Corruption and underdevelopment

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
A man can be born again; the springs of life can be cleansed instantly…if this is true
of one, it can be true of any number. Thus, a nation can be born in a day if the ideals
of the people can be changed [William Jennings Bryan].
Nigeria is one of the Countries in Africa that loses billions of dollars yearly because
of corruption. She was ranked the second most corrupt country in the world in 2004
[Olu-Olu, 2008]. In 2005 and 2008, Nigeria was ranked 13th and 17th respectively
out of 146 countries by Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index
[TICPI]. Although the 2007 ranking placed Nigeria as the 32nd most corrupt country
out of 147 countries by TICPI, corruption still remains a serious problem in Nigeria
[Shehu, 2006].
Corruption is a “multifaceted phenomenon with multiple causes and effects”
[Andvig and fjeldstad, 2001: 1]. It is a trinity of illegal money, commercial and
criminal activities [Baker, 2005; Guanardi, 2008]. According to section 8(1) of the
Anti-Corruption Law of Nigeria (2004), it entails the act of asking for, receiving or
obtaining any property or benefit of any kind for oneself or for any other person. It
involves the abuse of public office for self-aggrandizement or private benefits
[World Bank, 1997].
The term “corruption” covers a wide range of conduct patterns. It is a product of the
socio-economic and political structure of any society. As a multi-faceted
phenomenon, no single theory is equipped enough to explain its causation and/or
control.
Corruption is not a Nigerian Word. It is an English Word. While corruption is an
English word necessarily laced with western ideas, the concept behind it is found in
other cultures. Corruption is one of the dare devils that stares humanity in the
face. It is also a global problem with certain destructive tendencies in the Third
World Countries like Nigeria. But the rate of corruption in Nigeria is so alarming
that one is constrained to ask: Is there anything peculiar to the nature of Nigerians
that makes them to be corrupt? Achebe [1983: 35], quoting from the weekly star
newspaper of May 15, 1983, wrote that the corrupt nature of the Nigerian society is
such that, keeping an average Nigerian from being corrupt is like keeping a goat
from eating yam.
Corruption serves as a spring board to under-development in Nigeria. Most
economic, political and social problems in underdeveloped societies like Nigeria
emanate from corruption which manifest in many ways such as: lack of
accountability, inadequate funding of programs, diversion of public resources to
private ownership, different types of discriminations, ethnicity, lack of competence,
inefficiency etc.
The problem of corruption as a phenomenon is historically rooted in the country’s
political economy. In the colonial period, it was attributed to colonialism.
Although, the government has embarked upon anti-corruption measures, these
are not sincerely and properly implemented such that the expected objectives and
goal are not achieved. The problem is thus rather aggravated. Consequently,
corruption has continued to perpetuate underdevelopment in Nigeria. Many factors
seem to have combined to make the situation severe or worse than the case in the
colonial era. Firstly, Achebe (1983: 1) fascinatingly explained that:
The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely, a failure of Leadership. There is
nothing basically wrong with the Nigeria land and climate or water or air or
anything else the Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to
rise to the responsibility or to challenge of personal examples, which are hallmarks
of true leadership.
There is also a common belief that poverty is one of the major causes of corruption.
Here, it is argued that there exists a great deal of poverty among Nigerians in almost
every segment of their social life. In Nigeria today, it is just a few families that can
boast of three square meals a day, wear good clothes, or enjoy the basic necessities
of life, such as water, good road network and electricity. Hence, everyone takes to
corruption, no matter one’s own small capacity as a way of making up or balancing
the prevalent inequalities. It is also equally true that, corruption is due to the
degeneration and shaky foundations of our moral upbringing.
Corruption transcends nearly every structure of Nigerian society. The
situation is so bad that corruption has been institutionalized to a point where it
almost passes for official policy in both public and private sectors of our national
life. The socio-economic and political system itself appears to be built on corruption
and it thrives on it. Even the churches and other religious organizations are
themselves not completely free of corrupt practices.
This study attempts to assess the impact of corruption in Nigeria’s
development with a view to suggesting alternative approach of tackling the
phenomenon.

Statement of Problem
One of the most fundamental problems facing Nigeria today is corruption.
