Just a peripheral aside, avoiding any frontal collision with any of the ogas and alagbas.
I know that Björn Beckman ( a personal friend) is very serious about Nigeria. We are of course, all on the same side. In my humble opinion, every atom of effort against corruption counts.
The money wheel,, the main currency of corruption , is still turning. Some people call it "dirty money". As far as I know, I have never given or taken a bribe - although on one occasion in 1981 travelling by road from Ahoada to Port Harcourt, Richard Nsiah at the wheel of his Nigerian assembled Peugeot , we were stopped by the traffic police and - it sounded like an emergency - Richard asked me sitting in the back seat if I had ten naira on me; I did, and handed it over to him and he handed it over to the police. Let the pastors be the judge. I thought he was going to ask the police constable for some change but he didn't. He later apologised and explained that in the circumstances – we would have been delayed endlessly so, it was the most practical thing to do - and refunded my money. In very similar circumstances , Mr. Prasad my Telugu neighbour at the wheel of his Volkswagen on the road to Ahoada from Port Harcourt was stopped by the traffic police. Mr. Prasad asked him, " Are you hungry?" and he replied , " Yes, I am hungry" whereupon Mr. Prasad opened the back door to and told him " hop in" which the policemen did. When we arrived, Mrs Prasad prepared a nice vegetarian dinner which we devoured and with great satisfaction….
Somebody – I don't remember exactly who - said that when Reagan wanted to recruit more Black People to join the army and to go fight his wars, it was then he would say, " We are in trouble" - and then could follow, "what have you done for your country lately?" and patriotic slogans such as , "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." In searching for his exact words, I came across this . Did Trump really say that?
Unless asked by the omniscient and omnipotent , such as when He asked Cain who had just murdered his brother Abel, " What have you done ?", the question is an irritant and is bound to rebound on the accuser – because it's an enormous question and we all know that with regard to corruption it's not a mere matter of scholarly research and erudite tomes that may eventually filter through to at least partially corrupt decision-making bodies and their judiciaries, in corruption-ridden countries - or some miraculously redemptive conclusion such as "or to take up arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them?" - or the second coming of Jesus of Nazareth (after the trials and tribulations of Hitler and the next anti-Christ - according to Christian and Islamic apocalyptic literature when the final showdown will take place at the Battle of Armageddon - the defeat of Satan and his apostles to be followed by one thousand years of peace and a world liberated from corruption. Until then, as the tribe of Shabazz would say, a luta continua !
In the political dialogue on a national scale it can sometimes be ironic, such as one non-corrupt person asking another non-corrupt person, or indeed asking a thieving chief of staff/ commander-in-chief himself, " What have you done and what are you doing to kill corruption?"
Like Caesar, some African president or the other could well say and mean it too: "Danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he.
We are two lions littered in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible."
Some of them the guardians and protectors of corruption.
Whereas Tom Ikimi decided to go on the offensive with the etymological approach – where did the word "corrupt" begin – the then President of Sierra Leone Ahmed Tejan Kabbah tried to dodge the question by pretending to be helpless. The question that Tim Sebastian asked him on the same BBC Hardtalk programme was, " People are saying that you are like a toothless chimpanzee in tackling corruption" - to which Kabbah replied - " You cannot eliminate corruption 100%!" Here's a partial transcript of that dialogue
The questions about corruption equally apply to other ECOWAS countries, including Kalabule Ghana and Sierra Leone, where significantly the current two term president Koroma campaigned on a platform of "ZERO tolerance for corruption" and won. Since then, some big heads have rolled , but if we are to believe Emerson, some sacred cows are still roaming free, along with rumours as to who is the king of corruption.
Kelfala Kallon : The Political Economy of Corruption in Sierra Leone ( 2004)
On Sunday, 12 June 2016 01:21:46 UTC+2, jmb...@weber.edu wrote:
Abu:What exactly have you done? Please, enlighten me? Have you actually read any of my research?
