CBCN Calls for national transformation, urges govt to address corruption, poor governance - ITREALMS

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The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has issued a communique at the end of their 2025 Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, calling on Nigerians to work towards authentic national transformation, reports ITREALMS.

The bishops emphasized the need for perseverance in Christian hope and working towards justice in the nation, stressing that hope does not disappoint.

AFRICMIL, Amnesty International to hold national conference on Whistleblowing, corruption and human rights - ITREALMS

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The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) and the Nigeria office of the global human rights group, Amnesty International, will hold a national conference on September 19, 2024, to explore the link between whistleblowing, corruption and human rights as well as take stock of the situation of whistleblowers in Nigeria.

The theme of the conference, which comes on the heels of increased attacks and violations of the rights of whistleblowers, is “Amplifying Whistleblowing to reduce Corruption and Protect Human Rights.”

Akume, Tinubu and fight against corruption by Godwin Onyeacholem - ITREALMS

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Cynics – or critics if you like – would argue that if there was any doubt, there is none now: Unrestrained by ethics as well as domestic and international legal obligations, the Tinubu administration, speaking through George Akume, secretary to the government of the federation, is not committed to fighting corruption despite everything.

At a workshop organized in Abuja by the Bureau for Public Service Reforms in collaboration with the SGF’s office, this government once again showed up strongly in readiness to kill the truth. Akume, who was represented by Nnamdi Mbaeri, permanent secretary in the office of the SGF, warned workers in government offices that they would go to jail if they leaked public documents without authorisation. 

Ajaokuta Steel Company mismanagement: NANS tasks Tinubu on stealing, corruption, demands probe - ITREALMS

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The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, on Monday expressed concerns about misconduct in Ajaokuta Steel Company and urged President Bola Tinubu to order a thorough investigation into reported mismanagement.

“If there are individuals or group of individuals protecting the corrupt managers of the Ajaokuta Steel Company and hereby shielding them from any form of probe and judgement, it simply means that they are beneficiaries of the ill-gotten proceeds of the mismanagement or they have other personal interests that are not people-friendly and that are tantamount to water down or nullify President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's fight against corruption. These set of people should also be probed. They may even be part of those used by these selfish leaders to loot the treasury of the steel company dry.”

Death of Dr. Vwaere Diaso: Colleagues blame Lagos State, corruption - ITREALMS

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The death of a medical doctor with the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island, Dr. Vwaere Diaso, who was killed by a faulty elevator in their residence, has been blamed on the Lagos State government and corruption in the medical facility, reports ITREALMS.

This is coming as students are threatened when they complained with suspension of their license.

Human rights coalition ask Nigerians to support fight against corruption - ITREALMS

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The Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Coalition with membership across 35 civil society organisations, has asked Nigerians to expose corrupt practices in the country for prosperity, peace and development.

The coalition in Lagos also called on Nigerians to back the on-going anti-graft campaign by the relevant anti-corruption institutions, especially the fight by the notable anti-graft institution, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Whistleblowing: Strategy for reducing health sector corruption in Nigeria - ITREALMS

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If all goes well as is expected, the whistleblowing and whistleblower protection draft bill which sprung from a five-day stakeholders’ retreat on the whistleblowing policy organized by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning in May 2021 in Keffi, Nasarawa State, would be considered this month at a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting and then transmitted as an executive bill to the National Assembly for passage into law.

Many stakeholders, local and foreign, including citizens who are enthusiastic about the efficacy of whistleblowing as an anti-corruption instrument, are agreed that in addition to mustering the political will for action against corruption, Nigeria is long overdue for a stand-alone legislation that offers robust protection for whistleblowers. The enactment of the law would put Nigeria in the same progressive basket with African countries like Ghana, South Africa and Uganda, which already have whistleblower protection legislations as a means of achieving accountability and good governance.

Nigeria: Character, integrity crucial to fight public sector corruption says Prof Okolie - ITREALMS

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A public finance expert,
Prof Paschal Okolie, has called for a reorientation in the character and integrity of public servants and Nigerians to fight corruption in the nation’s public service, reports ITREALMS.

Okolie, who doubles as the Special Adviser to the Governor of Enugu State on Financial Matters, made this declaration at the Audit Reporting Training workshop for journalists in Anambra and Enugu States on 19 October 2022.

AU-ABC boss to Media: Serve as watchdogs against corruption - ITREALMS

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The Executive Secretary of the African Union Advisory Board Against Corruption (AUABC), Charity Nchimunya, has emphasized the need for the media to join the Board’s efforts in combating corruption.