The corruption has not only weakened the moral fiber of Nigeria, it has also
wreaked havoc in its body politics. Corruption in Nigeria is so devastating and
alarming that it has virtually affected every sector of the economy.
Consequently, it is obvious that corruption has been a major bane of socio
economic and political development in Nigeria. This leads to the following
questions on which the research is based.
Is corruption responsible for Nigeria’s underdevelopment?
Is the persistence of corruption in Nigeria linked to external factors?
Can deregulation curb the menace of corruption and engender development in
Nigeria?
Corruption has affected many sectors of the economy. For instance, Nigeria
presents a typical care of a Country in Africa whose development has been
undermined and retarded by the menace of corrupt practices.
To say that corruption has eaten deep into every aspect of the Nigerian
Society is to affirm the obvious. This can be inferred from the revelations of probe
panels that have been set up at different times by different regime.
In Nigeria, since independence, series of reforms have been carried out in the public
service so as to make the public bureaucracy more efficient and result oriented.
However, the anticipated gains of such reforms have not been visible due to series of
factors which include that of corruption.
Whichever way one views corruption, particularly bureaucratic corruption, it
involves a violation of public duty or deviation from high moral standards in
exchange for [or in anticipation of] personal pecuniary going. It is connected with
moral and dishonest acts. Gould D.J cited in identified more than twenty categories
of corrupt practices in developing nations which are very much visible in Nigeria
State. These are bribery, fraudulent use of official stationary, payment for office
visit, payment for letter of recommendation, kickback for wiring, money travel
documents and travel related peccadilloes, misuse of official housing two salaries,
neglect of public service for per tonal business, salary computation fraud,
embezzlement in its various form among other.
Corruption in the bureaucratic class is the type of corruption the citizens
encounter daily at places like the hospitals, schools, local counseling offices,
encounters with the police, taking offices, etc. it is petty corruption of need that
occurs when one obtains a business from the public sector through inappropriate
procedure.
However, corruption in the bureaucratic class in Nigeria came into being
when public servant not steamed in the traditions of a political professionalism, saw
how politicians who hitherto, were nothing, became rich overnight through
patronages, gift, bribes and actual embezzlement of government funds. It was only a
matter of time before the bureaucrats joined them.
In Nigeria’s fourth republic, corruption has become a Norm and practice of
politics among the present political class [i.e. those that control the affairs of the
state] from the presidency of the councilors of local authorities and party chairman.
The furniture mentality which this political class brought to governance represents
the highest form of corruption and enslavement of the popular masses of the
country.
Political corruption in Nigeria encompasses the use of official power and
government resources by the political class for sordid and disrepute private gain.
Indeed, political corruption could be said to be the “head” and other forms of
corruption are the “body” cut of the head; the other parts could cease to grow.
Nigeria’s main development problem is political corruption which needs to be
eradicated.
Accurately, it can be asserted that, it is the duty and responsibility of every
good government to create their environment and set the tone for good and effective
policies, including conducive business environment, protection of persons and
properties etc. in any society or country. The Nigeria government has been blamed
properly. So, for not setting a conducive environment, economic and social
development over the years, particularly at this time, when public security and
safety has steadily become a major issue for citizens and corporate investors alike.
Corruption additionally, has become a hot topic among citizens and investors
both apparently risen, due in part, to a battered and depressed economy, and since,
the discussion or debate regarding corruption, has tended to be focused or centered
around the government or public sector component of the hydra-head corruption
monster. This is so, even though, corruption levels or magnitude is not much
different, in the private sector.
But is quite another thing, and pretend that corruption in Nigeria is localized
to public officers and public office-holders sellers of adulterated kerosene are
practicing unethical business methods, and even a criminal enterprise, ditto for the
groundnut seller who cheats you out of more groundnut because he uses a crooked
cup-measure, it is corruption practices, when banks and other financial institutions
charge outrageous interest rates, refuse to grant loans to legitimate business people
and companies, for capacity building, but grant loans to the well-connected and
those willing to wet- the ground, but would never payback the loans.
