THE GMB ANTI-CORRUPTION AGENDA

KILLING CORRUPTION BEFORE IT KILLS NIGERIA

WHAT MINISTRIES, DEPRATMENTS AND AGENCIES CAN DO TO STRATEGICALLY ALIGN TO
THE ANTI-CORRUPTION IMPERATIVES
BY DR TAYO ADULOJU, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORKFORCE GROUP

When His Excellency, General Muhamadu Buhari (GMB), the New President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, announced to the World that he was on a mission to take on
Corruption, his proclamation was greeted globally with applause and support. He insisted
We must kill Corruption before it kills our Country. At home his words resonating with the commonfolk on the streets.
SAVING THE BLACK RACES VAULT AND SYMBOLIC NATION
Leke Alder, in his insightful book Of Madmen, Senators & Ambassadors, noted that Nigeria is what you call a
Vault and Symbolic Nation . What happens in Nigeria will shake and shape the destiny of the Black Race. It
does not matter if we call it our destiny or our curse, what matters is that we understand the implications.
Nigeria is a Symbolic Nation because we are the Largest Black Nation on Earth (1 out of every 4 Black
Humans are Nigerians), 8th Most Populous nation on earth and we are the custodians of the home of the
strongest African Civilization in African Antiquity. Nigeria is a Vault Nation because we are one of the
Treasure Chests of the Planet. Our geographical area alone boasts of 34 of the most wanted mineral resources on
the planet, has the climatic conditions of the Top Ten Agriculture Export Nations, 11th Largest Oil Producing
Nation in the World; and 8th Largest Oil Exporter in the World. So, what is stopping Nigeria from becoming Top
Twenty Leading Global Economies by any ranking the World can muster? The answer to this question usually has
two culprits: Leadership Deficit and Corruption.
Leadership Deficit at all levels of society has given room to endemic corruption. Corruption in Nigeria undermines
democratic institutions, retards economic development and contributes to government instability. Corruption
attacks the foundation of democratic institutions by distorting electoral processes, perverting the rule of law, and
creating bureaucratic quagmires whose only reason for existence is the soliciting of bribes. Therefore, GMB is
correct in identifying a key strategic issue he must deal with. Hence a wildly important goal of the GMB
Administration is to rid Nigeria of corruption through lawful enforcement and preventive measures.

HISTORIC CONTEXT OF THE ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN

It is essential to note that Corruption is a Global Challenge but it did not gain global momentum until 2005.
Although the effects of corruption on democratic institutions, economic and social development have long been
apparent, the fight against it was not placed high on the international policy agenda. Progress towards setting an
International agenda was slow. There was the 1974 Hong Kong Independent Commission against Corruption,
followed by the 1997 Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business
Transaction. It was the 2002 Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption that created the critical
mass for the 2005 United Nations Convention Against Corruption. The convention presented for the first time in
the History of the Human Race the most universal approach of the world in tackling corruption. The Convention
covered a broad range of issues like:
Prevention of Corruption;
Criminalization of Corruption;
International Cooperation;
Recovery of Assets Generated by Corruption;
Frameworks for Specialized Agencies (like NEITI, ICPC, FIU and EFCC) for preventing and combating
corruption through law enforcement;
Standards for effective operation;
Structures for Independence;
Restrictions of Political Interference; and
Structures for sourcing adequate resources and powers to meet anti-corruption mandates.

NIGERIAS OWN ANTI-CORRUPTION INSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION

Code of Conduct
In 1988 the Political Bureau, in its report which government accepted, observed that corruption and indiscipline
were the bane of our development. It thus recommended the strengthening of existing machineries for monitoring
the actions and behavior of public officers to ensure they conform to the highest standards of public morality and
accountability. Following this recommendation, the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal were
established as sister agencies to enforce the Code of Conduct for Public Officers as provided in the 1979
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. These provisions have been retained in the Fifth Schedule of the
1999 Constitution. The Code of Conduct Bureau is enshrined in the Third Schedule Part 1, Section A while the
Code of Conduct for Public Officers can be found in the Fifth Schedule, Part 1 of Nigerian Constitution. The original
Decree of 1989 has since metamorphosed into the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap C15, Laws of
the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
ICPC
This historic 2005 United Nations Convention Against Corruption, was greeted by a historic endorsement of
Nigerias President at that time, who had even before the presentation of the Convention, set up the
Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), (in full the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ) which was inaugurated on the 29th of September
2000 following the recommendation of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

