UNJUSTIFIABLY, the image of Nigeria is being battered and rubbished in the name of the war against graft. Most uncharitable claims are made that have nothing whatsoever to do with the facts.

One needs to read the latest report released on December 15, 2014 by the think tank, research and advisory organisation, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), based in Washington DC. Also, we have the earlier December 2014 survey report on corruption perception by Transparency International (TI) in Geneva. These reports show substantial improvements in Nigeria’s corruption situation. In fact, if the responsibility for the heightened corruption in Nigeria since 2005 needs to be attributed, it lies more with external actors. We will substantiate this assertion shortly.

Corruption is a ravaging global phenomenon nations struggle to contain. It has never been eradicated anywhere. But we tend to trivialize the anti-graft efforts in Nigeria. Even the European Union, with its very strong institutions, appears overwhelmed. In a March, 2014 report, it raised the alarm that a breathtaking €120 billion is lost annually to corrupt practices and shady deals. China, in spite of its imposition of the death penalty for graft, still leads the world in illicit flight of capital derived from corruption, tax evasion, drugs and other crimes.

For evidence-based perspective of the Nigerian situation, we need to consider a source of current information about corruption perception. The latest 2014 TI ranking places Nigeria 39 steps ahead of others. This compares with Nigeria’s status as the most corrupt nation on earth in 1996, the second worst at the inception of the present democratic dispensation in 1999 and again in 2002. So, since 1999, we have progressed up the corruption perception ladder skipping on average close to three countries each passing year till date. Although this may appear slow and steady, but it wins the race.

Also in the 2014 TI report, Nigeria had the highest perception record it has ever had since 1999. Nigeria’s best corruption perception scores so far were achieved first in 2008 under the presidency of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and repeated in 2012 and 2014 under President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. So, based on perception information from TI, the corruption situation in Nigeria is certainly not getting worse. Of course, there is room for improvement.

Moving closer to reality as opposed to the perception, we refer to the most current hard data in the latest GFI report for the 10-year period, 2003 to 2012.

The figures show a positive trend for Nigeria. While the illicit capital outflows from corruption, tax evasion, drugs and other crimes for “all developing countries” rose steadily from US$297 billion in 2003 to the highest so far of US$991 billion in 2012, with a slight drop in 2009 due to the global financial crisis, those for Nigeria also rose from close to US$2 billion in 2003 to about US$26 billion in 2009. Since then however, illicit flows from Nigeria have been on steady decline from US$26 billion in 2009 to less than US$8 billion in 2012 – a fall of close to 70 per cent in three straight years under the oversight of the present federal leadership. While Nigeria’s illicit outflows thus fell, those from “all developing countries” still rose from US$748.3 billion in 2009 to US$991.2 billion in 2012, up 33 per cent.

Nigeria in-country comparison also reveals that its 2012 outflow fell for the first time and by 65 per cent below the figure for 2005 when the outflows began to skyrocket.

T[b]he fall in illicit outflows for Nigeria in 2012, is even more significant from another perspective. We recorded a steep decline in illicit capital outflows from US$20.144 billion in 2011 to US$7.922 billion in 2012, a dramatic drop by over 60 per cent in just one year. As a result in 2012, the latest year for which GFI data is available, Nigeria improved its ranking of leading sources of illicit corruption, tax evasion and drugs outflows to the 17th position from 9th in 2011. Also, on a continental basis, South Africa for the first time overtook Nigeria as the largest source of illicit flows from Africa standing at the 9th position of “all developing countries”, with a figure of over US$29 billion outflow in 2012. This is well over three times Nigeria’s figure of US$7.9 billion. On a per capita and GDP bases, South Africa performed even much worse. [/b]

Who then says that graft perception and crimes of illicit financial outflows relating to corruption, tax evasion and drugs are getting worse in Nigeria when credible data state otherwise? Such contrary claims indeed make no sense. One then wonders what the entire corruption hullabaloo is about. They appear to be clear attempts to give a dog a bad name and hang it. We would, therefore, urge the international and local audience to be wary of unfounded and generalised claims of worsening corruption against Nigeria flying around. There is no substance to them.