Government has brought ways of combating corruption through some crude
in Nigeria. The provisions are laid down in the constitution of federal republic of
Nigeria. These include the criminal code, probe panels and commissions, the anti
corruption tribunal, the anti-corruption acts and War against Indiscipline and
Corruption Conduct of Bureau, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related
offence commission etcetera.
In December 31, 1983, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari became the 7th Head of
State in Nigeria selected to lead the country by middle and high ranking military
officers after a successful coup d’état that overthrew civilian president Shehu
Shagari on December 31, 1983. Buhari justified the military’s seizure of power by
castigating the civilian government as hopelessly corrupt, and this administration
subsequently initiated a public campaign against indiscipline known as “War against
Indiscipline” [WAI]. Aspects of this campaign include public humiliation of civil
servants who arrived late for work whilst guards were armed with whips to ensure
orderly queues a bus stop. He also moved to silence critics of this administration
passing decrees curbing press freedoms and allowing for opponents to be detained
up to three months without formal charges. He also banned strikes and lockouts by
workers and founded Nigeria’s first secrete police force, the national security
organization. This policy was a bit affective, as it curbs Nigeria’s indiscipline for a
while until Ibrahim Babangida Badamasi succeeded him in August 27, 1985.
Public office is a trust which should not be abused. This necessitated the
establishment of the code of conduct Bureau and Tribunal act, chapter 56 LFN 1990
which gave the bureau the mandate to establish and maintain a high standard of
public morality in the conduct of government business and to ensure that the actions
and behavior of public officers conform to the highest standard of public morality
and accountability [Federal Republic 2002].
The Bureau has through its enlightenment programs enable the people to know what
is expected of them and to an extent inflamed feat in the minds of some public
officers as against corruption practices. Though, they have not achieved expected
result, hence, ICPC [Independent Corruption Practices and other related offense
Commission] was established.
ICPC [Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offence commission]
was inaugurated on September 29, 2002 by the Nigeria president Olusegun
Obasanjo. The ICPC mandate is to prohibit and prescribe punishment for corrupt
practices and other related offences.
This anti-corruption commission was eventually passed and signed into law
on the 13th of June 2000. The Act established the Independent Corrupt Practices and
other related offences Commission [ICPC] with Justice Mustapha Akambin a
returned federal appeal court judge as the chairman, and the act in section 3 [4]
providing from the independence of the commission and gives the chair authority to
issue orders for the controls and general administration of the commission.
Since the inauguration of the ICPC in 2000, the commission, however, has
been performing its duties with great zeal and dedication, despite it perennial
insufficient funds and manpower. These problems have also been made worse by
the citizens who also are disgusted and devastated by corruption but have greeted
the ICPC with outright hostility, suspicions and disbelief. Also they face the
problem of slow judicial process and rigid procedures and National Assembly
incompetence. For instance, it took National Assembly nearly one year to pass the
ICPC Bill into law and this has been the case of other ICPC issues in National
Assembly.
An important institution that was put in place by Obasanjo’s administration is
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC]. The agency was set up in
2002 to tackle financial crimes including fraud and money laundering. Money
laundering is a criminal process whereby the proceeds from crimes are hidden and
the integrated into the financial system as legitimately acquired funds.
The EFCC act was a major departure from the past enabling laws fighting economic
and financial crimes in Nigeria: in terms of powers, functions and responsibility.
Some problems emanated in the activities of EFCC. These problems are quite
enormous and influential that it has impeded its great success. The crusade is Punic
in nature and as a result, orchestrated by the politically exposed persons [PEPs] to
the settling of political scores. For instance, it was allegedly noted that the
commission under Ribadu’s chairmanship the beamed it search light on the political
foes of the former president Obasanjo. Hence, the commission suffers politization.
Also EFCC can rarely exercise the fall Wrath of the Law on these political readers
because the law allows them to claim “political community”. Hence they serve only
as prosecutors of crime negating the mandate of crime prevention.Government
interference and the slow nature of judicial procedures also militates their activities.
It could be observed that the several crusade made by the government in order
curb corruption in the Nigeria Society has not been effective. More so, the EFCC
and ICPC are not independent, they are been controlled by the executives
and these have been a major hindrance in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
Making corruption history is the surest way of making all the problems of Nigeria a
history.

