Yesterday observed by the global community as the World Anti-Corruption Day.The United Nations General Assembly by Resolution 58/4 of October 31, 2003 designated December 9 every year as the day to raise people’s awareness about the crime that impedes development and impoverishes the masses. It is also a day for political leaders, governments, legal bodies, lobby groups and civil society organisations to renew their commitments to taming the monster identified as a complex socio-political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries.
The theme for this year’s commemoration is “Your Right, Your Role: Say No to Corruption.” It seeks to get the victims of the crime to focus on the menace as one of the biggest obstacles to achieving socio-economic development and growth wherever it has taken root.
About 15 years after the launch of the annual awareness, the latest Corruption Perceptions Index still shows most countries around the world have made little or no progress in the fight against the world’s number one common foe.
Indeed, corruption has been recognised as a fatal disease that afflicts countries around the world in varying degrees. It can destroy any nation, stunt its growth,undermine democracy, create unstable governments, endanger peace and national security and hamper socio-economic development. The monster manifests in various forms such as bribery, cooking of books, backroom deals and outright looting of public treasury.
No single nation gets a clean bill of health but those classified as developing and under-developed countries are worse hit by the disease. Nigeria has languished in the nether region of corruption in the past one and a half decades. It ranked 143rd in 2011, 139th in 2012 and 144th in 2013. As at four years ago, it was ranked 136th out of 175 countries, according to the Transparency International (TI) corruption perception index.
Denmark still maintains its top position as the least corrupt country in the world out of the 175 nations surveyed by the TI. Botswana also retains its top spot as the least corrupt country in Africa and 31st in the world. According to the 2017 assessment by the anti-corruption watchdog, Nigeria is ranked148th least corrupt nation out of 175 countries.
Many corruption watchers within and outside the country may have rightly attributed Nigeria’s relative success in the war against the monster to the renewed impetus President Muhammadu Buhari has given to the battle since emerging on the scene in 2015.But the war is far from being won despite the existence of several anti-graft bodies and measures put in place to fight it.
Corruption spiraled out of control in the recent past because those in positions of authority had shown lack of political will in allowing the anti-graft agencies to function optimally especially in the immediate past administration. The situation where the agencies must receive the nod of the office of the attorney-general of the federation before corrupt elements could be arraigned for trial took the wind out of the sail of the agencies.
Any government that is truly committed to eliminating corruption from our national life must give the agencies a free hand to prosecute the war.
Also noteworthy is the policy of whistle blowing introduced by the Federal Government. The strategy yielded positive results before the whistle apparently went silent in recent times.
Many nations across the globe have taken serious measures to contain the menace. China for instance has decreed capital punishment for convicted corrupt elements. Surprisingly, some high-profile Nigerians have recommended the introduction of the same penalty for Nigeria.
The Buhari administration ought to continue leveraging on the goodwill of majority of Nigerians and sustain the anti-corruption war tempo irrespective of whose ox is gored until the monster is brought to its knees.This will be achievable through strengthening of the anti-corruption agencies, speedy trial of corruption cases littering our courts and also intensifying asset recovery efforts. Corrupt elements are worse than armed robbers. As it was once stated by the late former Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings, “Armed robbers steal from individuals but corrupt elements steal from the nation.”
The invidious crime which impoverishes the masses and impedes development must be tackled with all the seriousness it deserves.The conviction of some high-profile public servants, and political office-holders has been a positive development.
The anti-graft agencies should sustain the momentum. The fight against corruption is an exercise we should all supportif the nation is to develop,otherwise our collective future is lost.
