ABSTRACT
This study examined corruption and its effect on Nigeria politics, a study of economic and financial crimes commission, 2015-2020.
The study revealed that; corruption in the electoral process succeeded in obliterating the integrity of security agency in Nigeria as Police sector that is supposed to provide security of lives and properties are found on a lot of occasions to be co-conspirator in rigging of elections and other dubious acts that rendered electoral process faulty; electoral corruption has led to stealing of ballot boxes, alteration of results, underage and multiple voting, intimidation of voters and harassment of opposition, manipulation and delay of election tribunal verdicts and blockage of justice in all segments of the society; Corruption has undermined democracy and good governance by flouting or even subverting formal processes, and as a result, has led to the failure to ensure accountability of the ruler to the ruled as well as the inability of the state to make officials accountable for their actions and bring corrupt officers to justice.
The study concluded that; electoral corruption has impacted negatively on decision making in government, mainly because the government that emerges from falsified electoral process spends better part of its term in office to fight legal battles with opposition parties at election tribunals. The study further recommended that; the country’s electoral processes should be overhauled in order to inculcate credibility in it; it is important the government launch national reorientation programmes; there should be increase awareness on the economic, political, social and legal cost of corruption and corrupt practices on individual and the society at large; the anti-corruption bodies such as the EFCC and ICPC should be involved in electoral process in order to screen candidates contesting for a public post so as to ensure the candidate’s integrity and virtuousness (incorruptibility); the government should create adequate job opportunities for the unemployed youths in order to keep them engaged; strict punishment should be applied to political thugs, terrorist, kidnappers and bandits caught.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to the Study
Corruption is a universal trend which has been with societies throughout history; it has led to political and economic instability in societies and depending on the scale. It has as well led to social conflict and violence as competing group vie for state power which is the source of distribution of resources and other amenities in the society, (Odunuga 2017). No system is completely free of corruption. Corruption exacerbates the already complex circumstances of states in conflict situations and those with economies in transition such as Nigeria. It is generally accepted that corruption is a barrier to national development, and if not addressed properly as a priority, it may hinder all other efforts to effectively advance the development agenda, both at the international and the national levels, (Akindele, 2015). At a minimum, the fight against corruption requires unconditional commitment from the political leadership and a corruption free judiciary system.
Ideal democratic orientation of any modern-day society presumes citizenry participation in the governance of his or her society. In order to showcase adequate participation of people in decision making processes and belief towards governance in the context of democratic values grassroots government was established. As a result of the complexity of corruption, its effect on the systemic existence of its victims as does its prevalence through the efforts of its perpetuators, its definition has continued to be shrouded by value preference and differences, (Akindele, 2015).
The understanding of corruption connotes the inappropriate act of people economically, politically, socially and culturally. Irrespective of the sectorial aspect of corruption enmeshed, its evaluation could be underscored on the premise of societal prevailing orientation that mandated ones behaviour socially, economically, politically or culturally. According to the World Bank and Transparency International (TI), a leading global anticorruption watchdog, corruption is the abuse of public office for personal gains for the benefit of the holder of the office or some third party. Viewed from these definitions, political corruption can be generally understood as an unethical behaviour, which defies the norms of the system of political order, (Heidenheimer & Johnston, 2013). Abimbola (2015) adopted a sociological approach to the definition of corruption. According to Madichie (2013), corruption is a practical problem, involving the outright theft, embezzlement of funds or other appropriation of state property, nepotism, and granting of favour to personal acquaintance. It has been argued that corruption involves behaviours which deviate from the moral and constitutional requirements. Corruption can also be seen as diversion of resources from the betterment of the community to the gain of individuals at the expense of the community.
Corruption now appears to have turned out to be a permanent feature of the Nigerian polity. It had become completely institutionalized, entered into the realm of culture and the value-system; it is now a norm and no longer an aberration. The young ones are born into it, grew up in it, lived with it, and possibly die in it. The aged aren’t left out as they are resocialised and begins to conform to it. Succeeding generations now see it as part and parcel of the social order and the normative system. Cultural transmission occurs and as such behavioural traits which confirms with corruption begins to emerge.
According to Odey (2014), he conceptualizes corruption in Nigeria as the air which every living person breathes in and out. According to him, nobody makes any effort to breathe in the air, it comes naturally. In Nigeria, corruption has turn out to be so naturalized that, many of the citizens simply become corrupt without making any effort and often even without knowing it. Corruption, an ethical and moral problem which varies from place to place, time to time, culture to culture and with the level of economic development is a global phenomenon that affects developed, developing and underdeveloped countries of the world, (Aluko, 2012).