Objective of the Study
The major concern of this study is to investigate how the growing incidence
of corruption has stunned underdevelopment in Nigeria. However, the specific
objectives are stated as follows;
To discover if corruption is responsible for Nigeria’s underdevelopment.
To ascertain if the persistence of corruption in Nigeria is linked to external
factors.
To determine if the deregulation policy is capable of curbing the menace of
corruption in Nigeria.

Significance of the Study
The study has two basic significances. They are both practical and theoretical in
nature. Practically, this research work will be a guide to policy makers, economists,
political analysts, policy implementers, and researchers. In other words, it will serve
as a tool for the government and private organizations on how to curb and prevent
corrupt practices and engender development in Nigeria.
Theoretically, the study will close the existing gap in the literature in corruption and
by so doing; add to the existing volume of knowledge on the connection between
corruption and underdevelopment and how it can be curbed.

Literature Review
In order to justify the objectives of the study, it will be necessary to review the
works of other scholars in the field of study since such a review will provide us with
adequate background. It is through such a review that we will be able to diagnose
the short comings of previous studies and the way in which the present study will
help in providing solutions to the problems.
Ebenezer [1986] in his book Corruption in a Neo-Colonial State: The
Nigerian Experience, tried to pose the question—what causes corruption and why
various policies that are against corruption in Nigeria have failed? In his answer, he
maintains that our leaders failed to comprehend the real causes of corruption. He
emphasized that “corruption is a clear cut product of neo colonization which bases
its economic program on the capitalist form of development”. Stretching further, he
examined the efforts of past administrations to bring to an end, the act of corruption
and explained why they were defective. According to him, they failed because
corruption is often a symptom of deeper difficulties in the societies where it is
prevalent, and usually operates within the broader context of other social problems.
The writer’s [Michael Johnston] argument is fraught with same problems.
One of the problems is being that he was unable to highlight these deeper difficulties
which he sees as symptoms of corruption. Hence, corruption is associated with slow
economic growth, reduced investment, and feeble property and contract rights,
ineffective institutions, limited social interaction and weak rule of law, poor
economic competitiveness, deep ethnic divisions and conflicts, low popular
participation in politics, weak protection of civil liberties, low educational
attainment, and closed economic and political systems. In other words, corruption is
pervasive in underdeveloped societies and there is hardly any effective means of
combating the cankerworm.
Okadigbo [2000] stated that:
“When a regional leader is at the helm of a nation’s affairs, where loyalty to an
ethnic group supersedes national loyalty, where the national treasure chest is seen as
the body of the conqueror at Lagos, when the winner takes all or want to take all
without apology and without remorse. When the citizens are careless about how
wealth is acquired but cares more whether the conditions of political economy of the
state are complete, corruption becomes the order of the day from top to bottom and
from bottom to top”.
This implies that in Nigeria, the phenomenon of corruption must be subjected to
more intensive analysis as Nigerians bye and large, ask less of what is stolen but
more of who stole and from where he comes. It is by discovering the much that was
stolen, squandered, mismanaged or siphoned abroad that the citizens would begin to
appreciate the link between corruption and underdevelopment as those resources
that were frittered away would have been able to stimulate the economy and
engender socio-economic and political development of the country. What is
underdevelopment? Many scholars have given different meaning to the concept. To
Rodney [1972] underdevelopment results from unequal interaction between two
societies. The more this unequal relationship lasts, the more the backwardness of the
less privileged ones. In other words, development is a sign that the developed and
underdeveloped societies came into contact when they were in different levels.
He further said that if the underprivileged society hopes that they can make ways in
this type of relationship, then it is deceiving itself. The poverty of the less privileged
one is the development of the other. This situation will be worsening as far as the
relationship continues. He gave example of the European capitalism and the
indigenous hunting societies of America and the Caribbean. He said that the contact
between the two nearly exterminated the later. This can be applicable in what is
happening in the capitalist society today, this is a warning that as far as the
relationship lasts, the third world countries will not make any breakthrough to
industrialization. From experience, it could be seen that the situation is worsening
instead of improving. He uses Soviet Union, China and Korea as the concrete
instance of the operation of this rule. He said that these countries were nearly
exterminated when they came into contact with the more mature capitalism of the
western Europe and that these societies advanced to their present state of
development because they succeeded these relationship with the capitalist world and
followed a new path altogether. He went further to conclude by saying that, “indeed,
as far as the two biggest socialist states are concerned [the former Soviet Union and
China], socialist development has already catapulted them beyond states such as
Britain and France, which have been following the capitalist path for centuries.
