
• Greater awareness of Citizenship (Rights and responsibilities as seen from sections 24 of the federal republic of Nigeria, 1999)
• Imbibing responsible electoral conduct etc.

With these in place, we would have moved as a nation to a more practical stage of instituting the culture of Transparency and Accountability in our leadership space.

Conflict of Loyalty

The assumption here is that;

“Corruption exists in Nigeria because people are loyal to themselves and not Nigeria. Nigeria as a united and indivisible entity is perceived in some quarters as an artificial contraption, and the needed emotional devotion required for nation building is at an almost insignificant level”.

 This simply means we have corruption thriving because there are more people who are loyal to their own self driven interests than those of the collective. The pursuit of collective good is a value that seems for some to connote weakness, feminism, and sometimes stupidity. For many Nigerians, when that fine moment comes and the interests of Nigeria as contained in our rules, pitches against those of the self, they would rather with minimal hesitation follow their own interests. In fact we already have common axioms that aptly support this position. You may hear comments like; “You be Jesus”, “No Carry Government for head O”! Whereas in other civilizations, citizens are actually carrying the burden of their nation for the common good of all, here we find the prevailing thought oriented more towards gratifying the self by all means conceivable and at all cost, not minding the negative impact on the collective. The popular axiom, “Na where person de work, person de shop” is another thought pattern that also suggests the prevalence of the culture of self-gratification before national interests. Little wonder the Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Act, 2000, dedicated several sections to deal with this problem (*see; sections; 8,9,10, 11, 12, 13,16, 17, 18, 19 of the Act).

Developed nations are developed, because greater number of the citizens holds a piece of the nation securely in their thoughts as a treasured possession. So, until we redirect our commitment and loyalty to promoting and advocating collective good, corruption which is self-gain over common good will continue to thrive as a culture.

Here again education will have to play a major role in reshaping the minds of citizens to begin to cultivate values of collectivism, selflessness, integrity in thoughts and conduct.

Acquired Arrogance/Superiority

There is the belief that when the White men left after 1st October, 1960, the psychological conditioning of powerful versus subjugated did not totally leave the minds of the black men left behind, especially for those in the main-stream public service. This position has been well articulated by Professor William Gumede (2012) in his article; Africans inherited corruption. Our fathers may have admired from a distance the way the White Colonialists wielded so much power and control, to the extent all they may have had in mind, on the average was to gain approval by speaking, dressing and acting like a Mr Clerk, Robert or Philips! It is believed that we may have lost our African Identity in this conflict to escape powerlessness and gain Colonial approval. We have instead developed to desire the wielding of influence as opposed to being law abiding leaders/Citizens. It is also believed that influence peddling, self-aggrandizing inclinations are two major drivers of corruption because of this acquired arrogance. The implication here now is that in the Civil Service/Public Administration, corruption may have been entrenched because some of the human drivers there who are supposed to power growth and development don’t really have the development of Nigeria as a top agenda. You only need to walk into a government agency and within a few seconds you will readily observe the direction of the prevailing work culture. What appears to be a popular culture is influence wielding and peddling. This means in some instance when a person gets into office, it really is not about service in terms of assigned schedules, but about how much one can achieve for himself with the powers and privileges of his office. Now this culture of gratification has filtered sufficiently into the average expectation of the general masses. So what is commonly used in rating performance and effectiveness is about matters tied to interests other than those related to the assigned schedule”. For example;

• How many people you gave their children admission?
• Influenced NYSC deployment and PPA?
• How many persons you gave jobs?
• How many cars and houses you have?
• How many persons you assisted to get out of police case, traffic violations?
• How many people you influenced their bid for contracts?
• How much of government property/assets you were able to convert for personal use etc.

However, the contrast to this is that, the so called arrogant White man we were dreaming of assuming his powers, went back to his country simply as a law abiding “Mr” or “Sir”! This tells you his arrogance while being here was simply personal racial prejudice and not a matter of rule of law! When it came to matters of rule of law they knew the marked difference and in their home country what they exhibit is not pride or arrogance but rather civic obedience to rules. In fact it is a thing of great pride to be addressed as a “gentle man” (which socially implies a well behaved, law abiding citizen). But in our situation, the drive remains to escape from powerlessness to a place of influence where one becomes superior to rules, as may have been epitomized in the conduct/attitude of some of the Colonial Masters while being here.