Envoyé de mon iPhone
Le 11 juin 2016 à 15:21, 'Abubakar Momoh' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com > a écrit :Prof. Mbaku,I will explain. Your approach to corruption is too liberal, unilinear and descriptive, rather than critical, complex and Pluridisciplinary. Jean Francois Bayart is one of your recommended core texts for us on corruption and you gleefully cite him for us to read; but what does his book "Politics of the Belly" tell us about the reality in Africa? Nothing but pure fiction: so-called politics of "chopping". Is that what politics is all about in Africa? Even if taken from a statist point of view?You may have written tonnes of books on corruption in Africa, but let's be very modest about the claims we make: you are not the oracle on corruption in Africa and we have not heard the final pronouncement on the subject and above all, your reading list on the subject of corruption is not the most engaging and critical. I find it strange that you cite such unserious scholars as your core texts on corruption in Africa.Also, your way out of the corruption question is too legalistic and simplistic. And l find this unacceptable, as a student of the subject.AbuSent from my iPhone--Abu:You make the following claim: "To be honest, l find Prof. Mbaku's approach to the corruption question in Africa very limited and too narrow. Far too narrow. There are far more complex issues involved in understanding corruption in Africa and they are weighty; as a result solutions need to be nuanced and the approach more scientific in finding country-based strategies of engagement."What exactly do you mean? What are these complex and weighty issues that you talk of? What makes you think that my approach is unscientific?--On Sat, Jun 11, 2016 at 1:37 PM, 'Abubakar Momoh' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com > wrote:--Prof. Aluko,I concur on this point. And without being accused of immodesty, Prof. Paul Okojie and l have done two chapters on corruption in Nigeria. The first entitled "Corruption and Reform in Nigeria" was published in the book titled, "Corruption and Development: Anti-corruption campaigns" Edited by Sarah Bracking (New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) and the second is entitled "Understanding Corruption in Nigeria", it was published in another book titled "State-Society relations in Nigeria", edited by Kenneth Omeje (London: Adonis and Abbey Publishers, 2007).We have also been working on a book -length manuscript Commissioned by a Publishing House in the UK on the same subject. Additionally, I did one year field-based study of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2010 with funding support from a German Foundation. I was trying to explore the "Pockets of Effectiveness" (PoE) thesis as propounded by the UC Berkeley Professor, David K. Leonard. When he went to IDS, University of Sussex as a Visiting Professor, he presented his magisterial paper entitled "Where are 'Pockets' of Effective Agencies likely in weak Governance states and why? A propositional inventory". This paper was a good complement to or a shift from the discourses by radical proponents of the Developmental State such as Peter Evans who used the context of the "Pockets of Efficiency" (PoE) as opposed to Donald's "Pockets of Effectiveness" (PoE) approach. Evans focused on the rentier state character of emergent bureaucratic elite and Politically Exposed Persons and the principle of neoutilitarianism. The emphasis is now on effective social policy as opposed to mere social policy intervention. All as attempts to address the crises of the state and the crisis of and contradictory role played by capital accumulation in the understanding of corrupting in Third world countries. Leonard has done a very impressive study on Public Managers in Kenya. That study may be of interest to Prof. Mbaku, since he has research interest in Kenya he will see that the story of Africa is not after all about corruption. The story is a mixed bag, it's contradictory and we should be cautious about how we generalise. I say all this because nobody is a new comer to the discourse on corruption. And l say this with all sense of humility and modesty.To be honest, l find Prof. Mbaku's approach to the corruption question in Africa very limited and too narrow. Far too narrow. There are far more complex issues involved in understanding corruption in Africa and they are weighty; as a result solutions need to be nuanced and the approach more scientific in finding country-based strategies of engagement.AbuSent from my iPhoneDr. Fakinlede:With all due respect, a lot of people have been writing about corruption and how to diminish it in Nigeria, Africa and the world as a whole. The literature is rife with such publications - books and publications by individuals and individuals (World Bank, etc) . All it remains is the political will for our governing leadership to do just 10% of the most crtical 90% ideas to reduce the corruption by 50% in Nigeria.Here are my own modest contributions since 2004:
Some Essays on Corruption by Mobolaji E. Aluko
http://nigerianmuse.com/
essays/?u=corruption_nigeria_ how_why.htm https://dawodu.com/aluko102.
