₦airaland Forum

Former Ghana president, Jerry Rawlings, has launched a scathing attack on the Nigerian government's anti-corruption record, severely criticizing the leadership's failure to punish politicians who steal public funds.

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While the Nigerian leadership pays "lip service" to corrupt officials looting billions, Mr. Rawlings said Monday, it directs its resources at persecuting anti-graft fighters, and prosecuting petty thieves.

"Corrupt politicians in Nigeria escape punishment. We cannot continue to pay lip service to the strengthening, empowerment and independent management of our multiple anti-corruption institutions," Mr. Rawlings said in a speech at the National Legislative Institute in Abuja on Monday.

"We live in countries where poor, petty thieves get imprisoned for several years while businessmen who evade taxes in millions of dollars or politicians who misappropriate millions of state funds escape punishment."

Mr. Rawlings is well reputed for his tough stance against official graft. As military ruler of Ghana, he executed his country's past leaders, accusing them of corruption.

He said Africa lost at least $38.4 billion and $25 billion in 2008 and 2010 respectively to illicit financial outflows.

"These inequalities are recopies for retrogression of our democracies and we cannot allow the negative to continue. As I said earlier a democracy that cannot provide socio-economic justice cannot be a healthy democracy and will remain vulnerable," he said.

The former leader's comment came a week after a spokesperson for President Goodluck Jonathan, Reuben Abati, said Nigerians should blame the judiciary for the administration's poor record on corruption.

In an interview with the Pilot newspaper, Mr. Abati said the administration has done well tackling official stealing through preemptive measures. He said if the public failed to notice increased conviction, then it was the fault of the judiciary.

Mr. Rawlings urged Africans to reject henceforth laws allowing the president to choose their countries' Chief Justice, to ensure true independence of the judiciary.

"Our institutions are weak because we do not strengthen and protect them adequately in our constitutions," he said. "While the legislature can enact laws that empower institutions, constitutional entrenchment of such provisions would ensure that political parties with majority control within legislative assemblies do not manipulate the power of these institutions."

He advised that the appointment should go through a consultative process that the president will not manipulate.

"Nigeria has made giant strides over the past decade politically but still faces complicated challenges , which many of you will bear with me has socio-cultural implications that have been ignored for a significant period," he said.

He said Africa's democratic institutions are poorly equipped to offer the best support to government.

"It is embarrassing sometimes to observe our various legislative assemblies struggle to competently debate issue of serious national concern because members are handicapped information wise," he said.

Five months after the deployment of Nigerian troops as part of the Africa-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA) to fight Islamic insurgents, there is no respite in sight for soldiers who have suffered untold hardship and total neglect of the contingent.

PREMIUM TIMES can exclusively report that the 873-man contingent is still making do with poor nutrition, and unpaid allowances of up to three months.

The overwhelming perception of other participating countries in the mission is that the Nigerian contingent has fallen short of the United Nations' standard.

"They are struggling to remain in Mali," a defence source said. They are not being fed good food. They have been eating plain boiled spaghetti twice daily without condiments."

PREMIUM TIMES had exclusively reported the abysmal condition of the troops and the lack of morale caused by the absence of logistics and basic provisions. But defence authorities had denied it, saying the soldiers were well taken care of.

Four months after our initial reports, nothing seems to have changed, as the condition of the soldiers seems to have worsened.

Our source said allowances haven't been paid for up to three months.

The Commanding Officer (CO), of the contingent, Colonel T. E Gagariga, has been particularly fingered as encouraging soldiers to keep mute and pretend things are fine.

"Commanding Officer told soldiers to pretend that everything is all right because been promised a good appointment. They're really suffering."

Morale is said to be at an all time low within the 333 Arty Regiment with the codename NIBATT 1.

It is not true

But the battalion commander says claims of hardship and low morale by troop are untrue.

"All that is pure lie," said Col. Gagariga, when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES.

"We are doing our very best in every circumstance. My soldiers are of high morale."

churific: 6-1 against Tahiti is still besides the point. Still a disappointing and disrespectful performance by the "Super Eagle." SELFISH, stupid, undisciplined, appalling, disgusting...This is just not the way to represent Nigeria. Forget the win!

coputa: There is no heaven on earth...heaven is spiritual..you must die first before you can go to heaven.

Merkki: What happened to her face? Did she fry it?

firstolalekan: I am not a Shiat nor a Sunni.

I am just a MUSLIM.

bookface: This is a really naive assessment.

chaloner: so to push this work to front page they hard all this MOD....well this is not about tonto na

BetaThings: So an old organisation cannot make error?
I have seen pew reports before.
Fox news made elementary statistical error in that video buy you say it does not matter. Why?
A statistician whose reputation we know says it does and her argument can be understood easily, but a faceless poster on Nairalander say it does not and does not advance any argument in support of that position
Please tell us why

How come a lot of experienced statisticians (Like Rasmussen) did not see what Nate Silver saw
Ponder over this
from a sample of 100, 49 approve of Al Qaeda. This same group cannot fear extremism because even if they consider Al Qaeda non-extreme, nothing can be more extreme than Al Qaeda methodology
Hence not more than 51% can fear extreme
But in your "sacred" report 49% + 83& is equal to 100%
Address this

Desperation is not raising valid doubts about a report
Desperation is first determining that Islam must be smeared then looking for all sorts of data, credible or otherwise, logical or not, to do accomplish the job by!

PAGAN 9JA:
ya ok the usual. May the light (& darkness) of the Gods touch upon you and you see the truth. .

PAGAN 9JA:
yes thats right. If you are a TRUE muslim, you are a terrorist. the rest are all pretenders. base compromisers.

I did not become Pagan. I was born Pagan. my ancestors are Pagan since Stone Age.

EasternLeopard: To all my Igbo brothers, let ceasefire. D truth is that the Yorubas never organised a pogrom against we Igbos during June 12. Rather they pleaded dat we join them but we refused due 2 past treachery. Pls we Igbos makeup btw 40%-50% of Lagos population & not 90%

ShyM-X:
Honestly, I think the West isn't planning to win the Syrian war(they can't even if they waste all their resources - the Russians will never allow that to happen). The strategy and realpolitik being played out is to tie Iran and Hizbollah down into a protracted, resource-draining civil war, with as minimal costs as possible. And it seems they have achieved that in the last two years or so. However, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and the destruction of Syria. They can never allow Iran/Hizbollah win this war. A win for that axis will put their interests in the MENA at risk.

Also, it might be payback time for Syria and Iran for what they did to the US in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran supplied all the brutal and effective weapons used the Shiite militias used in the insurgency that killed thousands of US soldiers.