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| by Kelechi Onwubiko, |
Nov 3, 2003 |
The unfortunate and unpleasant thing about corruption in Nigeria is that the government and its officers are so enmeshed in it that nothing is being done nor can be done about it. Sometime in 2000, an Act, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences (ICPC) was passed to fight this malady. Till date, no single individual whether in government or the private sector has been prosecuted or convicted. And this is in spite of allegations of corrupt enrichment and huge sums of money being carted away daily into offshore accounts by these officers. The few who have been investigated are those opposed to the government in one form or the other, thereby creating an impression that the Act was meant to witch-hunt the opposition.
As this state of affair persists, the citizens are left at the mercy of the perpetrators of this shameful act and therefore continue to bear the brunt. Even the fact that Nigeria is the 6th largest oil-producing nation in the world has been rendered nugatory because of the non-reflection of revenue from this sector on the lives of the people, the non availability of public infrastructure and the total breakdown of all establishments that make up a modern state.
Presented with this situation, one need not consult a soothsayer to determine that the biggest threat to democracy and human rights provisions in Nigeria today is corruption. One may wonder how corruption affects the human rights of citizens in a polity, and if it does whether such violation could be enforced. I have therefore tried to set out hereunder the basic infringements of human rights of Nigerians as a result of corrupt practices in government.
The adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of Resolution 41/128 on the Declaration on the Right to Development is seen as a great leap towards a desire to enthrone a meaningful life for people throughout the world. The Declaration on the Right to Development is one of the most essential declarations of the UN on human rights because it encompasses and incorporates the previous documents on human rights namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and on the continental level, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) all of which Nigeria has ratified.
The Declaration provides in Article I that the “right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized.” Subsumed under the above “economic, social, cultural and political” rights are those to education, work, public assistance in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disability, right to an adequate standard of living, adequate food, clothing and housing, right to social security, right to join and form trade unions, right to vote and be voted for, right to fair hearing, freedom from torture, freedom of assembly, right to life, equality before the law and equal protection of the law, etc. The right to development recognizes the people’s right to full sovereignty over their natural wealth and resources and even the right to self determination. In Article 10, the Declaration further provides that states should formulate and adopt implementation policies, legislative and otherwise, for the realization of the rights.
The question therefore arises as to what effort the Nigerian state has made or is making towards the achievement of those rights. Despite the inclusion of Chapter Two conveniently titled “Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy” in the Nigerian constitution from 1979 till date, little effort has been made by successive governments to see those provisions as rights capable of being pursued with vigour in order to achieve a certain level of success in their implementation. Nigerian governments have consistently relegated those provisions to what they are termed to be – mere objectives and principles. In as much as the will is lacking towards their implementation, the greatest enemy towards their achievement has been the incidence of corruption in government.
If a right itemized above is seen and regarded as a right qua right, it goes without saying that the citizens are entitled not only to ask questions in the face of their violations through any means whatsoever, but also to pursue remedial measures for their enforcement either through the administrative or judicial process.
Budgetary allocations made for the purpose of implementing government policies in the areas of education, housing, health and social infrastructure almost end up in the pockets of individuals made up of bureaucrats, contractors and their cronies. For instance, since the inception of this government in 1999, huge sums have been realized from crude oil sales, taxes and duties as well as aids from foreign donors. Despite these facts, the country is suffering from a shortage of petroleum products because the local refineries have been grounded in order to create business for a favoured few. Our university system was comatose for upward of six months this year because the government obstinately refused to listen and accede to the basic needs and inevitable requirements that would make them perform better. Pensioners are dying daily on queues reminiscent of the Nazi concentration camps in a bid to collect their hard-earned entitlements. The list of anomalies unleashed on Nigeria by corruption is endless. Even the president was quoted to have said sometime ago that he is ashamed of Nigerian roads in spite of huge sums of money allocated for their maintenance. The question is, after expressing his shame, what efforts were made to determine the actual expenditure of the allocations so as to ascertain what happened. Despite the “no sacred cow” speech made by the president in 1999 at his inauguration, the sacred cows have not only multiplied in number through the years but have also become more daring in their approach, grazing even where the gods fear to tread.
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Comments
corruption Francis | Mar 17th, 2004
Corruption is every where in nigeria and it starts with the leaders.It can be reduced if the leaders themselves can stop.
Tadoh | Mar 26th, 2004
I really appreciated this piece which was not only well written but also addresses a subject that Nigeria leads African countries with their example since corruption is absolutely the primary anesthetic for this rich and beautiful continent.
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