This escapist drive to a place of power where rules don’t matter is what has seriously hindered the natural evolution of the intelligence for collective governance. If you look carefully too, you will find that the present dividing lines of ethnic acrimony also has its roots in this drive to escape powerlessness and acquire power/influence over the other groups.

We must therefore call our consciousness to the debilitating effect of this drive and begin a sustained advocacy to imprint in the minds of Nigerians that appointments to public positions are solely about service and not for personal aggrandizement, influence wielding, abuse of authority and arrogance. Also enforcement of the public service rules and other related stipulations would have to be done selflessly, in fairness and devoid of any petty sentiments of “humane considerations”.

Systems through which Corruption is currently thriving

Corruption, a breach of statutory rules for self-gain is currently thriving through the following mediums;

• Education System
• Recruitment
• Standardization (service/products)
• Leadership Selection

Education System:

If you take a look at recommendations proffered so far, you will realize that, much of them rely heavily on the performance of the education system. For example we may all agree that corruption is the effect of distortions or derailment from our national values. Section 23 as have earlier mentioned specifies our national ethics to be; “Discipline, Integrity, Dignity of Labour, Social Justice, Religious Tolerance, Self-reliance and Patriotism”. In the operative sense, these values should crystalize and infuse into the average citizen as his/her common everyday disposition and attitude towards Nigeria. The question now is how do we as people achieve this task of infusing our national ethics into the conduct and dispositions of Nigerians? The workable answer to that is, “Functional Education”! Perhaps our colonial past restricted our concept of education to the ability to read, write, speak English and by that we got carried away and failed to fully maximize the transforming powers of values in the development of a civilization. If we truly wish as a people to successfully annihilate corruption, it would have to begin from the reformation of our education system.

Now, let’s look at the starting point to this. Our philosophy of education would have to be reviewed to practically incorporate these values such that, Learnt Outcome (Acquired Occupational Competence) and the Vehicle of Character are practically given equal value in the certification process. That is to say, just as scores are awarded to measure academic achievement, so should the Character/attitude of learners be measured by some empirical methods; it should no longer be left as arbitrary assumptions. This means since a given CGPA in an instance can tell us about a learner’s degree of proficiency in a field of study, so should an empirical item on that certificate be able to tell us the extent to which a scholar has acquired civic and patriotic dispositions. We would also have to look again at some key drivers and with sincerity of purpose. For example;

1. what are we educating for?
2. What is our objective in providing Primary education, what role should primary education play in our society?
3. What are the learning experiences/content that should be provided at the primary level of education?
4. What are the minimum skills/competencies a primary school leaver should have at the end of his primary education?
5. What minimum skills/competencies should a teacher who provides content for primary education possess?
6. How do we measure competence at the primary level, in line with our National objective for primary education?

These six questions can also be applied in the other levels of secondary and tertiary education. If we are committed to making change happen and truly becoming a giant in Africa, we can begin this process and conclude in a very short while.

At the moment, if you look closely at our educational system, there appears to be a heavy reliance on paper certificate as against actual competence. This is one reason many well-meaning Nigerians and Scholars have pointed out that the quality of graduates from our Educational Institutions are performing below Industrial standards in terms of Occupational Competence and this is what is currently creating the problem of low employability of our graduates (*see; Asuquo A.E and Agboola B.M, 2014). This may be attributed to the observed trend that most students see schooling as boring and are in a hurry to get out of the school system with a paper that provides access for employment (*school is boring but pay is cool). The implication of this is, given the current status of affairs, anyone who by any means has that paper in his hand, is qualified for a job. This situation of placing more emphases on an assumed academic achievement and less on character is responsible for the cases of gross indiscipline, examination malpractices, cultism, lack scholastic commitment and passion and paying for grades by students.

At this level of our development and given the current economic challenges, we do not have the luxury of having an education system which provides educational programmes just for amusement or self-aggrandizement! Another important issue that should be cited here is that of providing mentoring experience for our youths through the various schooling stages. Imagine for a while the positive social impact it will make if at least 30% of lecturers in all the educational institutions in the 36 states of Nigeria were committed to a coordinated mentoring programme? I personally don’t think cases of sexual harassment, sorting, cultism and other deviant behaviours will be significant talking points in our educational institutions! I think lecturers should begin to see themselves as coaches and leadership models to their students.