Speaking at a media engagement workshop held in Nairobi, Ms. Nchimunya said the media can serve as a watchdog by exposing acts of corruption.

Corruption: HEDA urges ICAN to protect image now - ITREALMS

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Worried like every other Nigerian over the ugly trends surrounding the office of the Accountant General of the Federation in recent time, the Human & Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) has written to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) to swiftly redeem its image by investigating the alleged corruption case against one of its members- Mr. Nwabuoke Anamekwe Chukwunyere.

Recall that Mr. Nwabuoke Anamekwe Chukwunyere was appointed as the acting Accountant-General of the Federation, to oversee the management of the Federation’s Accounts in the absence of the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Idris Ahmed who was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on allegation of embezzlement to the tune of over #109Billion.

Can artificial intelligence stop corruption? - ITREALMS

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The amount of goods and services that governments purchase to discharge their official business is a staggering $10 trillion per year – and is estimated at 10 to 25 percent of global GDP. Without effective public scrutiny, the risk of money being lost to corruption and misappropriation is vast. Citizens, rightly so, are demanding more transparency around the process for awarding government contracts. And, at the end of the day, corruption hurts the poor the most by reducing access to essential services such as health and education.

For its part, the World Bank has in place robust mechanisms to sanction firms who are found to have engaged in fraud and corruption in Bank-financed operations. But an ounce of prevention is always better than a pound of cure. As systems and procedures continue to become more digitized, there are more opportunities to leverage available data to find the red flags that can indicate corruption and other integrity risks. But how can human beings sift through vast amounts of data to connect the dots necessary to pick up on every red flag that hints at corruption – without slowing down the government procurement process and ultimately public service delivery?

This is why we’re looking at the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) to help us harness the power of technology to promote transparency in all aspects of government administration. AI could help prevent and mitigate corruption risks as early as possible. This is part of a larger initiative that we are undertaking to help countries navigate how technology can positively transform the public sector.

Working with Microsoft’s Research group, we had the opportunity to see the power and potential of artificial intelligence to digest huge and diverse data sets to detect patterns that hint at the possibility of corrupt behavior. This would allow us to see links in bidding patterns of the winning and losing bidders to numeric patterns under “Benford’s Law,” along with beneficial ownership information from around the globe. It can also allow us to better map networks of relations, locations, use of shell companies, off-shore jurisdictions, and banking information of bidders to address potential risks before a contract is issued. These are just a few examples of indicators that can be assessed to reveal potential concerns.

If we are able to collect and interrogate the available data we have on World Bank-financed procurement, and possibly combine it with datasets from other international organizations, national procurement data, and beneficial ownership or other corporate information, we can gain greater insight on how to make better decisions on public spending to assure greater value-for-money and mitigate the corrosive effects of corruption. What’s even more exciting is the potential to take this exercise to scale and make this tool available to governments worldwide.

The promise is great, but much work remains to be done. In this early exploration of the potential of AI to improve public procurement, we’re collaborating with Microsoft, a leader in advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to explore the potential of data driven corruption prediction and to identify data sets that prove to be of greatest value in detecting problems, and understanding what other types of data would be useful to probe. As we progress, we will be adding sets from other sources, expanding the pool of information to be probed, and further refining the tool’s potential to serve as a global public good.

Promoting the use of technology for more efficient, transparent, and responsive service delivery is a fundamental aspect of the World Bank’s commitment to fighting corruption. Partnering with technology firms who are exploring a new frontier of possibilities will be critical to our success. This week at the Anti-Corruption Collective Action Conference, we will be sharing the initial findings of our work and hope to benefit from the input of leaders who are looking at revolutionary ways to stop corruption.





CONTRIBUTED BY VINAY SHARMA

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Open letter to AU: 157 CSO’s demand end to corruption in Africa

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A total of 157 Civil Society Organisations (CSO) drawn from 37 African countries have written an open letter to African leaders demanding an end to corruption on the continent, reports ITRealms.

They also expected ambitious outcome from the African Heads of States summit to be held in Mauritania in July.

ITRealms also reports that 2018 is the AU year of winning the fight against corruption, and the CSOs see that as a critical opportunity for African governments to go beyond rhetoric and deliver concrete action to combat corruption.

“Africa’s leaders have long paid lip service to tackling corruption – it’s time for action, not talk,” the declared.

According to respondents to the most recent Afrobarometer survey, members of the CSOs noted that two-thirds believe their government is doing a poor job of improving the living standards of the poor and in fighting corruption.

