Sanusi points to the elephant in the room

Sanusi has done Nigeria a great service by highlighting the unaccounted oil revenues from NNPC. What does the missing $20 billion mean for Nigeria’s 100 million poorest?  Suppose by magic this money could be shared equally by all of Nigeria’s 100 million poor people. The poor would get an additional $200 each. So for those earning less than $1.25 per day (yes these people exist!), it would increase their incomes by 40% for a whole year. Will we continue to allow this elephant in the room to be so careless with our God-given resources?

Sanusi suspended, whistle-blower law urgently needed in Nigeria!

The suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is yet another example of the challenges of whistle blowing in Nigeria. The CBN governor alleged that there was US$20 billion missing from the federation account. It is not surprising that a few weeks after the allegations; he has been suspended from office for blowing the whistle on Nigeria’s missing billions. This shows the need to have a whistle-blower protection law in Nigeria[see previous blog post]. A whistle blower protection law will protect whistle-blowers like the CBN governor from being victimized for speaking out on corruption issues. 

Nigeria's $10.8 billion

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala recently joined the call for NNPC to give an account on the $10.8 billion it owed the government. NNPC owes Nigerians more explanation than just stating that it was used for operational costs. They should be more transparent and accountable. It should give a detailed breakdown of the ‘operational costs’ and widely disseminate this information for Nigerians to know. NNPC should start being accountable to Nigerians.  

Nigeria’s performance in governance 2013

Nigeria’s performance in governance was not impressive in 2013. This was reflected in many international governance rankings where Nigeria performed poorly. Below is Nigeria’s performance in comparison with some of its West African neighbours:

   3 things government must do to improve governance in 2014:

1.  Tackle corruption seriously:  Corruption is a major obstacle to effective governance in Nigeria. 94% of Nigerians believe that corruption is a problem in the Public Sector (Transparency International, Global Corruption Barometer 2013).The Nigerian government has said that it is serious in tackling corruption but this has not been demonstrated.There should be sanctions for public officials found guilty of corrupt practices. 67% of Nigerians state that many officials always or often go unpunished for crimes committed (Afrobarometer Survey 2013). The government must ensure that the culture of impunity stops. Government officials should abide by the code of conduct set out for Public Officials in the Constitution (Fifth Schedule, Part I of the 1999 Constitution)  as well as the Public Service Rules. If this is done, the Nigerian Public Sector will have more positive impact on the lives of Nigerians.
2.  Manage oil resources effectively: The Nigerian government should implement the recommendations made in the NEITI Audit Report (see blog post) and the Ribadu Report on petroleum revenues. It should also look into the underlying causes of the oil theft and genuinely try to address them (see Chatham House andSDN reports). Implementing these will enable the government to effectively manage its oil resources. It will curb corruption in this sector as well as help the government in translating its oil revenues to something beneficial to Nigerians.
3.  Improve service delivery:  The Nigerian government should engage citizens more in governance. It should set and publish clear standards on what services citizens should expect from government. MDAs at both the Federal and State levels should publish at least 3 things that they will accomplish in their various agencies to improve the lives of Nigerians.  This will be used to hold them accountable. The heads of the agencies should be sacked if these are not met.

I conclude with a quote from the governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank: We must recognize that at the heart of the problem of Nigeria, at the heart of ninety percent of our issues – from Boko Haram, to religious crisis, to ethnic crisis to unemployment, to the lack of education, to the lack of health care – is that there are people who profit from the poverty and underdevelopment of this country. And these people are called Vested Interests. And so long as they remain entrenched, and so long as we do not overcome our fear of them and dislodge them, we are not going to find a solution to this problem and we are not going to reach true potentials’

 

How did Nigeria perform in the 2013 Transparency International Corruption Index?

Yet again, Nigeria is ranked the 3^rd most corrupt country in the West African Region. This was highlighted in the 2013 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index released today. Transparency International Corruption Perception Index ranks countries based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. The measurement is based on a scale of 0 to 100 with a score of 0 perceived as "highly corrupt" and 100 "very clean". Not surprising, Nigeria’s performance on the ranking is lower than its 2012 ranking. It ranked 144 out of 177 countries with a score of 25 compared to 2012 when it ranked 139 out of 176 countries with a score of 27.

In Sub-Sahara Africa, Botswana ranked the best at 30 with a CPI score of 64. Cape Verde ranked the best in the West African region with a position of 41 and CPI score of 68.Ghana ranked 63 with a CPI score of 46. Please see table below showing Nigeria’s performance in comparison with other West African countries.

Position	Country	2013 Rank	2013 Score	2012 rank	2012  score
1	Cape Verde	41	58	39	60
2	Ghana	63	46	64	45
3	Senegal	77	41	94	36
4	Liberia	83	38	75	41
5	Burkina Faso	83	38	83	38
6	Benin	94	36	94	36
7	Niger	106	34	113	33
8	Sierra Leone	119	30	123	31
9	Mauritania	119	30	123	31
10	Togo	123	29	128	30
11	Gambia	127	28	105	34
12	Mali	127	28	105	34
13	Cote d'ivoire	136	27	130	29
14	Nigeria	144	25	139	27
16	Guinea	150	24	154	24
15	Guinea Bissau	163	19	150	25

http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/