By Okechukwu Emeh Jr
It can be asserted that official corruption and national security are strange bedfellows owing to the fact that the former denotes act of dishonesty or criminal breach of trust, as clearly manifested in the use of public resources for private gain or self-enrichment, and the latter anchored in maintenance of order, peace, stability and safety of lives and property in a polity.
Disturbingly, the current trend around the world has shown a strong correlation between widespread embezzlement of public funds and noticeable deterioration in Internal Security Situations (ISSs) of many developing countries, especially those in Africa, including Nigeria. For example, the nagging problems of crime, criminality and violence in affected countries are partly attributed to privation and deprivation induced by rampant corruption and the attendant mass poverty, misery and desperation. On this account, a causal nexus can be established between siphoning of public monies running into billions of naira and escalating level of criminal violence like armed robbery, kidnapping, insurgency, militancy and terrorism in Nigeria.
Thus, it is safe to assume that the sum of N10 billion stolen from a national treasury would have a ripple effect of producing a substantial number of hardened criminals in a society. No wonder the more such criminals are killed or sent to prison, the more their tribe increases with terrifying ferocity.
In another dimension, corruption has been blamed for effete or weak and powerless nature of law enforcement institutions like police in many developing countries. This is observable in misappropriation of funds set aside for training and welfare of personnel and provision of security logistics (including arms and ammunition, bullet-proof jackets, walkie-talkie gadgets, operational vehicles and other accoutrements).
The corruption aspects incapacitating law enforcement agencies are also egregious in the method of recruiting new personnel in a manner sometimes skewed towards nepotism and job selling rather than merit. This is not to overlook the vexed issues of bribery and connivance with criminals by undesirable elements within the law enforcement system.
It would be instructive to cite a number of countries where privation and deprivation of corruption-instigated criminal activities with grave national security consequences have reached crisis proportions. In South America, Mexico and Columbia, which have incessant cases of corruption scandals in government, are increasingly gaining notoriety as narco states where daredevil drug barons and their gangsters hold sway, along with indigenous Red Indian agitators and left-wing guerillas.
The post-apartheid South Africa has not fared better, as the awful legacies of political and socio-economic exclusion of the black majority by the former white minority regime, as aggravated by relative deprivation and inequality and epidemic of official frauds in the post-Nelson Mandela leadership, have continued to fan the flames of violent crimes like armed robbery, rape and xenophobia in the country.
In Nigeria, the twin problems of corruption and mismanagement on a grand scale, as made poignant in the recent past, apart from the resultant economic stagnation, have spawned abject poverty and suffering among the masses that have metastatised into national insecurity due to many idle hands that have found workshop in criminal activities as a means of survival like armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism, militancy, insurgency, terrorism, crude oil theft, baby factories and human trafficking.
In the Great Lakes sub-region of Central Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic (CAR) have in recent years been enmeshed in political instability, armed rebellion and sectarian bloodshed blamed on the destabilising legacies of economic plunder and impunity of their late notorious dictators, as represented by Field Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko and Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa respectively.
Notably, the aforementioned countries with extractive institutions have lagged behind in ensuring national security when compared with well-governed national societies with inclusive systems like Switzerland and most of the Scandinavian entities (including Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway and Finland) and parts of South-East Asia (especially South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia), along with their counterparts in Africa like Botswana, Mauritius, Seychelles and Cape Verde. However, one identifiable feature of these countries with impressive ISSs is that they have sustainable political, economic and social development, as underpinned by democratic consolidation, accountable governance, political stability, due process, the rule of law, respect of fundamental human rights, inclusive economic growth, equality of opportunities, human welfare, social cohesion and grassroots development.
For example, Botswana, which is seen as a model of sustainable development in Africa, has the lowest crime rate on the continent, with the only mortal challenge in the country being HIV/AIDS, which the authorities in Gaborone are trying to overcome through sustained massive public education and enlightenment campaigns. Not surprisingly, the police chief of that Southern African country once disclosed some years ago on Focus on Africa, a news and current affairs programme of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), that their police officers had the bare minimum of work to do because of the low crime rate there.