“Roughly half report having lost trust in legislative bodies, courts, police, national electoral commissions, and opposition parties. Nearly a third believe that people do not report corruption because they are afraid of the consequences,” part of the survey read.

The letter addressed to H.E. Hon. Moussa Faki Mahama, Chairperson, African Union Commission, H.E. President Paul Kagame, Chairperson, African Union and President of the Republic of Rwanda, H.E. President Muhammadu Buhari, Champion of the 2018 AU theme and President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; and Hon. Begoto Miarom, Chairperson, AU Advisory Board on Corruption, they urged the African Union and Member States to seize this opportunity and deliver meaningful anti-corruption commitments at the July Summit.

The African Union’s focus on combating corruption comes at a critical juncture. African citizens consistently place corruption among their top concerns. Corruption among government officials and bureaucracies has increased over the last decade according to the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. They also noted that Panama Papers and other recent investigative leaks have exposed numerous flaws in anti-corruption regimes across the continent. The 2015 report issued by the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, led by former President Thabo Mbeki, estimated that more than US$50 billion illicitly flows out of the continent every year.

The AU’s Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, adopted in 2003, outlines a robust set of principles, including rooting out corruption, strengthening democratic principles, institutions, and the rule of law, and increasing transparency and accountability in the management of public affairs. Yet implementation of the Convention’s principles has been uneven and inadequate across the continent.

State effectiveness and legitimacy are critical for building African government systems that are responsive and accountable to the needs of their citizens. Yet these key ingredients of lasting development remain weak across the continent. Roughly half of the respondents to the most recent Afrobarometer survey report having little or no trust in legislative bodies, courts, police, national electoral commissions, and opposition parties. Roughly two-thirds believe their government is doing a poor job of improving the living standards of the poor and in fighting corruption. Nearly a third believe people fail to report corruption because they are afraid of the consequences.

Africa is at a critical tipping point. The continent’s population is expected to double by 2050, with half of those under the age of 25. An estimated 22.5 million Africans will enter the workforce each year. This poses an opportunity or risk to the continent, depending on whether African governments are able to harness the potential of their youth. The ability and willingness of governments to be responsive to their citizens and invest in measures that create lasting economic growth and development will determine Africa’s future.

To rebuild citizen trust in governments and to enable citizens and governments to work together to build a better future, citizens must be able to track budgets and follow the money from resources to results, and citizens, an independent media, and appropriate judicial and legislative checks and balances must be able to hold leaders accountable.

Meaningful steps toward making this vision a reality must be taken in 2018. It is imperative that concrete progress to combat corruption be made at the AU Heads of State Summit in July 2018. Vague or rhetorical promises to fight corruption will be insufficient to rebuild citizen trust in government and ensure that all Africans have equal opportunities to thrive.

“We, the below signatories, call on the African Union and Members States to deliver an ambitious declaration at the 2018 July summit that includes concrete commitments to prevent further corruption, give credible anti-corruption bodies and law-enforcement agencies the arsenal needed to effectively combat corruption, and that ensure that citizens have the information necessary to restore confidence in government institutions,” the CSOs said, insisting that this is an opportunity to make progress in the fight against corruption.

They further assured readiness to play an active and constructive role as AU plans this important event.

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AFRICMIL, Akin Fadeyi Foundation partner to tackle corruption

ITREALMS:

The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) is partnering the Akin Fadeyi Foundation (AFF) on a major collaboration aimed at fostering a strong alliance in furtherance of both organization’s common objective to combat corruption in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

AFRICMIL’s project against graft is themed Corruption Anonymous (CORA) while Akin Fadeyi Foundation took the nation by storm when it launched Corruption Not In My Country, a series of audio-visual TV commercials against corruption at the micro level. It enjoyed the endorsement of international development partners like the European Union, UNDP and UNODC.

Coordinator of AFRICMIL, Chido Onumah, said his organization was “excited to collaborate with Akin Fadeyi Foundation to combat corruption through its creative anti-corruption tools which resonate with Nigerians and are in tune with our objectives to promote active citizens’ involvement in exploring the whistle-blowing opportunity.”

According to Onumah, the CORA project seeks to promote whistleblowing among Nigerians, maintain the integrity of the process and ensure protection for whistleblowers. He said CORA would continue to work with like-minded organizations like Akin Fadeyi Foundation committed to recreating a new and better Nigerian society whose ideals, vision and aspirations are etched on transparency and integrity.

