How Corruption Undermines Democracy in Nigeria
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In this presentation, I examine how the structure of Nigeria’s political institutions perpetuate corrupt practices. I also offered recommendations on how both domestic organizations and international funders can tackle corruption, including the use of citizen-led initiatives such as Follow the Money.
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How Corruption Undermines Democracy in Nigeria
- 1. DECAYING INSTITUTIONS: HOW CORRUPTION UNDERMINES DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA Oludotun Babayemi Reagan-Fascell Fellow National Endowment for Democracy January 30, 2018
- 2. Strengthen Oversight at Each Tier of Government Remove Immunity Allocate More Resources to the Local Government Reduce the Cost of Political Office Holders to Tax Payers Increase Citizen Education While Strengthening Citizen Voice
- 3. Federal Government State Government Local Government 52.68% 26.72% 20.60% Revenue Sharing for the 3 Tiers of Nigerian Government
- 11. How much did it cost to maintain one lawmaker in 2017? US$ 540,000 Source: Quartz Africa
- 12. What can US$ 540,000 of Tax Payer Money Do? Provide 190 Water Points in 190 Communities
- 13. What can US$ 540,000 of Tax Payer Money Do? Train 287,000 Basic Education Teachers
- 14. Implications for Democracy Low Turnout of Voters “Stomach Infrastructure Politics” Being a Politician Becomes the Easiest Way to Become Rich
- 15. Recommendations Develop programs that allow elected officials to communicate with their constituencies monthly http://bit.ly/acctech
- 16. Recommendations Grant conditions should focus on making state government adhere to instruments of transparency and accountability Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 Open Government Partnership Freedom of Information Act 2011
- 17. Recommendations Create communication channels between international organizations working on Kleptocracy and local civil society organizations (CSOs) http://ifollowthemoney.org
- 18. Recommendations Support programs that allow CSOs to collaborate with independent traditional media to mass mobilize citizens
- 19. “A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.” – Chinua Achebe
Editor's Notes
- About 25 years ago, my father use to tell me, we need to go to the village to see the real Nigeria. I saw schools falling apart, non-availability of water, but gorgeous signs of EU, World Bank projects. I did ask my dad – “What happened? He told me when you become privileged you should find out!. Every president that has come into power in the last 18 years (4th Wave of Democracy) has promised to tackle corruption. To be fair to them, they have all introduced certain reforms that have tried curtailing corruption in the country. However in 2017, Transparency Int’l still ranked Nigeria 137 out of 176 countries, while averaging 130 in the last 9 years.
- Based on this, I will like to pivot on this important points for the country to reduce corruption……1,2,3,4,5. In my following presentation, I will analyze the political structure in the country, the elements of corruption, with stories from my work in the country, and conclude with recommendations.
- Nigeria exists as a federal republic - there are three tiers of government; the federal government, 36 states and a federally administered capital territory, and 774 local government councils, which all receive allocations from a pooled revenue fund according to an agreed formula. The 1999 constitution provides for separation of powers between the three arms of government; the executive, legislature and judiciary at all levels. However, oversight remains weak or nonexistent in practice.
- What happens to revenues shared to states? What is it meant for? According to the constitution, the Local Government has the sole function to develop the basic infrastructures that citizens need – Primary Health Care, Basic Education, and Water Supply. But because the states government has institutionalized a joint account which is overseen by the Governor, all the derivation meant for local government areas or LGAs resides with the governors of the states. So they become demigods!
- Examples of ex - governors that have been indicted for stealing tax payers money include Late Alamesighya (Bayelsa), James Ibori, Alhaji Saminu Turaki, Reverend Jolly Nyame (Taraba) and a list of others who found out that the only way to avoid prosecution is to contest for the National House of Assembly either as a Senator or as a Representative in the lower house. Sahara Reporters, a popular online media in Nigeria referred to them as Dealers and not Leaders, and affirmed that 13 past governors are currently been tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions. I will say in a rat and mouse chase – Tom and Jerry!
- In 2016, I led an evaluation of the provision of boreholes to 500 communities in 5 states of Nigeria, planned to have been carried out between 2010 – 2015. Only 243 of the water point has been installed, while 17 has had defects. In the 5 states, what appears to be the issue from each state water agency was that the Governor didn’t release the money for construction. Also, there were no financial controls in the distribution of funds from the governor to the Water Agency. Because states do not adhere to the Fiscal responsibility Act 2007, they cannot be held responsible.
