I don't think most politicians are corrupt because they wish to be evil. I believe many, especially on the national level are corrupt because they need to remain competitive and participate in the system to begin withh. For instance, if a governor wishes to be president, even if its Fashola or Amaechi themselves, there's still the reality that running a national campaign and gaining big wig supporters needed to win has to be done with exuberant amounts of money, and rarely legal degrees of force and aggression.

This is true in all political systems, the US it's self.

the difference is america met corruption half way.

It told politicians indirectly that it understands their need for excessive amounts of money, so what did they do? they introduced the lobbyist system.


under this, 'interest groups' and big businesses pay politicians large sums of money in return for legislative favors. A business may pay a politician to increase tariffs on its foreign competitors products, or a construction company may fund a campaign as long as the politician promises to ensure it X amount of contracts.


as we have it now, nigerian politicians collect money from other politicians. politicians only get their money from state local and federal coffers. So if, hypothetically, the governor of imo state wants to be president, and the governor of delta, edo, and kogi want something from him, most likely more money from the larger federal pool, they will give him 500,000,000 each to run his campaign, his promise to them is to give them back double that once he wins.

therefore the gamble becomes worth it because the reward is high.

since the president doesn't have that much money personally, the minute he gets into office we will clean the treasury paying off his 'helpers'










in america it's less about giving back capital, and more about returning favors. In this way the american system is still wildly corrupt but things get done because bankrupting the government isn't a requirement for having aspirations


my idea
I think every state, or a few smart states, should set aside a large sum of money from it's own coffers for the political aspirations of its budget controller (governor).

if a state set aside 5% of it's budget for the aspirations of this person, he won't need to search far and wide for favors from wide eyed beneficiaries. He can mount is own campaign with legal money, or give money were it's deemed politically needed.

if a governor refuses to use his allocation to run for the presidency, he gets to keep a percentage for a living pension and the rest is saved for the next governor.


at the same time, incumbent leaders should be ban from campaigning. They can run for second terms, but all forms of campaigning should be prohibited. A governor can easily be judged by his work this way instead of favors and propaganda, and everyone in the state knows the governor, you dont need spread your name.



just an idea.

Also as it stands the nigerian legal system contributes to corruption.

It's illegal for private citizens to donate to elections, or to charge people money to enter rallies.

It's also illegal to punish governors or elected heads.

these two laws make the state governments breeding dens for destructive corruption.

i think private donations should be made legal, and since you can't punish governors (im not 100% against the rule), go ahead and give them the money they need to aspire to higher seats if they wish.