“In working together, we shall explore further opportunities for creative, impactful and far-reaching messages to our target audiences and the public. This partnership will also enable us to strengthen the capacity of citizens to engage their leaders in public dialogue against corruption and demand for accountable governance,” Onumah noted.

The Executive Director, Akin Fadeyi Foundation, Mr. Akin Fadeyi said, “This is an encouraging development as we join forces with key stakeholders in the ever-challenging anti-corruption war. This new partnership with Corruption Anonymous (CORA) is a boost to our efforts at creating robust public dialogue against corruption, particularly as we seek to empower citizens to shun corruption and demand accountability from government institutions. At Akin Fadeyi Foundation, we are committed to a Nigeria where integrity and transparency will define our ways of life. We are very eager to stem the destructive tide of corruption as an acceptable norm.”

Corruption Anonymous (CORA) is a project of the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) that seeks to build public confidence and support for the whistleblowing policy of the Nigerian government as well as reinforce protection for whistle-blowers.

Akin Fadeyi Foundation has been unrelenting in raising citizens voice-action for more transparent institutions and general value reorientation through its grassroots Pan-Nigeria campaign against retail corruption tagged: CORRUPTION, NOT IN MY COUNTRY. Apart from TV broadcast, it has engaged with communities and taken the messages to schools to strengthen the capacity of young people as very critical vulnerable sectors of the society. 

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ActionAid advances dialogue on corruption, new anti-corruption scheme underway

ITREALMS:

The ActionAid Nigeria, a national non-governmental organisation and affiliate of ActionAid International says it plans to hold a National Dialogue on Corruption, even as it is set to unveil a new anti-corruption programme in Nigeria next week, reports ITRealms.

In a statement by the Communications Coordinator of the organisation, Nihinlola Ayanda, Friday, in Abuja, ActionAid Nigeria said the new programme is called ‘Strengthening Citizens Resistance Against Prevalence of Corruption- SCRAP-C.’

According to him, SCRAP-C will seek to look at the fight against corruption “through social norm lenses and complement the law and enforcement approach in Nigeria.”

“The SCRAP-C project is a five-year project supported by the Department for International Development (DfID)’s Anti-Corruption in Nigeria (ACORN) programme. It is managed by a consortium of three national organisations - ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and Centre for Communication Production in Nigeria (CCPN) led by ActionAid Nigeria. The project also has four implementing partners Centre for Citizens with disabilities (CCD), Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Youth Initiative for Advocacy Growth and Advancement (YIAGA), Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) who are taking responsibility for communities and groups engagements across six strategic states (Akwa-Ibom, Bornu, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano/Jigawa, and Lagos), including the FCT.”

“The SCRAP-C is a research and citizens’ oriented project. It will employ social marketing tools, research, advocacy, citizens’ mobilisation, media engagements and capacity development to achieve programme result which in this case is the desired behavioural change against corruption. Therefore, it will be more practical and beneficial for Nigerians to key into this innovative project to seek for desired behavioural change against corruption.”

“It is designed to set the pace for citizens’ engagements. It is a holistic and inclusive anti-corruption effort, designed to take innovative and inclusive approaches in its engagement with citizens. We believe that the adopted approach of citizens’ ownership of the anti-corruption battle would promote and nurture the right attitudes of citizens to corruption.”

Giving a background to the project, ActionAid Nigeria Project Manager, Newton Otsemaye explains:

“It is a known fact that past and present governments have indicated interest and indeed made efforts to fight corruption through various programmes and policies. Some have further shown efforts to design legal and institutional frameworks to reduce corruption in Nigeria. In spite of all these, corruption still happens unabated.”

“While our policy makers and political drivers seem to be overwhelmed with the scourge of corruption, and how to address it with cutting-edge strategies, literatures have shown that one of the most likely reasons why past institutional, policy and legal frameworks experienced setbacks is because of the huge disconnect between the anti-corruption efforts and citizens’ participation.”

“For anti-corruption efforts in Nigeria to be more holistic and inclusive, it must go beyond the boundaries of law and enforcement or sanctions to the terrain of society, change in attitude and behaviour. Therefore, social norms seem to be the new window not because it is new or old, but because there is empirical evidence of a strong relationship between social norms and corruption. On this premise, we may suggest that the anti-corruption efforts could leverage on these empirical positions by either appealing to existing social norms or creating new ones, with a view to changing corrupt behavior in Nigeria.”

“The public dialogue on corruption and public presentation of the anti-corruption project- SCRAP-C will bring together participants from the government, private sector, the media, professional bodies, women groups, youth groups, academia, policy makers and enforcers, market associations, labour unions and people living with disabilities to participate.”