- In 2016, the Federal Government released a bail out fund of 1.8 billion dollars to 35 state governments. The Follow the Money team, a network of 1,200+ citizens was tracking the 40 million dollars made available to Delta State in which 38,920 dollars was meant for the reconstruction of the primary school at Ibrede. When the team sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) backed letter, stating that the law is not binding on the state. 3 Governors had already been indicted by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission. Even so, these political holders, at the expense of their poor citizens, enjoy tax payers money lavishly. The state government rejected the letter.
- On June 19 2016, Doctors Without Borders announced that it needed more funding to provide drugs for 49,000 children that were in need of urgent treatment. So which organizations are responsible for responding in the country? – The State Emergency Management Agency, The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and others. What kinds of people work in this agency? (Reference – United Nations Space Based Information on Disaster and Emergency Response Evaluation) Also not to forget that 2015 was an election year.
- We responded with a datamining activity which produced this illustration. A week after, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) responded on Twitter with how much money they got from the Secretary General of the Federation (SGF) et al
- 2 weeks later…There was a protest by internally displaced people (IDPs) requesting that the state government provide them with information on how money gotten was spent. Nevertheless, it took about 1 year and 6 months before the Secretary General of the Federation (SGF) got sacked. At least, he was sacked.
- Let us look at the legislative arm of government at the federal level. It has 109 senators and 360 house of representative members – Each senator earns $55,000 a year in salary, while house of representatives members will earn $42,000.
- Citizen trust in political office holders is reducing gradually. According to the recent World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report, it ranked Nigeria 130 out of 137 countries on public trust in political office holders.
- When we founded Connected Development’s Follow The Money in 2012, our strategy focused on town halls meeting the brings key stakeholders to a meeting in specific campaign villages, online technologies were secondary. In 2017, we initiated tracked government spending on projects in 31 communities, and 13 were completed. All the 13 were as a result of our offline strategy. In my past 4 months at NED, I surveyed 23 organizations working in 9 countries in West Africa, and also a case study of 9 organizations promoting government accountability in 4 countries, I found out that their success stories hinged on creating a space where public service providers and beneficiaries can discuss. I think we need to strengthen those spaces!
- In the last 18 months, The Follow The Money team had written 101 Freedom of Information supported letters to inquire information about projects.23 of these letters were for federal government agencies, and out of that we got 9 response, 79 of it was written to state government, we got only 10 responses. 4 of the responses were gotten from Kaduna State, one of the three state that has written a letter of intent to join the Open Government Partnership. In fact, it is the only state that publishes its budget, expenditure and spendings as directed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007. I think grant conditions should be based on this as partners shift focus to supporting subnational governments.
- It is not enough to always announce that a Nigerian governor has stashed millions of dollars in a bank in Switzerland, the USA, UK or Canada. I think we should get more proactive by providing real-time communication channels that allows in – country Civil Society Organizations working in this space to communicate with international organizations working on Kleptocracy. For instance, the 1.8 billion dollars bail out funds that was released to state governors could stir up communications between these two parties helping to track whether the governor is taking tax payers money outside the country and what its been used for. Connected Development’s Follow The Money has a platform for such knowledge exchange at ifollowthemoney.org it currently has 1,300+ members from the 36 states of Nigeria, and members from 5 other west African countries.
- In my survey of 23 Civil Society Organizations working in 9 countries in West Africa, 20 alluded to the fact that Radio remains the most effective means to mobilize citizens and also to get government response. TV followed as a most effective means. As a key part of our Follow The Money work, we run a weekly Follow The Money programme in local languages to discuss our campaigns, call citizens to mobilize and government to respond to issues. Beyond the rhetoric of the internet, I think we should support more collaboration of Civil Society Organizations with independent traditional media organizations to develop programmes that educate citizens on the core values that democracy brings with it. Such is one being able to hold their leaders accountable!
- I will like to conclude on this quote from one of my most respected Nigerians, Oh no. Not my dad this time but Chinua Achebe who said………
- I look forward to your suggestions, comments and questions. Feel free to email me at oludotunbabayemi@gmail.com