Recruitment

One major challenge to the effective and efficient running of systems in Nigeria is our recruitment process. Whether it is as a result of the present fad of outsourcing I cannot tell, but there seem to be an over emphases on cognitive assessment in our recruitment process. Even here, you will find that test items are structured more to assess ones “ability to recall facts” (knowledge). Other very important components of the cognitive domain are left out. This means that someone who can memorize some relevant facts may very well score high in such tests. Whether or not such a person on getting the job would be creative, be able to apply the knowledge that would be available to him, synthesize facts from related subjects and make reasonable evaluations from them is another issue. What we should rather be doing, is to structure our selection process for it to be able to identify best fit for specific job roles. A man, who is best fit for a given job, is a man who has the required skill set, attitude and he is intrinsically driven by the passion to see the system work! 

So apart from identifying basic professional requirements, there must be in place;

• A valid test instrument or programme (simulation) that should be able to measure the emotional/personality configuration of applicants;
• The test should be able to identify the given frame of reference of the would be employee
• His/her stable affective disposition (temperament)
• Their learnt attitude within certain scenarios related to the role to be performed
• Thought patterns, beliefs held, perception/attitude towards the organisation etc.

 All these are very important because when it all gets down to that fine moment of personal service, it is attitude that fuels behaviour, which propels the human who drives the system. In a practical working sense, we can have a competent professional but yet with a bland attitude to the advancement of the system. Although he is skilled, his negative affective disposition towards the system sets him in opposition to imbibing and believing in the corporate ideals of the organisation. As such giving himself, his skill as solutions to the challenges of the organisation will become a very uninteresting sloppy ride. He may end up being a clog in the wheel of progress than an asset to that organisation.

What we have been having as a fall out from some recruitment exercise (public service) is a situation where more people pass the test of knowledge but end up failing in the test of attitude required to power the system to maximizing its true potentials. Government policies die unnatural deaths on white papers, simply because we have more people who are emotionally averse to those policies/programmes than those who genuinely believe in them. Hence the service integrity expected from some of these institutions, is merely a theoretical supposition on a policy paper .This may also be a reason why another system of ethnicity, religiosity, and godfatherism is presently running parallel to the established ethical sanctity of our government systems (institutions) and rendering them impotent. The danger in all these are that now, a work culture is emerging out of this counterfeit system, which is now gaining global recognition as “The Nigerian factor”.

My suggestion is for us to institute a recruitment policy that will have a 70% emphasis on the emotional component (attitude, beliefs, perception, personality etc.) including the other higher levels of the cognitive domain (analysis, application, synthesis, evaluation etc.) of the applicants and a 30% emphasis on his professional qualification. This is because an employee with a “not too high sounding” professional qualification (just first degree) but having a positive affective disposition towards the ideals of the organisation can actually be trained on the job to become professionally competent. He also will be a more loyal steward to the system than a cocky, “know it all” professional with a really putrid attitude.

Another issue that needs to be looked at is the recent practice of extorting applicants by recruitment consultants, under the guise of processing/application fee. “A jobless man seeking employment, where do we expect him to get the money from? I think the tragedy of the 2014 immigration recruitment should be a lesson for us all.

Standardization (service, manufacturing and allied matters)

Why do Nigerians violate standard ethical requirements in service delivery, production of consumer goods, manufacturing and allied matters? For me, my concern is not the availability of exploitable opportunities in this regard, but rather the wide spread adoption of negative values that propel Nigerians to seek the exploitation of these corruption prone opportunities. For example the prevalence of the popular axiom; “E-NO MATTER”, is a singular setback for government efforts at instituting standards in service delivery, production of goods, manufacturing and allied matters. This belief is what is presently strangulating patriotic conduct in this sector. The pursuit of standards is construed as a waste of time and money, that Nigerians are resilient as such they can cope with whatever you give them. The issues here may range from sales of expired products, packaging in unhygienic conditions, use of prohibited substance, providing services without according the needed regard to the clients etc. This culture has adversely influenced even top educated business executives; because they see it as a cheap way to maximize cost. You will also for this reason find that, products with international coverage tends to differ in quality from the Nigerian version. These Nigerians because of this culture of “e-nomatter” have devised clever means to systematically adulterate some consumer brands. Very little attention is given to stipulated standardization, customer satisfaction, the environmental impact, and the whole chain of service delivery. The recent fine imposed on Guinness Nigeria and MTN Nigeria , are clear examples how large corporations sit back and selfishly exploit this negative value of “e-no matter” for their own benefit.

