How corrupt is the government of President
Goodluck Jonathan? The answer may vary
depending on who is interpreting the latest global
corruption index from Transparency International.
According Transparency International’s Corruption
Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2014, Nigeria is up
eight places to 136 out of 175 countries ranked by
the index.
The government has unsurprisingly interpreted this
to mean that Nigeria is “winning the war on
corruption under President Goodluck Jonathan’s
watch.”
The government has also said in a rather
celebratory tone that, “It may not be immediately
apparent to those who do not understand the
dynamics of applying creative techniques in
upturning an age-old habit that has cost this
country a lot in terms of financial resources; but to
those like the officials in Transparency International
knowledgeable in the nuances of fighting
corruption, a lot of grounds have been covered.”
Two central observations become clear; firstly, the
statement seems to take a dig at government’s
critics for lacking “creative techniques” in the fight
against corruption.
But creative techniques? I’m sorry; no serious
observers of the government’s record will succumb
to this cheap shot. Secondly, the government also
may be accused of inconsistency and political
opportunism because having previously questioned
the validity and credibility of the index, now seems
to be its strongest ‘apostle’ by suddenly
acknowledging the ‘knowledge’ of Transparency
International “in the nuances of fighting
corruption.”
The government’s response is nothing more than
a standard public relations tactic. But this
triumphal tone needs to be moderated; and the
government’s real record in the fight against
corruption has to be placed in proper perspective.
The country’s current ranking is clearly better than
its scores for 2013 but it doesn’t really tell us
something we don’t already know: that this
government is still considered highly corrupt, as
the country still ranks in the bottom half of the
index. As a matter of fact, Nigeria shares 136th
position with well-known corrupt countries like
Cameroon, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, and Lebanon.
The CPI ranks countries on a scale from 0
(perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived
to be very clean). More than two-thirds of the 175
countries surveyed, including Nigeria, scored below
50. Nigeria is clearly not the country with the
lowest score on the index (its score was 27%), but
according to Transparency International, any
country that scores below 50% on the index is still
considered “highly corrupt.”
This shows that corruption is rife as it ever has
been in the country, making this government one
of the most corrupt on earth.
This is therefore no time to feel comfortable with
Nigeria’s sheer mediocrity on the index. But the
government’s response says something about
diminished expectations for a country that is
endowed with enormous human and natural
resources and should be doing much better in
terms of socio-economic and infrastructural
development to see the 27% on the index as good
news.
Millions of Nigerians who continue to live from
hand to mouth, unsure of the next meal, while their
‘leaders’ enjoy the commonwealth with their
families and friends certainly won’t celebrate this
score. And they won’t celebrate a score that still
shows a serious breach of the country’s
international anti-corruption obligations and
commitments.
It would seem that the government doesn’t even
understand the depth of disgust Nigerians feel for
the increasing level of corruption among high-
ranking government officials and the impunity of
perpetrators.
For many years President Jonathan has devoted
dozens of speeches to rooting out corruption. For
example, the President once promised to “fight for
justice, for all Nigerians to have access to power,
for qualitative and competitive education, for
healthcare reforms, to fight corruption, and to fight
for your rights.” But it is now another election time
and he has not even published his asset
declaration (to show the way in the fight against
corruption) let alone “fight for your rights”!
Under the President’s watch, no high-ranking
public officials has ever been brought to account
for corruption, despite widespread and increasing
allegations of corruption at the highest level of
government.
By celebrating a marginal movement on the index,
the government isn’t focusing on the job of fully
and effectively combating corruption by high-
ranking public officials.
Instead, it is downplaying the magnitude of the
problems, and seems to be kidding itself and
kidding millions of Nigerians. This is unwarranted,
counterproductive, and on balance, does more
harm than good.
This government has to come clean and be
straight with the Nigerian people on its record in
fighting corruption.
But Nigerians are not fooled, as they are very
aware of the lack of integrity, trust and credibility of
their political institutions and the lack of quality
behaviour from their politicians generally. They
know pretty well that corruption is still a major
problem in Nigerian politics, with various
government agencies becoming deeper and deeper
involved with the widespread use of political
appointments even at the highest level of
government.
The simple fact of the matter is that Nigeria’s
corruption is now institutionalised into the political
system and where democracy has been replaced
by “Nairaraincracy” (or more accurately
“Dollaraincracy”, as most of the country’s
politicians consider US dollar as the legal tender)
and where politicians are elected to provide self-
serving favours to donors and “godfathers”.
It is clear that the government is still largely run
for the benefit of the very rich and socially and
politically connected. When people say, ‘it is not
what you know but whom you know’, there is a
problem.
Corrupt judiciary and weak anti-corruption
mechanisms well illustrate the damaging lack of
political will by this government to confront
corruption and impunity of the corrupt. Serious
human rights violations, including poverty, crimes
against humanity and the environment are now
considered normal.
Yet, lack of prosecution of high-ranking
government officials for corruption has created an
impression that they are above the law. No
wonder, then, that corrupt officials are so unfazed
in their wrong doings, they are all doing it openly
and lavishly and don’t even bother to hide their
misdeeds.
Unfortunately, the more corrupt the country
becomes, the less motivated its leaders and
politicians are to end it. This doesn’t present much
hope for the future.
But we can’t simply throw our hands up in the air
in frustration. Progress is not only possible but
necessary as it is simply unacceptable to continue
with ‘business as usual’. The government will
need to get to work and move swiftly to improve
the independence and freedom of action of the
anti-corruption agencies to genuinely fight
corruption. These agencies should be free to
investigate and prosecute any allegations of
corruption, not just those the government has a
partisan interest in seeing pursued.
It is time for the government to let the country’s
anti-corruption agencies off the chain and allow
them to prosecute those indicted by: the KPMG
report, involving large-scale corruption in the
Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC);
the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative (NEITI) audit report, which exposes 10
years of corruption in the upstream and
downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry;
‘pension funds corruption report’; ‘corruption
report’ in the capital market, and of course the
case of the missing $20 billion from the account of
the NNPC.
Some level of transparency and accountability
won’t hurt the country. In fact, it will ensure better
governance and the returns for effective enjoyment
of human rights by the citizens will be huge.
One can only hope that the government will wake
up and genuinely begin to address corruption and
associated human rights violations. Nigerians
deserve this. The success (and sustainability) of
the country’s democracy depends on this.
And this is the most important promise for the
politicians to take to the February 2015 elections
and subsequently keep if elected.
Olaniyan, author of ‘Corruption and Human Rights
Law in Africa’, is Legal Adviser, International
Secretariat of Amnesty International, London.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/12/corrupt-nigeria/

Pls Summary in your own word

That index is based on citizens' perception. So the question is, who were those polled?Ask yourself, has corruption reduced or increased. Are nigerians more perceptive or less perceptive than Iranians.
The answer : in Iran or Greece, corruption would be evading taxes, jumping a queue,a public officer doing favours,a conflict of interest not being at your work station or paying for something that is suppose to be free etc.
In the current dispensation, stealing money straight from the federation account is not even considered as grave.
Even in Afghanistan, in spite of all the crime, poverty, terrorism,war etc, people's lives are significantly better than it was 6 years ago.
Those rankings are as a result of PR, sellouts and plain tribalism.
The "my people are eating, all is well " syndrome.