The event, with the theme: When the fight against corruption becomes ours; Changing perceptions, beliefs and mobilising people’s movement against corruption is expected to hold in Abuja on the 11^th of December, 2017.

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Broadband corruption: How Atiku was barred from US

ITREALMS:

The reasons on why the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar was allegedly barred from entering the United States, has been revealed, ITRealms reports.

Investigations has revealed that his inability to visit the United States in recent years, especially since leaving office 10 years ago, was not unconnected to a purported bribe associated with award of a broadband contract to a US-based enterprise, iGate Incorporated with an indictment of a Louisiana representative William J. Jefferson, who has family ties to the business in 2005.

ITRealms also gathered that Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had raided Jefferson’s Congressional offices in May 2006, but he was re-elected later that year, but on June 4, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Jefferson on sixteen charges related to corruption.

In 2009 he was tried in Virginia on corruption charges. On August 5, 2009, he was found guilty of 11 of the 16 corruption counts. Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years on November 13, 2009, the longest sentence ever handed down to a congressman for bribery.

The investigation began in mid-2005, after an investor alleged $400,000 in bribes were paid through a company maintained in the name of Jefferson's spouse and children. The money was traced to a tech company named iGate Incorporated, of Louisville, Kentucky, and in return, it is alleged, Jefferson would help iGate's business. Jefferson was to persuade the U.S. Army to test iGate's broadband two-way technology and other iGate products; use his efforts to influence high-ranking officials in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon; and meet with personnel of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, in order to facilitate potential financing for iGate business deals in those countries.

On 30 July 2005, Jefferson was videotaped by the FBI receiving $100,000 worth of $100 bills in a leather briefcase at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington, Virginia. Jefferson told an investor, Lori Mody, who was wearing a wire, that he would need to give Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar $500,000 "as a motivating factor" to make sure they obtained contracts for iGate and Mody's company in Nigeria.

ITRealms reports that a few days later, on 3 August 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson's home in Northeast Washington and, as noted in an 83-page affidavit filed to support a subsequent raid on his Congressional office, "found $90,000 of the cash in the freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food containers". Serial numbers found on the currency in the freezer matched serial numbers of funds given by the FBI to their informant.

Further investigations by ITRealms, revealed late on the night of May 20, 2006, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Jefferson's office in the Rayburn House Office Building. The raid led to an irony that one of Democrat Jefferson's staunchest defenders in the turf battles between the FBI and Congress became Dennis Hastert, who was Speaker of the House and a Republican.

As contained in the affidavit used to support these raids, FBI alleged:

• The FBI videotaped Jefferson receiving a stock certificate from Mody for a company set up in Nigeria to promote iGate's technology. Jefferson predicted the deal would generate $200 million annually after five years.
• Jefferson told Mody that he wanted a similar financial stake in the business in Ghana.
• Jefferson sought $10 million in financing from Mody to take over iGate and install "confidants" on the new board. In two payments, Mody wired $89,225 to the ANJ Group LLC, a company controlled by Jefferson's family.
• Jefferson lent $4,800 of the money Mody gave him to an unnamed congressional aide. Another $4,900 was given back to the FBI by one of Jefferson's attorneys.
• The FBI claims it has uncovered "at least seven other schemes in which Jefferson sought things of value in return for his official acts."

ITRealms recalls that Atiku Abubakar, at the weekend, declared his return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with anticipated by industry observers that he is likely to run for president in 2019, had insisted that U.S. authorities have nothing against him, noting he had visited Europe regularly without being arrested for onward extradition to the U.S.

Abukakar in a recent chat with TheBoss Newspapers, expressed optimistic that if Nigerians elect him president in 2019, he would be allowed into the United States just like Mr. Buhari and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, both of whom are now being accorded red carpet treatments in the U.S. after becoming leaders of their respective countries, despite every odd of suspicion or linkage to an American congressman Williams Jefferson, who was jailed in 2009 after conviction by the FBI in relation to that case.

Although as at press time, ITRealms reports there is no formal statement from United States or its embassy in Nigeria on the Atiku Abukakar involvement and eventual ban.

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Pix; Atiku Abubakar and William Jefferson

Lai Mohammed berates BON over media reports on corruption

ITREALMS:

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has berated the media, especially the members of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), reports ITRealms.

He also appealed to the media to fully support the administration's fight against corruption, saying the fourth estate of the realm cannot afford to sit on the fence as far as the battle to rid the nation of corruption is concerned.

