By S.O.K. Shillings
Lead us not into temptation… So says the Christ.
Corruption is the worst enemy of our nation. It is the strongest campaign point of the politician. Just exhibit that you can avoid stealing public money and prevent others doing so, you may not be asked fervently if you can do any more. It seems to defy solution while the best effort has been to put a select few in jail.
Mankind is naturally tendentious. Corruption festers because there are loopholes and the laws are weak. The approach has always been to catch thieves and jail them. The preventive machinery has failed woefully.
A forthright leader must not lead the members into temptation. The first antidote is to make all earnings and expenditures public. When the budget is prepared, it is not enough to lay the Appropriation Bill before parliament, it must be published in hard and soft copies for all to see. Students and lecturers of the University of Ibadan will know what has been given to the Governing Council and may heckle the administration who also know that they know.
Corollary to this is that the returns must also be published for all to see.
Let people know what vehicles you claim to have bought if they exist and why the same vehicle sold in Zaria should cost double in Ibadan. A Retirement Bill must also be laid before parliament for adoption after query.
A third step is that the leader cannot just do paper virements without visiting to know what is going on. We need supervisor leaders. Imagine the President or his appointed team visiting N.T.A or S.O.N in broad daylight with cameras beaming and asking for an account of what the government gave the organization in the year and the previous!
Another point is that there must be set rules for public expenditure and compliance must be enforced. The set approval hierarchy must be monitored. The needs of departments and institutions are not static like presidency buying cutleries every year. Money budgeted should not be spent because it is available hence returns must be made.
Rather than waiting for money to be stolen and catching thieves, preventive machinery should be put in place. It is hereby suggested that there should be an Economic and Financial Regulations Compliance Commission (EFRCC) to either replace or complement the EFCC. It will be composed of seasoned accountants, administrators, engineers and lawyers who will make rules and enforce compliance especially by ‘following’ the budget.
The philosophy of audit must also change. The idea of looking for receipt and hammering on balancing the books without picking theft is anachronistic. Audit must expose sleaze and rough hands and report them.
The management of the civil service is key to a war against corruption. For any indictment, heads must roll. If a Governor or Minister/Commissioner is involved in corruption, where is the permanent secretary and directors of ministry or parastatal? The civil service must be equipped and protected to protect public funds without running on collision with politicians. The servants too must not become evil servants.
The leader too needs to be monitored. Why is EFCC only a federal establishment? There should be state versions. The President is so powerful that he steals and permits stealing according to his proclivity. And he even decides who to prosecute or forgive. The security votes cannot be exhausted every month and every year lest it is additional emolument. The watcher must be watched and that leads us back to the suggestion of the Ombudsman.
The prosecutorial philosophy regarding corruption must change. It is better to adopt the inquisitorial philosophy with administrative trial with restricted involvement of lawyers and technicalities. Sentencing will give incentives to recovery. Guilty knowledge and complicities even by spouses should be well criminalized.
Recoveries must be well accounted for lest the watchmen become another set of thieves. There must be publication of seizures and sales. Recovered resources must form a distinct portion of budget or subject of supplementary budget.
… but deliver us from all evils!
S. O. K. Shillings Esq., writes from Ikorodu