Nigerian political society is hinged on clientelism and prebendal politics which further enhance the understanding of the prevalence of political corruption. The pursuit of politics is aimed to appropriate the political space and resources among fractions of the political elite, (Post & Vickers cited in Seteolu 2014). Furthermore, the Nigerian state has a patrimonial and neo-patrimonial character. Patrimonialism connotes that the distinctions between the public and the private domains have become blurred and power, which has become a major source of wealth, has become personalized. Within this framework of analysis, the behaviour of political elite in Nigeria is linked to traditional value system. The Nigerian society is patriarchal where political power is personalized, and leadership is permanent in the context of self-recruited oligarchy, (Seteolu, 2014). According to Seteolu (2014), these socially imbibed values are replicated in the political terrain where contending coalitions accumulate resources to offset side payments required to retain or expand followership in the context of power politics. The fierce struggle in the public space is linked to conflicts that characterize leadership succession in traditional political systems and the attractions of political control where party politics guarantee access to wealth and economic power.
Therefore, the political elite use social identities like ethnicity for particularistic purpose. The ethnic identity turns out to be a mobilizing mechanism to access political power, consolidate dominance and economic control, (Dudley 2010; Osaghae 2015). Consequently, it is not impossible for power to be used for personal or group aggrandizements. In patrimonial societies such as Nigeria, corruption seems to be intrinsically part and parcel of the political culture.
Nigeria is one of the states in Africa that have been identify as being corrupt, the corruption percentage degree continue to grow. Virtually, every administration professes and swears to control corruption yet the problem continues unabated. Therefore, it is important that this study is carried out to assess corruption and its effects on Nigerian politics by looking at its causes and how it can be eradicated.
1.2. Statement of the Problems
Today, in spite of all of the abundant natural wealth in Nigeria, the country is tagged as the world capital of poverty. Corruption has led to the awarding on merited contracts to contractors who only use the money to empower themselves at the detriment of the people. Trillions of dollars that can be used to develop the country and alleviate the poor are pocketed by corrupt officials. This portends a great danger to sustainable development as projects are left uncompleted or are never carried out.
Corruption is a huge challenge in the public administration in Nigeria. It is at the core of the crisis of governance and legitimacy, the establishment of a stable democratic order, rule of law, development and the welfare of citizens. Of all forms of corruption, political corruption has remained a major impediment to national progress in Nigeria. Indeed, corruption is the major explanation for the seemingly insolvable problem of poverty, diseases, hunger and general acute development tragedy in Nigeria. Further, it has seriously impeded the growth and effective utilization of resources in Nigeria, (Egbue 2013).
According to Akindele (2016), corruption in Nigeria include among others: corruption ascendancy to political leadership through election rigging and genocidal political techniques; son of the soil philosophy; politics of expediency; doctrine of ten per centres, judicial fractionalization of human beings; political self-aggrandizement; political Hitlerism as a mechanism for retention of power; replacement of “we-feeling” by “me-feeling”, contractor-controlled political machinery, uncurtailed lust for wealth, giving and receiving of kickbacks for government contracts, Police insistence on taking bribes as precondition for performing their duties, Bureaucrats indulgence in the act of falsifying accounts, false declaration of assets, violation of oaths of office, payment of money for government jobs not done or not well executed, pen-robbery and looting of the public treasury.
Babalola (2015) asserted that corruption in Nigerian politics occurs at two levels. The first level has to do with the various forms of corruption in politics at the lawmaking level while the second level is at the law-implementation level. At the first level, people try to influence law-making and policy decisions while at the second level, efforts are made by people to pervert the course of justice and influence judgements.
Money is now a crucial and the most potent factor in Nigeria politics. The system doesn’t make political aspiration available to everybody; it is available only to the rich and powerful. This is so, with the councillorship or the presidency of country, it is the same. You must be rich, powerful and well connected. No matter how popular you are, how credible or patriotic you are, your honour, reputation, integrity, records and desire to render selfless services, if you do not have money, you are a joker. Elective posts usually go to the highest bidder, (Bamisaye, 2014).