Declaring open the 68th General Assembly of the Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON) in Abuja on Monday, the Minister said while the media should not hesitate to criticise the government's strategy for the war against corruption, when necessary, it should do so without mocking the government.

''In recent times, it is not unusual to read such headlines as 'Buhari's Government Losing Anti-Corruption War', 'Buhari's Anti-Corruption War is Failing', 'Arewa Youths Knock President Buhari Over Failing Anti-corruption War'. This is sheer mockery. And this war is not Buhari's war. It is our war,'' he said.

On why all hands must be on deck to fight corruption, Alhaji Mohammed said corruption is the reason for the many ills being experienced in the country today, including erratic power supply, poorly-equipped hospitals, lack of motorable roads, poor quality of life, poor economy, lack of jobs and insecurity

''After previous administrations spent billions of dollars on power, all we inherited - when we took over on the 29th of May 2015 - was 2,690 megawatts. That is due to corruption. After previous governments budgeted billions for roads over the years, what we inherited are death traps. That is due to corruption. Why did Boko Haram thrive for so long? The answer is corruption, because money meant for the purchase of weapons for the military were simply diverted. Why did we inherit an economy in dire straits? It is corruption. For a country that sold oil at over 100 dollars per barrel for years, we simply failed to save for the rainy day, and when the rain came, it beat us silly,'' he said.

The Minister said the war against corruption is the toughest of the three broad issues that the Buhari Administration campaigned with, ''because fighting corruption anywhere is like walking a lonely road''.

''While many will join hands with you to tackle insecurity or to

revamp the economy, you are on your own when you take on corruption.

Most Nigerians were direct beneficiaries of corruption. Many were subsidized by corruption. Now that the gravy train of corruption is fast derailing, many are finding it difficult to come to terms with it. That's the origin of the 'Bring Back Corruption' Campaign being carried out by certain elements in our society,'' he said.

Alhaji Mohammed said the war against corruption becomes tougher when the media is not fully on board, adding: ''When the media seizes on every setback we suffer in prosecuting this war, they give succour to the corrupt. When the media falls for the distraction tactics of those who are mortally afraid of this war, they weaken the battle.''

He said the because of the courageous, determined and committed leadership provided by President Muhammadu Buhari, and despite the fact that corruption is fighting back furiously, the Administration is winning the war.

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Pix: L-R - Director General, National Broadcasting Commission, Mallam Ishaq Modibbo Kawu; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Chairman, Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), Mr. John Momoh; Vice Chairman of BON, Sa'a Ibrahim and the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, at the 68th General Assembly of BON in Abuja on Monday.

Corruption, Whistleblowing: Falana, Ribadu for summit

ITREALMS:

Lagos-based prominent human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana and pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu will on Tuesday headline a national summit on whistleblowing and the fight against corruption in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

The event is being put together by the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), in conjunction with House Committee on Financial Crimes, Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ).

The theme of the Summit scheduled to begin at 9am at Rockview Hotel in Abuja is FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION: HARNESSING THE WHISTLEBLOWING OPPORTUNITIES.  

According to Chido Onumah, Coordinator of the Centre, “The event is designed to interrogate the whistleblower policy and engage critical stakeholders responsible for promotion of the policy and its implementation.”

Aside Falana and Ribadu, other papers  will also be delivered by Waziri Adio, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Professor Abdullahi Shehu of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).

The Summit is part of activities under the Corruption Anonymous project of AFRICMIL aimed at building public confidence and support for the whistleblower policy of the Nigerian government.

The project is supported by the MacArthur Foundation. 

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Corruption in IT procurement: NITDA partners EFCC

ITRealms:

The National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, (EFCC) have agreed to join forces to curb corrupt practices in Information Technology (IT) procurement, mostly in Ministries, Department and Agencies of the Federal Government,  reports ITRealms.

The Director-General of NITDA, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to EFCC headquarter in Abuja on Monday.

Pantami said that the alliance has become imperative in the face of the wanton corruption being perpetrated by MDAs especially in the procurement of IT products and services as most of the projects pass through less scrutiny during budget defense at National Assembly because of the expertise required to ascertain the needs and specifications of these IT requirements.

“Many MDAs consider IT projects  as conduit pipes to siphon public funds and I believe partnering with EFCC will bring sanity to the sector and by then the commission will be empowering NITDA in strengthening its regulatory function through which it will also be developing  and promoting the local content in the IT sector,” he said.   

While suggesting the modus operandi of the partnership, Dr Pantami informed that the two organisations could form a working group which would also serve as a desk to deal with sharp practices in the IT procurement, adding that, “EFCC may help in asking MDAs to produce procurement clearance issued by NITDA during their investigations.