It is hoped that developing countries like Nigeria would perceive corruption not only as a major national security threat but also as public enemy number one that should be tackled with a will for their realisation of enduring order, peace, stability, progress and protection of lives and property of the citizenry. In many progressive and forward-looking national societies, such as those in North America (the United States and Canada), Western Europe (Britain, France, Italy and Germany) and Asia (China, Japan and South Korea), they have mounted an aggressive campaign against all forms of economic and financial crimes, including bribery and corruption, by meting out severe punishments for offenders, because of the undesirable consequences of such crimes.
These include; bad governance, breach of citizens’ trust in government, stunted economic growth and development through hemorrhage of requisite funds for investments and provision of infrastructure and social services and upsurge in violent crimes fuelled by embezzled funds that should have otherwise been utilised to cushion against the worst effects of poverty and misery by means of social protection programmes like poverty alleviation and capacity building of the jobless for self-employment. Being detrimental to sustainable political, economic and social development, countries like China have gone to the extent of imposing death penalty on corrupt officials in order to deter likely offenders.
In Nigeria, it is heartwarming that the thoughtful administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has embarked on a large scale campaign against official corruption and mismanagement. Already, stunning revelations about billions of naira stolen from our public purse in the recent past have been making the headlines.
Thankfully, President Buhari, who had made wrestling with corruption one of the focal points of his electioneering campaign, has, laudably, shown an inclination towards fighting this socio-economic menace in all its entirety in the country, in a way devoid of sacred cows for any perpetrator, no matter social status. In essence, this is driven by his determination to engender leadership accountability, reinstate public confidence in governance, safeguard our collective patrimony from thieving public officials, generate economic growth and sustainable development and the associated dividends, eradicate extreme poverty, address unemployment among our teeming youths and restore our national prestige and respectability within the international community.
Besides the national security imperative of curbing official corruption, there are other compelling reasons why all and sundry in Nigeria should support President Buhari in his current effort to cleanse the Augean stables in the country. Politically, this socio-economic malady is a negation of common good, which is one of the cardinal principles of governance. Economic wise, corruption is tantamount to erosion of public interest by virtue of the underlying narcissistic individualism, self-centredness and self-seeking and self-serving inclinations, which are at variance with public good considering that it is buoyed by greed, avarice and self-gratification.
Developmentally, this socio-economic monster is antithetical to human progress and survival because according to Professor Dudley Seers, a foremost development economist, in trying to address the challenges of development, one should ask what has happened to poverty, unemployment and inequality, which are partly occasioned by looting of public funds. Socially, corruption impinges on the moral fibre of a people through undermining of the sterling values that exalt a nation like righteousness, integrity, self-esteem, accountability, contentment, modesty, self-sacrifice, selfless service and altruism.
In view of the foregoing, Nigerians are enjoined to join hands with the Buhari administration in the ongoing anti-graft campaign in the country. Even, the campaign should be seen as an effort towards our second liberation, after the epoch-making anti-colonial struggle of our nationalist heroes of yore that led to our independence in 1960.
As regards the current struggle in Nigeria, it is for own emancipation from the yoke of leadership unaccountability, economic inertia, privation, deprivation, suffering, retrogression, insecurity and national humiliation wrought by pervasive corruption.By surmounting this socio-economic canker that has become a lachrymal waste-pipe of our national resources, there would be enough funds for engaging millions of our jobless people through gainful employment and capacity building for entrepreneurship and, by so doing, forestalling them from crime and violence whose surge in recent years has fostered fear, uncertainty and insecurity across the land.
Apart from unlocking economic and social opportunities, making strenuous efforts to tame bribery and corruption in Nigeria would also save us from the national embarrassment of often being at the top of annual corruption index of renowned world’s anti-corruption rating bodies like Transparency International (TI). True, we cannot afford to fail in this epochal struggle. And being a desideratum in the search for sustainable order, peace, stability and safeguarding of lives and property in the country, anti-corruption mechanism should be mainstreamed into our national security architecture.
•Emeh, a social researcher, sent this piece from Wuse 2, Abuja. 08036895746, okemehjr@yahoo.com