Rodney [1972] catalogued the disadvantages that go with the unequal
relationship with the advanced countries. He mentioned poverty, stagnation, greed
etc. and traced the present predicament of Africa to the time it came into contact
with the advanced countries. In the 15th century, this contact gave birth to the
underdevelopment of Africa today. This in this view is why Africa has continued to
stagnate and Europe continues to develop. In other words, before this contact, Africa
has been developing on their own pace but, this was truncated since its contact with
the capitalist world. Rodney concluded by delinking from this relationship and the
adoption of socialist mode of production in line with the Soviet Union and the
Republic of China. He based his argument on the fact that socialism aims at and has
significantly achieved the creation of plenty, so that the principle of egalitarian
distribution becomes consistent with the satisfaction of the needs of the members of
the society. To him when this is achieved, the workers and the peasants will control
the economy, and the exploitation and misery will end. What Rodney [1972] has
said, is what is really happening to Africa today. I strongly share his view of
severing the relationship from the two advance capitalist countries, though he did
not tell us of the consequences of this option and how to avoid it or the palliatives to
cushion the effect of delinking.
Ake [1981], in his Political Economy of Africa, dwelt extensively on the
contemporary features of African economy and how they might be changed in the
future. He traced the history of Africa from the colonial period to the neo-colonial
period. He also dwelt extensively on the strategies which the national leaders have
adopted to engineer development but these strategies failed to work because of the
international atmosphere which make the plan unrealistic. In his opinion, “more
often than not the plan is really not a strategy for development but an aggregation of
projects and policies, which may sometimes be incompatible”. He agreed that the
underdevelopment of Africa is as a result of its long contact with capitalism, and
pointed out that the national bourgeoisie contributes a lot to the underdevelopment
of Africa through their connivance with the international bourgeoisies by applying
wrong and incompatible policies. He went further than Rodney [1972] and Fanon
[1961] to show the conditions that led to the emergence of the petty bourgeoisie, the
instrument of this accumulation and the national post-colonial state.
According to him, the post-colonial state involves itself in the class struggle.
That is to say that the state was highly politicized. The state is highly developed and
acts as an instrument of wealth accumulation, and naturally results in a bitter
struggle to gain control of it. A critical focus of this struggle is the control of
government, which is the formal access to state power. Thus in Africa, those in
office do all they can to perpetuate their hold on it, and those out of office do all
they can to get it. There is hardly any restraint to struggle because the boundary
between the state and the ruling class is blurred. The implication of this according to
him, “is a crudely oppressive class rule, because the state and government are too
involved in the class struggle, and because of the high premium placed on political
power, this to him is what makes political power in Africa to be highly authoritarian
as the hegemonic faction of the bourgeoisie adopts a siege mentality”.
Fortunately, the tendency to accumulate through the use of state power rather
than through productive activities makes post-colonial capitalism less conducive to
the development of productive forces and the increase of surplus. In conclusion, he
recommended socialism but went on to say that the state of the productive forces in
Africa will be detrimental to the attainment of socialism. He also mentioned the
interaction of the external forces as an obstacle to socialism, but said that, “in the
long run objective conditions are more likely to move Africa to socialism”.
Fanon [1961] argued that Europe is literally the creation of the third world.
The wealth were accumulated is that which stolen from the underdeveloped people.
“He went as far as saying that we should not tremble with gratitude when any help
comes from Europe. He says this should be the ratification of a double realization:
the realization by the colonized people that it is there due and the realization by the
capitalist power that in fact they must pay”. What Fanon [1961] is basically saying
is that Africans should realize that Europe was created by them and therefore should
disregard anything that comes from them in the name of gifts or aid. Fanon [1961]
enumerated the criminal activities of the colonialists in their robbery adventure in
Africa. These include deportations, massacre, forced labor and slavery.