He said NITDA as IT regulatory body in the country, the Agency is responsible for subjecting IT product to value-for-money analysis, reduce projects duplication, justify the spending of public funds on IT projects and to advise MDAs on the alternative options of IT products and service with a view of reducing cost especially on sharing of software among themselves. 

   

The DG who believed that the alliance would strengthen the existing relationship between the Agency and the Commission said “supporting NITDA would go a long way in blocking loopholes in IT procurements.”

He commended the EFCC’s Acting chairman for his doggedness, fearlessness and outstanding performance which he has recorded in acting capacity saying the feat  could take some people 20 years to achieve as substantive chairman of the commission.

While assuring him of his prayers and goodwill, Dr Pantami stated that Nigeria needs people like Mr Magu who are fearless and do not think of the consequences of their action to move forward as a nation

  

In his remarks, the Acting Chairman of the Commission, Mr Ibrahim Magu who expressed his   delight over the visit said that  EFCC as Commission “would be complying with NITDA’s request so as to bring some level  of sanity to the procurement of IT products and services among MDAs in Nigeria.

He described the partnership as timely especially now that the Commission is on the process of “completely digitalizing the operation of EFCC” adding that he now has place in NITDA to run to when he gets confuse on  IT projects under investigations.

Describing corruption as a threat to the unity of Nigeria, the EFCC boss maintained that the Commission cannot fight corruption alone without the consensus of all Nigerians,  he pleaded to Nigerians not to  be discouraged on the recent corruption case judgments delivered recently.

Mr Magu stated that the cause of agitations from different quarters in the country today is because of corruptions that has ravaged the nation. “Absolutely there is a political will to fight corruption and this is not in doubt. This is the time to save this country from the shackles of corruption," he added.

The two organisations agreed to nominate three officials each to constitute the working group and the desk with the term of reference of verifying the IT products and services to be procured with public funds.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE 

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A nation united by corruption

Commentary@ITRealms:

One of the highlights of the year that has just ended was the release from a British jail of one of Nigeria's most notorious politically exposed persons (PEPs), James Onanefe Ibori. Ibori's rap sheet is as long as the 338km East-West Road in Nigeria's Niger Delta region, but the reason for his latest freedom was the conviction and sentencing—13 years in prison—by a Southwark Crown Court in April 2012 after he pleaded guilty to a 10-count charge of money laundering, corruption and conspiracy to defraud.

Of course, it wasn't Ibori's release that dominated the news, as newsy as his expected release was. Rather, it was his triumphant return to the warm embrace of his kinsmen, supporters and well-wishers. James Onanefe Ibori or James Onanefe Ochuko Ibori, depending on if you are appearing before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, is an enigma. 

He was governor of Delta State from 1999-2007. He and his bosom friend, Bukola Saraki, Nigeria's current senate president, bankrolled the political machine that led to the emergence of Umaru Musa Yar'Adua as president in 2007. And if not for providence—the death of Yar'Adua in May 2010—Ibori, who up until then was the de facto vice president of Nigeria, would have succeeded Yar'Adua.

Yar'Adua died and Nigeria dodged a bullet or so we thought! Ibori was subsequently jailed in 2012, two years after he was arrested—and extradited to the UK—by the Interpol in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, where he was hiding after fleeing Nigeria. Even in prison, he maintained his godfather role and from the public admission of one of his surrogates played a key role not only in the emergence of high-ranking public officers in Delta State but the leadership of the National Assembly. For the trajectory of the Ibori saga and persona, readers will find this piece, "The welcome party for Ibori" by Simon Kolawole, instructive.

Depending on where you come from, perhaps your political affiliation and how much you benefitted from the Ibori heist in Delta State, either directly or through a third party or even tangentially as a hanger-on, the celebratory Mass held in honour of Ibori's release from prison, though detestable, was quite understandable. After all, there is an Ibori in many of us. There are countless Iboris in the National Assembly, criminals making laws and posing as "distinguished senators" and "honourable members". 

There are Ibori's in various government houses across the country; scoundrels posing as executive governors. There are Iboris in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Customs, Immigration, Prisons, Police, our universities and sundry public institutions where those who have been kept in charge of what Peter Ekeh in his seminal essay, "Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement", referred to as "civic public" conveniently and unconscionably steal from it and divert their loot to the "primordial public".