To this end, there is now the increasing realization about the ill effects of corruption on the nation’s social, political and economic fabrics. Though, it is evident that there is no country that is totally free from corruption, the incidences of corruption is on the increase especially in Nigeria with the most recent case of the Mr. Magu (The Sacked EFCC Chairman). In spite of government policies and anticorruption agencies in Nigeria, it has proved ineffective; hence, large scale corrupt related cases, accusations and counter-accusations. There were cases of missing funds, police pensions scam, missing oil revenue or non-remittance into the federation account, contract scam, oil theft, administrative inefficiency or dereliction of duty, illegal sale or allotment of government land and property, bribery, extortion and other forms of corruption, economic and financial crimes
Based on the above backdrop, it is imperative to undertake a review of the causes, effects and probable solutions to this menace in order to fill the gap by examining the effects of corruption in Nigerian politics, using Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as the study case.
1.3. Research Objectives
The primary objective of this study is to investigate corruption and it effects in Nigerian Politics. However, the specific objectives of the study will be to:
- examine the influence of corruption in determining electoral process and results in Nigeria;
- determine the effect of corruption in political violence in Nigeria
- examine corruption as the root causes of under-development in Nigeria;
- find out the policies and strategies in place to curb corruption in Nigeria
1.4. Research Questions
To achieve the objectives of the study, the research sought to answer the following questions:
- What is the influence of corruption in determining electoral process and results in Nigeria?
- To what extent is the effect of corruption in political violence in Nigeria?
- Is corruption the root causes of under-development in Nigeria?
- What are the policies and strategies in place to eradicate corruption in Nigeria?
1.5. Scope of the Study
This study will look into how corruption has affect Nigerian politics and will cover a period of 2015-2020 corruption cases in the Nigerian environment using data from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The study variables will be restricted in the area of corruption and politics in Nigeria, while the study area will be limited to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Lagos State, Nigeria. The choice of Lagos State was because of its political structure and the rate of corruption which is rampant in the state politics. Therefore, the choice of Lagos State is to unravel the factors contribution to the high rate of corruption in the state between the years 2015-2020, and how it can be eradicated.
1.6. Significance of the Study
The totality of this study will provide the reason for underdevelopment in the Nigerian politics, and the country as a whole, because the issue of corruption is not only found within the context of Nigeria alone, however, it encompasses all other countries and continents. It is therefore believed that, the findings of this study will be beneficial to the government, as it will enable the government and relevant authorities put in place policies that will penalize or punish offenders of corrupt practices.
This study would equally be useful to all sphere of the country in ensuring that the issue of corruption is checked, monitored and controlled in order to enhance both political and economic development of an area. Also, researchers interested in examining corruption and its effects on Nigerian politics will find the study very useful in the governance and system of Nigeria. The research will add to knowledge in the peculiar nature of corruption in Nigeria and its effects on national development. Finally, the study will provide policy makers with institutional frameworks and policy inputs in the area of policy formulation in regard to curbing corruption.
1.7. Methodology
The methodology of this study will be qualitative in nature, which involves the use of secondary data for the source of information. The secondary sources shall be through journals, reports, articles, newspapers, treaties, textbooks and various statutes which would be obtained from online sources and as well as data from Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for the period of 2015-2020. The issue under discussion is a global menace which cuts across all the countries of the world, there have been so many literatures on the subject matter across the globe, this shall be referred to in discussing the topic at hand.
1.8. Operational Definition of Terms
Bribery: is the payment of a fixed sum, a certain percentage of a contract, or any other favour in money of kind paid to the state official in charge of making contracts on behalf of the state or otherwise distribute benefits to companies or individuals, businessmen and clients
Corruption: is defined as diversion of resources from the betterment of the community to the gain of individuals at the expense of the community.
Embezzlement: is theft of public resources by public officials, and as such it is understood as another form of misappropriation of public funds
Favouritism: is a mechanism of power abuse implying “privatization” and a highly biased distribution of state resources, no matter how these resources have been accumulated in the first place
Fraud: is a crime that involves some kind of trickery, swindle or deceit, and it is a broader legal and popular term that covers both bribery and embezzlement.
National Development: refers to the ability of a nation to improve the lives of its citizens. Some of the measures are increase in gross domestic product, improving literacy rates, improving medical facilities, and increase in infrastructural development and per-capital income.
1.9. Chapterization of the Study
This study is organized into five main chapters. Chapter one entails the background, statement of problems, research objectives, research questions and hypotheses, and significance and scope of the study. Chapter two consists of the literature review that reveals the findings and research that already exists on the topic. Chapter three summarizes the scope and methodology used to organize and carry out this study. The discussion of the results after analysis of the findings and comparison to the information revealed within the literature review is conducted within Chapter four. Chapter five provides a summary of the study, its limitations and further recommendations.
