Why corruption persists in Nigeria, by experts

It has been observed that in spite of popular anger against corruption and bad governance which have robbed the collective well-being of the people, there remains a lack of national consensus on repulsion against the perpetrators irrespective of their ethnicity, religion, class and gender.
These were the views of some Nigerians who spoke at an enlightenment forum on the state of the nation in Oyo town.
They observed that problems bedeviling the country have been attributed to unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to their responsibilities and to the challenge of personal example which is the hallmarks of true leadership.
First to speak was former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Zambia and Zimbabwe concurrently, High Chief Moses Ogunmola, who noted that surely, leadership holds the key to unlocking the transformation question in the country, but to sustain this drive, leaders must carry certain genes and attributes that are representative and promotive of this order.
“These, according to him, include, the existence of practical,
purposeful, visionary and missionary initiative by the individual,
reflecting the objectives of held ideas, values and aspirations,
having clear set of ideas, values, aspirations reflecting those of the
majority who are the subject or followership, as well as the existence
of patriotic and nationalistic spirit, transparency and
accountability, signs of concrete achievements involving the extent to
which intended effects are produced by the leader. These are the core
values of good governance”.
“Leadership that is based on the cultural values of the people, like
President Muhammadu Buhari is irrevocably doing by taking a bottom-top
approach holds the key to unlocking the development quagmire Nigeria
has found itself”.
Nigeria, Ogunmola stated, is inundated with rich human and material
resources begging to be harvested by purposeful, creative and
innovative leadership, adding that the first fundamental step among
other measures is transformation of the state from an alien force to
an entity that caters for the welfare and wellbeing of the people.
“One of the major challenges facing Nigeria and other developing areas
of the world is how to create a context of stable political and
socio-economic environment for policies and programmes to be
implemented. The issue of getting the right leadership to fight
corruption and propel good governance has been a recurring decimal in
Nigeria and Africa in general. Good governance encapsulates
transparency, accountability, freedom of choice and liberty for the
people to pursue their individual and corporate interest”.
“A country can only be great when it has leaders that plant trees
whose shades they know they shall never seat in. People should stop
crying wolves where there are none and stop whipping up unmerited
sentiments about the present administration. They are very much on
course, as the present recession is the acummulation of bad leadership
and mis-applied programmes and policies. The followers should as well
perform their obligatory and non-obligatory civic duties and
responsibilities. Therefore, all hands must be on deck to enthrone
effective leadership and good governance that could expunge the
scourge of corruption from the nation’s body polity”.
A public commentator, Pa Adebiyi Odekanyin, pointed out
that the reverberation effects of the failure of leadership,
corruption and bad governance in the past are visible and being felt
across all sectors and segment of the Nigerian society.
“Unemployment and employment for cash, insecurity, crude oil thefts,
crisis in education, dearth of infrastructures such as health
services, transportation, accommodation, communication, and medication
are all common features in Nigeria. It is an irony that of all oil
producing nations, Nigeria is the only country with the history of
crude oil thefts”.
Odekanyin asserted that since the return to civil rule in 1999,
Nigeria governments had taken some steps to address the twin
challenges of corruption and bad governance in the country.
These measures , according to him, include public service reform such
as monetization to reduce waste and reduction of over bloated
personnel, reform of public procurement; establishment of
Anti-corruption enforcement agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).
“Despite the successes achieved by these measures, the situation
remains unacceptable as corruption and bad governance continues to
pervade every facet of national life. More worrisome is that in spite
of popular anger against corruption and bad governance, which have
robbed the collective wellbeing of the people, there remains a lack of
national consensus on repulsion against the perpetrators irrespective
of their ethnicity, religion, class and gender. Yet, the emergence of
popular movements that is capable of galvanizing the palpable rage of
the people and channel it to series of actions and outcomes that could
challenge the status quo appears to be lacking”.
The commentator posited that while the ranks of unemployment and its
attendant poverty increases at one extreme, the number of private jet
owners grows in arithmetic progression at the other end. Excruciating
poverty exists side by side with obscene opulence.
“For instance, according to National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS),
the maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity in Nigeria is one of
the highest in the world, with an estimated 545 maternal deaths for
every 100,000 live births. 158 of every 1,000 children fewer than five
years of age die of preventable diseases yearly. Almost 70 percent of
the population lives on less than $170 per day while life expectancy
stands at 52 years. According to United Nations Children Fund
(UNICEF), Nigeria has the largest number of out of school children
(10.5 million) in the world.
“Until recently, we lived at a time of great distortions in our
polity. Our natural resource lifeline – crude oil – has been selling
at over $100 a barrel since 2011, and we are producing at decent
levels averaging 2 million barrels per day, yet our nation is broke.
Our federal budgets for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 all contain an
average of 1.5 trillion naira deficit annually. Our capital budgets
for investment in physical infrastructure, human capital and enabling
environment for job creation for the five years tenure of former
President Goodluck Jonathan administration was averaged a mere 1.3
trillion naira – most of it borrowed by issuing bonds every single
year”.
“More disturbing is the sentimental outcries by a section of the
public on the arrests of some Judges for corrupt enrichment. Are the
Judges Saints and untouchables? Why are some Judges see justice as a
robust commercial enterprise, thereby brandishing themselves as an
expensive and dangerous destabilizers of peace, progress and
development of the nation-state?”.
The duo who eulogized President Muhammadu Buhari for his
steadfastness, sense of devotion and sincerity of purpose towards the
release of twenty-one chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram, described it a great achievement which must be acknowledged by right thinking citizens.