That is the sorry state of Nigeria. And it explains the Ibori conundrum. According to Ekeh, "A good citizen of the primordial public gives out and asks for nothing in return; a lucky citizen of the civic public gains from the civic public but enjoys escaping giving anything in return whenever he can. But such a lucky man would not be a good man were he to channel all his lucky gains to his private purse. He will only continue to be a good man if he channels part of the largesse from the civic public to the primordial public. That is the logic of the dialectics. The unwritten law of the dialectics is that it is legitimate to rob the civic public in order to strengthen the primordial public."

So, just as it is often the case where one person's freedom fighter is another person's militant, as a people, Nigerians seem not to be in agreement on what constitutes corruption or who a corrupt person is. What one Nigerian sees as corruption, another sees it as "blessing from God", their own opportunity or "turn to eat". The national cake is there for the taking. The state has abdicated its responsibilities—roads, water, school, health, sanitation, etc—and instinctively we have learned to "manage" by helping ourselves to as much as the national pottage, in the "civic public", as we can lay our hands on.

Take the ongoing spat between the current Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and his predecessor, Solomon Arase, who has been accused of making away with over 20 police vehicles when he retired in June 2016. Arase didn't deny carting away police vehicles. He is just piqued that when it was his "turn to eat", the police authorities suddenly became amnesic. To show his righteous anger on an issue that has caused public discomfiture, Mr. Arase's reminded the all-righteous police authorities that there is nothing new in Inspectors General of Police making away with enough vehicles to open a car shop when they retire.

“I expect that former occupants of the office of the Inspector-General of Police should not be demeaned. This explains why Force Order 295 was emplaced by the force management under my leadership as acknowledged in your letter in reference," Arase wrote to his predecessor in his defence. "In spite of the emplacement of this order and despite the fact that my two immediate predecessors left office with 13 and nine vehicles of different makes and models respectively, I never pressurized either of them to return any of such vehicles neither did I engage in any act that was capable of bringing them to ridicule as being done to me of late by a force I dedicated my life to serving up to the highest level."

Clearly, pubic office in Nigeria is simply a sinecure and you would be eternally excoriated by your kinsmen and associates for not taking advantage of a life-changing opportunity.  As someone once reminded me, public office in Nigeria is like climbing a mighty tree with lots of fruit. Once you climb, you are required to get as much as you can because you may not have a second chance. So, we are all, ceaselessly, engaged in the race of getting a nibble at the cake. To appreciate the Ibori phenomenon, you must understand Nigeria. Here, the best private schools, including universities, are owned by those whose responsibility has included how to make our public schools functional. It is the same story for the health, transport, and indeed, every sector of the Nigerian society. 

It is as if Nigerians, wherever we find ourselves in the "civic public", are in a race for a medal on how best to pillage the country. The "Villa Repair Heist", as someone has described it, provides a fitting example of this brazen larceny that is called public service in Nigeria. The 2016 budget for repairs and rehabilitation of Nigeria's Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, was N642.5 million.

By 2017, the budget had shot up to N5.6 billion. "Was the Villa hit by a bomb or earthquake unbeknownst to us citizens?" "Was there a war akin to Aleppo in the place?" one commentator asked. No, there wasn't. It is simply "their time to eat." In the same budget, there is a provision of N2.3billion for the Defence Headquarters to clear backlog of electricity bills that is budgeted for every year.  

In July 2012, I was part of an audience at Chatham House, London, where an ex-governor of Niger State and Chair of the Northern States Governors Forum, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, was guest speaker. Dr. Aliyu spoke on "Nigeria’s Unity and Regional Socio-Political Groups: Influence and Impact of the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF)." He noted that "corruption was the single unifying factor of the elite in Nigeria and that the way to deal with it was to reduce the focus on the centre." Aliyu is right in many ways. But it is not just the elite. It is about Nigeria. 

Today, if someone is robbed, we no longer get jolted. The refrain will be, "Thank God he is alive." "We praise God the robbers took his possession and spared his life." "God bless those robbers." It is the same response you get when kidnappers strike. We no longer bother to interrogate armed robbery, kidnapping and other vices that have become part of our national ethos.

The celebration of Ibori's return from prison, therefore, provides an opportunity to interrogate what Nigeria means to us as Nigerians. The problem is not really with Ibori or those who have elected to celebrate him. The problem is with Nigeria, a place where allegiance is to the "primordial public", where rulers live in mansions and religious centres luxuriate in splendor while public schools and hospitals wallow is squalor. 

*Chido Onumah is the author of We Are All Biafrans Contact him on conumah@hotmail.com; Follow him on Twitter: @conumah

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