The improvements recorded in Nigeria are the culmination of various much less costly, silently executed, preventive anti-corruption initiatives of the Federal Government over this period, led by an unsung transformation team of Nigeria’s best and brightest. They focus more on preventive strategies and building preventive and defensive institutions. The existing curative, legal and offensive approach, given the systemic nature of the scourge, has overwhelmed our investigative, prosecuting and judicial institutions leaving clogged pipelines of pending cases. It would be totally unproductive to continue the single-minded frenzy of raising more cases and injecting them into pipelines that barely trickle.

The preventive interventions are varied, many and include: the assent to the Freedom of Information Bill in 2011 for greater transparency in governance; the Petroleum Industry Bill for a more beneficial and transparent distribution of our oil and gas wealth among the citizens, the nation and the international oil companies; the power sector privatization to shift the financing burden to the private sector and reduce drastically the corruption that goes with huge government expenditure; the subsidy reduction and the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme where opportunities for corruption have been severely curtailed and the federal subsidy savings reinvested, transparently and accountably, under the eagle eyes of selected citizens of integrity; and the nationwide dismantling of police check points in order to arrest the daily collection of illegal tolls from the citizens.

Of particular interest, the Federal Government has adopted information and communication technology in preventive interventions. These include, among others, the adoption of electronic payments in the financial system; the new fertilizer subsidy regime which has eliminated all the middlemen, making Nigeria the first country in the world to use mobile telephony to distribute fertilizer and seedlings to its farmers; the national identity management project to eliminate ghost citizens; the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) to deal with ghost workers; the pension transition arrangement to dislodge ghost pensioners and arrest the plunder of pension assets, and the Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System (GIFMIS) and the Single Treasury Account (STA) to track Federal Government finances on 24/7 basis.

All these initiatives have one thing in common. They serve to close or limit public spaces, systems and processes where corruption thrives and nip the incident in the bud.

While adopting the more popular, offensive approach of chasing, arresting, investigating, prosecuting and jailing graft culprits may be media attractive, exciting and entertaining for the general public and preferred among our lawyers for whom there would be more jobs for the boys and girls, prevention is always better than cure. As soon as the basic preventive and defensive anti-graft institutions, systems and processes are firmly in place, a more manageable number of corruption incidents that would continue can be dealt with more effectively within the capacities of the relevant agencies and institutions.

This same strategy saved Nigeria from the Ebola attack. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, a surveillance and defensive health institution put in place in advance by the present federal administration provided a preventive platform to ward off the Ebola invasion spearheaded by Mr. Patrick Sawyer. As in military warfare, it is absurd to leave your flanks and defences weak and unguarded, only to engage in offensive forays and adventures into enemy domain. This is exactly what Nigeria was doing in the past.

Complementary defensive and preventive anti-graft institutions need to be in place so that our offensive, curative legal agencies are not overwhelmed.

Now to the contribution external actors have made in heightening corrupt practices in Nigeria. As earlier stated, Nigeria recorded a whopping US$26.4 billion of illicit funds siphoned off the system in 2009 – the highest outflow since 2003 going by the 2014 GFI report.

But the main cause of this marked deterioration in Nigeria’s anti-corruption war and the fight against all illicit financial outflows up to the year 2009 could be traceable to actions taken in the United States of America. This has to do with the prediction in 2005 by pundits that Nigeria would break up by 2015. The prediction, the effect of which may be unintended, has been most destabilizing and hemorrhaging for Nigeria. It compelled many to move their financial assets to safer havens offshore in anticipation of the predicted demise. Also, elements within government and their private sector collaborators hastened the siphoning of our national wealth to beat the 2015 D-day. We conclude so for two reasons.

First, soon after the 2005 prediction of the break-up by 2015 was released, information was available that friends and well wishers exchanged phone calls or met to ascertain that they were aware of the dire prediction. The prevailing view was that people of means should consider seriously moving their valuable assets out of the country.

Second, facts began to filter out subsequently from the global financial systems that Nigerians were indeed frantically moving their financial assets and the national wealth offshore to hedge against the uncertain future.