The prevailing motivation amongst the average Nigerian is to extract as much benefit as possible, from the people and environment from giving little or nothing in return for such benefits. This is the reason payment of tax is still a major challenge in Nigeria (especially in the informal /none formal sector). There seem to be a mad rush for self-preservation to the detriment of collective good and national growth; because we have learnt to successfully persuade ourselves that; E NO MATTER: “good roads, drinking water, markets, drains, proper policing, are all luxuries we have come to accept we can survive without”.

You know, it’s just the common attitude, we rather say thank you and walk away than ask for better service. So, this culturally conditioned response to accept things as they are is a key factor in the proliferation of corruption in Nigeria. For this reason and as part of the federal government anti-corruption effort, SERVICOM was created. To help us develop a new culture of requesting to be served better.

Now, there is a Nigerian standard in everything we do, yet they fall flat when compared with best practices globally. Although we live in a democratic state, the freedom to pursue democratic ideals is still far away. What seems to be functional is the aged long African monarchical system, where Kings and their lords can issue orders not minding the implications. In this regard, one of our business leaders can just sit in his office and say “E NO MATTER, do am like that”, and in many issues affecting our social and economic sphere, it really will not matter; because we are culturally incapacitated by this thought pattern, and we continue to perceive engaging everyday civil life on the platform of Integrity and Accountability as a show of irreverence and an unnecessary exercise (“who send you”). It is just the way leadership has been programmed in our psyche; some are lords while others are peasants and it is a taboo for a peasant to confront a lord!

The implication here now, is that we must begin to make effort to move away from this negative value and on a personal level work to ensure that government efforts at instituting standards are complied with. This means fully supporting the efforts of NAFDAC, SON, CPC, NCC, NEITI, NESRA, FRSC and other agencies charged with enforcing standards in Nigeria. We must have to fully identify with the Nigerian standards and own it on a personal level. As soon as these things begin to matter to us, it will not take long before they also begin to matter to the players in the sector. The overall effect will be, having an economy built on standardized ethical practices.

Leadership Selection

This is another volatile medium through which corruption presently thrives. There is hardly any sphere of human life that is without leadership. Right from the family to the work place and public governance, the subject of leadership is a top priority. Men build nations! It is the belief of these men and their love for their nation that determines the level of commitment exhibited in the course of nation building.

To be able to build a sustainable government, you will need people. You will need willing and committed people, who are resolutely committed to the development of that place. Are Nigerians committed to the development of Nigeria? If yes, are Nigerians corrupt or what percentages of our 160million population have acquired corrupt beliefs and attitudes?

Some people have blamed weak institutions for the proliferation of corruption in Nigeria. Are they right or wrong? If they are right, who is the system, do you mean; electronic gadgets, buildings, policies, laws, process…? If we have all these in place, good laws policies, processes, electronic gadgets, systems and there are no trained personnel to drive them, will it amount to any significant improvement in our governance; or if the trained personnel possess attitudes that tend more towards self-gratification than being patriotic, will it also amount to any significant change in our governance?

Institutions are legal entities established for ensuring the well-being and good governance of a people. However (looking at the functional aspect of things) institutions are run and organized by humans in accordance with the established statutes setting up those institutions, process or service! Every institution has its character disposition that must be learnt and acquired by the human drivers who seek to physically actualize the objectives of that institution. This tells you that an institution may have been established to portray impeccable standards of integrity and accountability in its existence, but if the human drivers have not been able to learn and acquire that character trait to the extent expected/envisaged by the spirit of the statutes of that institution, what you will find is an open contradiction of the core values of that institution. When you observe Police men stationed at roadblocks collecting bribes as a matter of legitimate duty, it is not because “the Police institution” is corrupt. It is rather because some of the persons who openly pledged to exhibit the character traits required by the Police institution have failed in living up to that ethical requirement.

Strong institutions are not designated as such because they possess magnificent concrete structures! They are strong because the humans who openly swore to deliver on the character trait of that institution have actually resolved to practically be at one in attitude, conduct, and disposition with the ethical requirements of that institution. The “institution” no matter how strong in terms of rules/principles is still going to be as strong or weak as the manifest character disposition acquired by the human drivers of the institution, process, or programme etc.

