Jinadu: Abuse of Incumbency Power, Highest Form of Corruption
* Urges citizens to question excesses of political leaders
*Tasks anti-graft agencies to beam searchlight on procurement process
*EFCC: Corruption remains huge enterprise, despite fight
* World Bank: Poor data management hindering transparency
Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
A former National Electoral Commissioner and Senior Fellow, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Prof. Liasu Adele Jinadu, has declared that the abuse of incumbency power remains the highest form of corruption in the country, urging Nigerians to fearlessly demand accountability, responsive and responsible governance from their leaders.
Jinadu, a former Director General of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), also charged the anti-graft agencies not to wait until 2027, but to immediately beam their searchlight on tendencies that corrupt and compromise the electoral process.
In a keynote address he delivered in Abuja at a high-level policy conversation on ‘The State of Anti corruption Policy and Practice in Nigeria,’ organised by Agora Policy in partnership with MacArthur Foundation, Jinadu lamented what he described as the toxic element introduced by the political class into the governance system.
He lamented that the current political class has continued to abuse the system for their selfish interest.
Jinadu, who regretted that Nigerians have been too lenient with the political class who get away with all manner of rape on the political system, challenged the people to wear the toga of eternal vigilance and courage while demanding for accountability.
He particularly cited the penchant for politicians to abuse the incumbency factor, and manipulating the electoral system without batting an eyelid, describing it as the worst form of corruption.
For instance, he argued that the political class have already started violating the procurement process with a view to siphoning money from the system to prosecute their 2027 agenda.
He also noted that the quest to come back in 2027 was already being pursued with the appointment of individuals sympathetic to them into the electoral umpire — Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Jinadu, who advised the anti-corruption agency — Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) — not to wait until 2027 to checkmate the excesses of politicians but begin the move immediately.
He said: “The problem of corruption in Nigeria is fundamentally a problem of democratic political governance and has to be approached as such in view of its negative consequences for human development in the country, as outlined in Chapter II of the country’s constitutions since 1979.
“The tragedy of our democratic politics and the underlying causative roots of the problem of corruption is that our political class continues to push its self-interest, almost to the point not only of their own self-destruction but also of stultifying our national development.
“What we need to do now is to bring morality back into our politics and firmly reject the politics of immorality, that is at the heart of our country’s problem of corruption.”
He urged Nigerians not to be blinded by the characteristic pretence of the political class when they engage, “as they often do, in the doublespeak…”
Jinadu added that: “The anti-democratic culture driving the country’s policy-framework and diabolic political environment, notably in the form of political interference, primarily to shield high-profile persons from criminal prosecution or to frustrate their prosecution has impacted negatively on the country’s anti-corruption agenda, despite the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy(NACS), in July 2027.”
In his goodwill message at the event, the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, who was represented by a director in the agency, said Nigeria had long acknowledged its corruption challenge, as successive administrations have come up with initiatives to tackle the malaise.
According to him, these initiatives have, in the last two and a half decades since the emergence of democratic governance, been driven by all the anti-corruption agencies in the ecosystem, but notably the EFCC and the ICPC.
Noting that within the period, major gains had been recorded, including deepening public consciousness of the criticality of the fight against corruption, recovery of stolen assets and prosecution for alleged corrupt practices.
However, in spite of these milestones, Olukayode said his agency acknowledged the fact that “we are still far from Uhuru. Corruption remains a huge enterprise with the theft of public resources across all levels of government, a grave concern”.
In her remarks, the Chairperson of Agora Polich, Ms. Ojobo Ode Atuluku, admonished that anti-corruption should not fall off the radar with change in government.
Also, in a goodwill message, the World Bank Country Director in Nigeria, Dr. Ndiame Diop, who was represented by a top official of the bank underscored the necessity of data in driving promoting transparency in governance.
He regretted that poor data management, largely driven by manual method, was not helpful to governance.
Diop disclosed that the World Bank had embarked on a number of collaborative efforts to promote transparency and accountability in the country, citing the States Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) aimed at encouraging transparency at the subnational level.