EFCC
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was established in 2003, partially in response to
pressure from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), which named Nigeria as one of 23
countries that are non-cooperative in the international community's efforts to fight money laundering. Hence, EFCC
was established as the Nigerian Law Enforcement Agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee
fraud (419 fraud) and money laundering.
NEITI
NEITI was inaugurated in February 2004 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo when he set up the National
Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG) under the leadership of Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili. The NSWG oversees the
activities of NEITI and is made up of representatives of government, extractive companies and the Civil Society.
Among others, NEITI commissioned the first comprehensive audit of Nigerias petroleum industry for the period
1999 to 2004 and is working with various stakeholders to build national consensus on the need for extractive
revenue transparency in Nigeria. In order to give legal backing to the work of NEITI, a bill was introduced to the
National Assembly in December 2004. The NEITI Bill was eventually passed and harmonized by the two chambers
of the National Assembly and subsequently signed into law by former President Obasanjo on May 28, 2007. With
this, Nigeria became the first EITI-implementing country with a statutory backing for its operations.
TUGAR
The Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR) is a research, monitoring and evaluation
unit setup to respond to the critical need for a rigorous approach to policy-making grounded on empirical data
collection and analysis; and in-depth country specific diagnostics on corruption and related governance issues.

INTER-AGENCY TASK TEAM (IATT)

THE IATT is a coordinating platform of various agencies with anti-corruption and accountability mandates. IATT
was consolidated in 2009 and TUGAR was officially designated its Secretariat.

KILLING CORRUPTION: PREREQUISTES FOR THE GMB AGENDA

In order to Kill Corruption in GMBs words, the Institutional Framework for combating corruptions, must be in
place.

Investigation and
Prosecution
Education and
Awareness Raising

Independence

Prevention of
Corruption in Power
Structures

Policy Development,
Research, Monitoring
and Coordination

Specialization

KILLING
CORRUPTION

Resources and Powers

Strangely, a careful look at the National Institutional Framework for Anti-Corruption, shows that previous
governments, in particular, the Obasanjo Administration had laid the foundation for the task of Killing
Corruption. This then begs the question what must be done to optimize the existing Institutional and Legal
Framework?
Firstly, it takes resources to fight corrupt and those that are mandated to do so need to know that they do it with
the full backing of the Office of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Secondly, it takes specialization to fight corruption. There is a fundamental specialization differential between the
work EFCC is mandated to do and that which the ICPC does. It is obvious that there are overlaps such as audits.
EFCC audits after the crime is committed, ICPC can audit corruption prone systems where there isnt yet an
incident of corruption. NEITI audits to create transparency and accountability in the extractive industries. These
specializations must be enhanced to achieve depth of practice required to deal with corruption. Sometimes an
audit trail in an EFCC Case ends abruptly and the limitations of the EFCC mandate do not allow it to subject the
entire organization to a comprehensive systems audit. ICPC mandate however does. Another knotty example is
whether a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) should be allowed to be autonomous to increase specialization.
Thirdly, it takes independence from Political Interference to fight corruption. This is why in many countries the
Minister of Justice is a distinct and separate role from the Attorney-General of the Federation. Coordination
Platforms like the IATT can be used for coordination, but independence of anti-corruption efforts seem to
accelerate reforms and intervention.
Fourthly, Effective Investigation and Prosecution supported by Efficient Criminal Justice System.
Fifth, Education and Awareness of All National Stakeholders
Sixth, Prevention of Corruption in Power Structure requires enforcing the legal framework for Corporate
Governance and Enterprise Risk Management in both Public and Private Sector Organizations.
Seventh, Strengthen IATT and TUGAR to provide Policy Development, Research, Monitoring and Coordination.

KILLING CORRUPTION: PREREQUISTES FOR THE SELF-ACCOUNTING PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

Having noted the foregoing, what should Heads of Self-Accounting Public Institutions do?
1. Conduct a statutory compliance audit to ensure that operating requirements for self-accounting public
institutions have been put in place. This should cover financial accounting regulations, budget
management and control, Internal audit, public procurement, fiscal responsibility, code of conduct, public
service rules, civil service regulations, corporate governance and financial reporting regulations etc.;
2. Conduct a mandate based compliance audit to ensure the operating requirements as enshrined in the
enabling legislation or executive order have been put in place;
3. Identify all gaps in the Self-Accounting Public Institution that are prone to corruption and are at risk of
abuse;
4. Identify any historic incidences of corruption and report incidences;
5. Develop a Correction Plan for Corruption Prone Systems and Risks to close gaps;
6. Develop a Corruption Incidences Report and send to appropriate authorities;
7. Conduct Organizational-wide workshops on Code of Conduct.