Empirical data from GFI shows that, in 2004, a year before the prediction of break-up was made, illicit financial flows out of Nigeria stood at US$1.7 billion. However, the very next year when the prediction was released, illicit financial outflows from Nigeria skyrocketed to US$17.9 billion – more than a 10-fold. In comparison, the increase in illicit financial outflows for “all developing countries” within the same period 2004 and 2005 was less than 30 per cent. That is, in 2005, the rate of increase of illicit outflows for Nigeria was close to 40 times the rate of increase for “all developing countries” put together.

In other words, the prediction of Nigeria’s doom and gloom come 2015 may have played a central role and set the stage that encouraged the flight of our commonwealth. Also, it may still be fueling the tempo of corruption in Nigeria and the momentum of capital outflows as people hedge for the future. So, this uncertainty needs to be moderated.

In view of the external dimension of the Nigerian corruption and illicit capital outflows highlighted above, the global community should assist in tangible ways. Especially, the G20 needs to support fully the Federal Government efforts in order to sustain the steady and significant decline since 2009 of illicit financial outflows to advanced economies from Nigeria. This is the real challenge of our anti-corruption war.

The improvements recorded in Nigeria are the culmination of various much less costly, silently executed, preventive anti-corruption initiatives of the Federal Government over this period, led by an unsung transformation team of Nigeria’s best and brightest.

YEMOYEMI:
Too long. People can cook anything to defend a thief like GEJ.

Nice try

southniyikaye:
too much talk,na lie dey full am...na today,pls ignore them very soon their mouth go enter hole

J12:
I know that 90 percent of nairalanders don't read anything that's more than three sentences long. Here are the key highlights

1. The latest 2014 TI ranking places Nigeria 39 steps ahead of others. This compares with Nigeria’s status as the most corrupt nation on earth in 1996, the second worst at the inception of the present democratic dispensation in 1999 and again in 2002. So, since 1999, we have progressed up the corruption perception ladder skipping on average close to three countries each passing year till date.

2. in the 2014 TI report, Nigeria had the highest perception record it has ever had since 1999. Nigeria’s best corruption perception scores so far were achieved first in 2008 under the presidency of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and repeated in 2012 and 2014 under President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

3. illicit flows from Nigeria have been on steady decline from US$26 billion in 2009 to less than US$8 billion in 2012 – a fall of close to 70 per cent in three straight years under the oversight of the present federal leadership. While Nigeria’s illicit outflows thus fell, those from “all developing countries” still rose from US$748.3 billion in 2009 to US$991.2 billion in 2012, up 33 per cent.

4. The improvements recorded in Nigeria are the culmination of various much less costly, silently executed, preventive anti-corruption initiatives of the Federal Government over this period, led by an unsung transformation team of Nigeria’s best and brightest. They focus more on preventive strategies and building preventive and defensive institutions.

J12:
I know that 90 percent of nairalanders don't read anything that's more than three sentences long. Here are the key highlights

1. The latest 2014 TI ranking places Nigeria 39 steps ahead of others. This compares with Nigeria’s status as the most corrupt nation on earth in 1996, the second worst at the inception of the present democratic dispensation in 1999 and again in 2002. So, since 1999, we have progressed up the corruption perception ladder skipping on average close to three countries each passing year till date.

2. in the 2014 TI report, Nigeria had the highest perception record it has ever had since 1999. Nigeria’s best corruption perception scores so far were achieved first in 2008 under the presidency of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and repeated in 2012 and 2014 under President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

3. illicit flows from Nigeria have been on steady decline from US$26 billion in 2009 to less than US$8 billion in 2012 – a fall of close to 70 per cent in three straight years under the oversight of the present federal leadership. While Nigeria’s illicit outflows thus fell, those from “all developing countries” still rose from US$748.3 billion in 2009 to US$991.2 billion in 2012, up 33 per cent.

4. The improvements recorded in Nigeria are the culmination of various much less costly, silently executed, preventive anti-corruption initiatives of the Federal Government over this period, led by an unsung transformation team of Nigeria’s best and brightest. They focus more on preventive strategies and building preventive and defensive institutions.