When a Judge is gratified by corrupt politicians and for that reason delivers unfair judgment; it is not the Judicial institutions/system that is weak or sterile, it is the persons there who have compromised on the established integrity of that institution! The people, who turn their eyes away from an observed corrupt act, were not mandated by the system or institution they represent to do so! They do so, because that is what they have learnt, contrary to the character disposition required of human drivers in that institution. The problem here is that those who have learnt to look the other way are very proactive in conscripting others to imbibing their life style. What happens is that, in time they create a parallel unwritten code of “legalized illegality” in contradiction to established ethical norms.

Our challenge in leadership today is that, we have placed more emphases on “Power” and less on the evolution of intelligence for collective administration. It is not to say that these things are hard to reach or difficult, what seems to make things difficult here is the focus of our Will in governance! If the focus is to genuinely improve the living standards of Nigerians across board, in a non-discriminatory system, then insight and intelligence on how these can be actualized will naturally open up. Now because the pursuit of collective good is not really the mission of some leaders, when they get into office, the drive for self-gain, gratification and the need to be powerful and influential soon takes over their activities, the end result is usually ;

• Wastage
• Improperly cited projects without relevance to the people
• Poor work culture from improperly motivated workforce
• Ineffective programmes and Institutions of government
• Governance by excuse and propaganda
• Sectionalism
• Internal conflicts.

What we must do now as citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is to direct our efforts at identifying and promoting only persons with proven character traits fit for governance.

We must completely extinguish the culture of leadership selection by cash. This is what has kept us in this present rot of corruption.

We also must realize that the job of selecting leaders does not end with casting the ballot paper; the culture of continuous engagement of governance must be cultivated and sustained. This will ensure that leaders are reminded of the primary purpose of their selection and also impress in their consciousness the need for collective inclusion in the course of governance.

Transparency and Accountability will have to be retained as sacrosanct norms in our leadership space.

Behavioural Dynamics of Corruption (how the behaviour is formed?)

There are four dynamic interconnected stages in the cultivation of corrupt behaviours.

·       Perverted Thoughts=Altered Perception=Modified Belief=Choice/Action Taken to be corrupt!

Perverted Thoughts: this is actually the entry point for the cultivation of corrupt practices. Once the idea that projects a rationale for engaging in a corrupt act has been fully accepted, it naturally leads to an alteration of how things are seen.

Altered Perception: the alteration of a person’s perception, that is to say how he/she sees a thing is the next stage in the dynamics. At this stage the individual no longer sees his action as a corrupt act but rather as a necessary action to stay alive, become socially relevant, deal with issues of perceived marginalization etc.

Modified Beliefs: Once a person begins to see things differently from the established norm, his belief surrounding that thing naturally gets modified to conform to his new way of seeing things. At this stage, the individual is only focused on his subjective rationale and not on the legislation on that corrupt act.

CHOICE/ACTION TAKEN: this is the final stage, where all covert corrupt dispositions are exhibited in the actual perpetration of the corrupt act. it may come in form of; soliciting or accepting a bribe, inflating a contract, diverting public funds, negligence of assigned duties etc.

Figure 1 Behavioural Dynamics of the cultivation of Corruption

Character Drivers for an effective Anti-Corruption Advocacy;

There are five basic intrinsic character traits required for an effective anti-corruption advocacy. They are;

BELIEFS:

• What is your core belief/philosophy?
• What is your belief about the Anti-Corruption programme of government in your country and globally?
• Is there a conflict between what you believe and what you should believe?
• Do you believe in Integrity or you believe in “the end justifies the means? “Do you really believe in the ideals of Transparency, Integrity and Accountability?

PERCEPTION:

• How do you see your role as a citizen?
• Are you aware of your obligations to your country?
• How do you see what you are supposed to be doing as a citizen, is there an intrinsic affinity with your current values?
• How do you see the Corporate Vision of the anti-corruption programme in your country; do you think it is achievable and do you believe in it?
• How do you see Corporate Excellence and Service Delivery; is it just an expression or do you truly believe it is a value worth attaining?

ATTITUDE:

• How do you do what you do as a citizen; are you being pushed or are you pushing your community towards attaining a status of being corruption free?
• Does your current learnt attitude reflect Integrity?
• Does it provide assurances for a SUSTAINED qualitative Service delivery?
• Do you think you can help in furthering the anti-corruption effort of your government?

