http://businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/analysis/columnists/18172-corruption-exemplary-leadership-required-

Beautiful Article by Chairman of Editorial Board of Business day
Corruption: Exemplary leadership required
TUESDAY, 15 FEBRUARY 2011 00:00 OGHO OKITI
As I write this, Suleiman Bello, the minister of state for health, despite admitting to corruption charges while he was resident electoral commissioner in Adamawa State in 2007, is still hanging on to office. He has not resigned as the BusinessDay editorial last Friday said he should, and President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has not fired him. What is at stake here? Nigeria, with an already battered local and international image as an endemically corrupt nation, has as a minister someone who has already admitted to corrupt act.

The minister is in a ministry that depends and relies extensively on international contacts and donors for its work. Can you imagine this minister representing Nigeria at any of these international settings while corruption charges hang over his head? It is also hard to believe that he is not feeling distracted from his work at the moment. Still, when we it comes to corruption in Nigeria, this Bello’s type and level of corruption is a child’s play. Everywhere you go, you can actually feel and touch corruption, and as I argued in one of my articles last year, we are all corrupt.

To many, the cost of corruption to the country is simply the value of the money stolen from public purse; that is, the many roads, airports, education, and health care not provided. Mind you, this is huge, but it is a simplistic way of looking at corruption in Nigeria and these costs are perhaps just 20 percent of the actual depth of corruption. The remaining 80 percent is mainly indirect and relates to the distraction generated by corruption in the first place.

These distractions occur because the focus of the average government official is not to do his or her job but to continuously find ways and means to enrich himself or herself. In the context, [list]
[li]the jobs carried out and how they are carried out is selective and depends on the expectations of “corruption profit” and not necessarily on how the job impacts the lives of ordinary Nigerians.[/li]
[li][/li]
[/list] From local governments to states and to the ubiquitous federal government, there is a serious level and depth of corruption. This is what every Nigerian knows, and the issue then is how do we significantly reduce corruption?

Only a great leader can significantly reduce it. Without a great leader, Nigeria will continue to wallow in corruption. Corruption cannot be stopped from the bottom because those at the bottom often react to the impunity at the top. Only a leader with enormous discipline and restraint can solve Nigeria’s corruption problem. It is not the place of EFCC or of ICPC, but the place of the number one leader in this country.

I have often argued, and I repeat the same argument here that it would be very difficult for me to be corrupt if my CEO is not. If he is not corrupt and I am, I will constantly be haunted by the fear that the moment I am caught, I will be out of the door. I am so sure that efforts to tackle corruption have failed because those at the helm of affairs have never been sincere about stopping it, because they too are corrupt. Can you imagine a situation where a president is giving a speech about corruption and the press secretary, the minister or director general of one of the agencies just laughs it off? They are able to laugh it off because they know that the president is not sincere. Only an exemplary leader, if one emerges in April, can begin to reduce corruption in the Nigerian society.

When Brazil’s former leader, Lula, left office, the house he moved to has been described as small and “nondescript". The same cannot be said about Nigerian leaders. What this demonstrates is that, while he was president, Lula was sure of the future he was building for all Brazilians, including himself. This is important because corruption reflects a sense and measure of uncertainty about the future – economic uncertainty in this case. It reflects a primitive and crude sense of uncertainty about the economic prospects of the country and that of the individual. When there is that feeling, the natural response is to “steal enough” for the future.

But I expect a great leader to be sure of the economic future he is building for all Nigerians, including himself, and instead of being distracted by uncertainties about his future, he is busy building the future for all Nigerians. Indeed, this distraction is at the heart of our economic policies and approaches. If you examine over time, the thought of further limited opportunities for corruption and state patronage has limited the nature of economic policies we pursue.

And this brings us to a horrible feature of corruption in Nigeria: collusion. Corruption has become an extensive network of favour and patronage. It is commonplace to see government officials at both sides of the table. The same government official is awarding the contract, and the same government official is more interested in getting more value on the other side. This is not limited to physical contracts but applies all forms of licencing and approval. A disciplined leader can begin to tackle this enormous problem through exemplary leadership. This is one problem that rhetorics and mere sermons will not solve. It is only the determined demonstration of whoever becomes president that will genuinely lead the effort against corruption. May a great leader emerge.

I thought we read the news that the President asked him to resign to face the ICPC charge?

againstGEJ:

I thought we read the news that the President asked him to resign to face the ICPC charge?

Nope that's untrue.

againstGEJ:

I thought we read the news that the President asked him to resign to face the ICPC charge?

Post it - let us see it

It is actually worse than this

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/27486.html

Tension in Senate as AGF moves to
Font size: Yusuf Alli 10/02/2011 00:51:00

The moves by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke to withdraw alleged corruption charges against former Federal Capital Territory Minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai is causing tension in the Senate.

It is the fifth time that Adoke will be withdrawing high-profile cases.

The matters withdrawn or discontinued by the AGF were those of Vaswani brothers, top officials of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Halliburton case against Julius Berger Plc and the one instituted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) against the Minister of State for Health, Sulaiman Bello.

Righton

I only asked a question.

^^^
I am sorry. I heard that the guy was to resign but later the AGF withdrew the case by calling for the case file from ICPC. I don't know what happened really. But the man has not resigned.