Buhari’s admin slides on list compiled by Transparency International
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria has dropped further down in the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI) which ranks it 154th out of 180 countries, reflecting unprecedented treasury looting under Muhammadu Buhari’s watch.
CPI is a score-based system that “ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. The results are given on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean),” TI explained.
It said Nigeria dropped five places compared with the 2020 CPI results. Nigeria scored 24 out of 100 points in the 2021 CPI, falling back one point against 2020 CPI.
TI Country Representative Auwal Rafsanjani blamed the drop on corruption in the public sector, which he lamented has greatly contributed to Nigeria’s underdevelopment.
Rafsanjani is also Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC).
He said successive governments have claimed to fight corruption, yet job opportunities, driving licence acquisition, passport applications, among others, are laced with corrupt as officials rendering these basic services expect bribe.
Corruption is responsible for rising insecurity, high unemployment rate, systemic failure in healthcare delivery, and leadership dysfunctions, Rafsanjani argued.
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Corruption perception
“The CPI aggregates data from eight different sources that provide perceptions by country experts and business people on the level of corruption in the public sector” Rafsanjani explained.
“While the index does not show specific incidences of corruption in the country, it indicates the perception of corruption in Nigeria.
“The index is completely impartial, objective and globally acknowledged as the most widely used cross country parameter for measuring corruption.
“This shows that corruption is still a major challenge in our country, hindering development. It has upturned our value system negatively. It has affected good governance in this country; that is why we are concerned as Nigerians.
“Corruption is destroying our country. It is because of corruption that insecurity persists in Nigeria.
“The report is not an assessment of the federal government’s anti-corruption fight but a perception of corruption in the public sector. Everything that has to do with our public sector is embedded in corruption.
“We all have a responsibility to ensure that corruption is tackled in a manner that doesn’t destroy this country for all of us.”
The report
- Implored anti-graft agencies to investigate allegations of corruption by Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
- Urged the National Assembly (NASS) to speed up deliberations and passage of anti-corruption related laws or amendments to beef up the fight against greed and graft.
- Urged Buhari to assent to these laws once they are passed while taking into consideration the best interest of citizens.
Cesspit of financial corruption under Buhari
Financial corruption is the number disease in Nigeria; it permeates all layers of society. Abuja has a history, deepened in these Buhari years, of officials getting away with fake or padded contracts and outright cash theft.
The fear of the NLC and of others in civil society is that (a) fuel subsidy removal will have a ripple price hike effect on all goods and services and (b) the money saved from such removal will be stolen by government officials.
Federal Auditor General Adolphus Aghughu has itemised in his reports for 2018 and 2019 several billions of naira missing, misappropriated, diverted, or stolen from nearly all Ministries, Departments, and Ministries (MDAs).
The National Assembly (NASS) responsible for oversight on the government is also involved in financial corruption, as stated in the recently released reports of the Auditor General’s office, an arm of government investigating other arms.
Revelations in the reports include:
- Federal Accountant General Ahmed Idris withdrew N1.695 trillion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) in the 2019 financial year without approval.
- Up to 42 MDAs indicted for overshooting their personnel budget to the tune of about ₦1,241,137,873,164.36 without approval by the NASS.
- Some N3.14 billion is missing in the Finance Ministry headed by Ahmed, who is Buhari’s tax enforcer.
- Up to N105.66 billion is missing, misappropriated or unaccounted for across 149 MDAs.
- Some 15 MDAs failed to account for N127.13 billion meant for the treasury.
- The Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) failed to recover and remit N40.126 billion, $921.636 million, and £289,931.82 to the treasury from various revenue sources in 2019.
- Some N4.14 billion is missing in the NASS, which is different from another N4.4 billion discovered “missing, misappropriated or stolen” in the NASS audited reports for 2015, 2017, and 2018.
- That makes a total N8.54 billion “missing, misappropriated or stolen” in the NASS in the four years between 2015 and 2018. The sum would be far higher if all stolen funds are discovered and added.
- Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Chairman Bolaji Owasanoye said MDAs duplicated 257 projects worth N20.138 billion in the 2021 budget. Such extra money is stolen.