These are the methods that capitalism used to increase its wealth, its gold or
diamond resources and establish its power. He said that violence was their main
instrument of accumulation. He mentioned in detail how the European activities
undermined the development of Africans both mentally and physically through the
imposition of western culture.
He further castigated the indigenous bourgeoisie for their activities which is
instrumental to the internal weakness of the colonized. He said this traditional
weakness which is almost congenital to the national consciousness of
underdeveloped countries, is not solely the result of the mutilation of the colonized
people by the result of the colonial regime. It is also the result of the intellectual
laziness of the national middle class, of its spiritual penury and of profoundly
cosmopolitan mould that its mind is set in. According to him, this bourgeois class
who took over from the colonialist had little or nothing before they came into
power. At the attainment of independence, they engaged in the accumulation of
capital to the neglect of the masses that stood behind them during the time of
struggle for independence. Instead of investing in productive ventures, they prefer to
invest in the one that will yield quick money. Hence, he succinctly remarked. “The
landed bourgeoisie refuses to take the slightest risks and remained opposed to any
ventures and to any hazard, it has no intention of building upon sand, it demands
solid investments and quick returns. On the other hand, large sums of money were
spent on display on cars, country house and all those things which has been correctly
described by economists as characteristics of an underdeveloped country.
Fanon [1961], after condemning bourgeoisie’s activities, recommended that it
should not be allowed to find the conditions necessary for its existence and growth.
In other words, the combined effort of the masses led by a party and intellectuals
who are highly conscious and armed with revolutionary principles ought to bear the
way to the elimination of this unuseful and harmful middle class. He also
recommended the complete obliteration of the type of business to which this group
of people engage in. Finally, he advised the underdeveloped countries not to imitate
the European way of life and not to expect anything from them but to try and
fashion out new life for the entire people of the underdeveloped society and
recommended socialism if possible by violence because in his exact words: Every
generalization must out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfill it or betray
it. Effiong [1980] and Nwankwo [1981] dwelt extensively on the nefarious activities
of the multinational corporations [MNCs] in Nigeria, but unlike of Effiong [1980],
Nwankwo recommends outright nationalization of these companies. He enumerated
the visible activities of the multinationals which include:
Monopolization of the means of production.
The repatriation of profits etc.
On the invisible activities of MNCs, he says that they engage in transfer pricing and
over-invoicing. After weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the
multinationals, he concluded that their disadvantages outweighed the advantages
and therefore argues that the contributions of these corporations are at best illusory.
All scholars so far reviewed are basically saying the same thing but from different
angles. This boils down to the conclusion that the underdevelopment of the third
world countries in general and Nigeria in particular is due to the integration of their
economy into the capitalist system.
Corruption and corrupt practice in all its ramification cannot succeed or thrive
without the connivance of the international bourgeoisie who provide a safe haven
for loot public fund in a various home countries, for instance when Gary Foxcroft
and Sam Itauma produced the documentary entitled: “Saving Africans witch
Children aired on the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, and channel 4 of the
United kingdom three years ago, the whole world was outraged. The outrage was
as a result of the cruelty meted on children who were accused of being witcher. As
a result many individuals, corporate bodies, nations and governments took decisive
actions to curb the trend and doled out money to Foxcroft and Itauma organization
to assist the kids. But unknown to many donors, Foxcroft and Itauma where
scammers who were abusing the opportunities and goodwill provided by
the documentary to line their pockets. Sally the duo has turned the misfortune of
the children into a fortune making business, amassing wealth from unsuspecting
donors under the guise of helping the ‘child witches’. None of the kids have
sufficiently benefited from then funds as they are being kept in a very particular
condition .so far they have collected over £10million pounds (₦2.6 billion)
documentary available to news watch shows that between November 2008
exactly after two days after the documentary was first aired in London and April
2009 .fox croft and his accomplice had collected £25,638 British pounds or ₦68.2
million from donations made online through his website WWW. Justgiving.com
stepping stone Nigeria on behalf of the stepping stone Nigeria, SS