KNOWLEDGE:

• What do you know about the anti-corruption effort of government in your country, your rights and obligations etc.?
• How knowledgeable are you about general issues and the state of affairs in your country?
• How useful/reliable/relevant to the corporate objectives of having a corruption free society?

 MOTIVATION:

• What drives you?
• Is it centered on the vision of the passion to make wealth at all cost, or that of working towards having a corruption free society?
• Is it centered on other parallel concerns antithetical to a corruption fee society?
• Are you intrinsically propelled to pursue the course of advocating for corruption free society?

Recommendations

In view of the specific context of our discussion, the following recommendations shall suffice;

• Youths should evolve personal educational goals; which should have a central focus of, “acquiring relevant occupational competencies and becoming by that, proficient in an area of need within our societies. This should include leveraging on the resources of the internet.
• Youths should utilize their mental resources and the available learning environment to begin to look into ethical means for commercializing the competencies they are acquiring presently.
• Youths in Nigeria should form themselves into Think Tank, hubs or clubs from where they can evolve and share ideas on how current problems of the society can be solved. In this regard, youths in Nigeria can take full advantage of the Leadership development programmes of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC). For example; National Anti-corruption Volunteer Corp (NAVC): The programme was recently redesigned with new operational modalities, to curb abuse. The new NAVC aims at developing a corps of volunteers for community service against corruption mobilize and educate the citizens on corruption and its ills; and also act as a vanguard for good governance in our society; Student Anti-corruption Vanguards (SAV). These vanguards inaugurated in our higher institutions of learning serve as avenues for students to join in the fight against corruption and to report corrupt practices to the ICPC; Anti-corruption clubs in secondary schools. These Clubs serve as forums where youths converge to deliberate on the anti-corruption war, at least within their immediate environment. It is a platform to cultivate the right values (patriotism, selflessness, integrity and accountability) and develop future leadership talent in Nigeria and Africa. This is very important when we begin to consider the enormous threat facing the Nigerian youth today, especially as it concerns subversion and the temptation to align with unpatriotic and disgruntled elements in the society; i.e.; Armed robbers, kidnappers, pipe line vandals, yahoo fraudsters, boko haram etc; The ICPC CDS group in collaboration with the NYSC.

Conclusion

The destiny of Nigeria is in the choices we are making today. Time is a train of opportunity, empty wagons in the space of existence; it is what we do with these spaces of time that will tell the ultimate destination of our great nation. We therefore are stakeholders in this worthy mission to rid Nigeria of all forms of corruption and corrupt practices. This means, from here on, we can begin to work towards changing the negative culture of self over the collective. That decision begins with what we will do after now.

God bless Nigeria!

References;

https://tradingeconomics.com/nigeria/corruption-rank

https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2016

Corrupt Practices and other related offences Act, 2000.

Economic and Financial Crimes Act, 2002

Nigerian Constitution, 1999 (as amended)

Ekeh, P. P. (1975). Colonialism and the two publics: A theoretical statement. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 17,91-112.

Ekeh, P. P. (1972). Citizenship and political conflict: A sociological interpretation of the Nigerian crisis. In J. Okpaku (Ed.),Nigeria: Dilemma of nationhood. An African analysis of the Biafran conflict (pp. 20-31). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Nkom, S. A. (1982, May 10-13). Ethical revolution? The futility of bourgeoisie idealism. Paper presented at the Nigerian Anthropological and Sociological Association Seminar, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria

Ijewereme O.B (2015) Anatomy of Corruption in the Nigerian Public Sector: Theoretical Perspectives and Some Empirical Explanations

Asuquo A.E and Agboola B.M (2014); Nigerian Universities Outputs and Their Employability in the Labour Markets in South- South, Nigeria: Department of Curriculum Studies, Education Management and Planning, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State https://pubs.sciepub.com/education/2/12/18/index.html

William Gumede (2012); Africans inherited corruption, Sunday Independent / 19 March 2012; https://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/africans-inherited-corruption-1259448

Keynote Speech by Professor Patrick L.O. Lumumba at the Third Anti-Corruption Convention that held in Uganda on December 2nd, 2013. https://racerthoughts.wordpress.com/2015/08/31/corruption-in-africa