htm How and Why Corruption Persists in Nigeria – And Some Simple Things to Do About It -
November 26, 2004
----------------
http://www.nigerialinks.com/
Articles/mobolaji_aluko/2004/ 12/17-ways-of-stopping- financial.html 17 Ways of Stopping Financial Corruption in Nigeria – A Summary
December 05, 2004
----------------
http://www.segundawodu.com/
aluko117.htm Handcuffing White-Collar Corruption in Nigeria
Saturday, April 9, 2005
-----------------
https://dawodu.com/aluko119.
htm Towards Greater Transparency and Accountability in Nigeria:
Publish their Properties, Publicize Their Taxes, Prepare their Statements, Prosecute their Indiscretions
April 12, 2005
--------------------
http://www.segundawodu.com/
aluko132.htm The Rifeness and Arithmetics of Fraud and Corruption in Nigeri
February 14, 2006
-------------------
http://economicconfidential.
com/2009/11/corruption-index- the-ranking-of-nigeria-from- 1995-2009/ Corruption Index: The Ranking of Nigeria from 1995 – 2009
Aluko (2009)
---------------------
Best wishes.
Bolaji Aluko
--On Sat, Jun 11, 2016 at 2:45 PM, Kayode J. Fakinlede <jfaki...@gmail.com> wrote:--Ladies and Gentlemen'This topic has obviously generated much interest. Apparently the advice to let sleeping dogs lie could not apply.. It seems to me that more people may conribute to the convesrsation. I have taken some time to format this as a conference piece (see attached file) with the all contributors as members of the panel. It is my hope that more people writing on the site will contribute (Profs. Afoayan, Emeagwali etc.)At the end, we may have something to reference when it comes to the issue of corruption in Africa.It must be pointed out though that as much as we have analysed this issue in terms of cause and effect, we have not been forthcoming as to how to eradicate or at least ameliorate it within our continent. I would like to think that this is where the problem lies and where solutions have to be debated.Please,ladies and gentlemen, let us now put on our 'solutions cap' and give this next chapter a thorough consideration. And please, let these solutions be ones we as Africans - individually, collectively or even at the government level - can utilize.I must confess that I have learned a lot from the many experst we have on this site.Thank you allFAKINLEDE
On Thursday, June 9, 2016 at 12:55:14 AM UTC+1, Kayode J. Fakinlede wrote:WHY NIGERIANS ARE CORRUPT
By
Kayode J. Fakinlede
More than any other nation, Nigerians probably suffer the devastating effect of corruption most. It is always mind-boggling to me when I read about the untold millions or billions that our public officials steal or misappropriate.
Now these Nigerians are usually church or mosque going. And whenever they leave their respective places of worship, they are often met by a crowd of beggars, asking for something to eat! They don't care and their pastors don't care too. Remember the statement, " If anyone has a billion naira to donate, let him see my secretary"
Once in a while, the hands of the law, in form of EFCC, ICPC, etc. catch up with these Nigerians, but on the long run, practically nothing seems to happen to them in form of punishment.
The question then becomes: Why are Nigerians corrupt in the first place? The same Nigerians may go to other countries and live honest lives, although some of them, for reasons of habit, flout the laws of these other nations and they are promptly put in jail.
Why are Nigerians corrupt? And how do we stem the tide corruption ravaging our land?
The reasons why all people are corrupt are akin to the reasons why fire breaks out. That is, there is something that can ignite; there is a source of ignition; and there is oxygen to perpetuate the burning. If you remove one of factors, there will be no fire. I will use that analogy in case of corruption.
All humans are corrupt because of the following reasons:
1. There are people willing to be corrupt or steal
2. There are things to steal
3. There are opportunities to steal these things.
Before I go on, let me state that these three reasons have a multiplying effect like that of the fire. In which case, if you eliminate any one of these, corruption will effectively be eliminated. Reducing any of the factors to the barest minimum reduces the level of corruption accordingly.
Lastly, if people are not given the opportunity to steal, there will be no stealing, regardless of the availability of the other two factors. On the other hand, if we let any one of these three factors increase without eliminating or reducing the other two factors, corruption will increase proportionately. This is simple mathematics.
Now, in Nigeria, all three factors flourish boundlessly. A lot of people are willing to steal or be corrupt. Of course, in Nigeria, there are trillions and trillions of Naira worth of government properties, ranging from small office pins to large sea-going vessels, from which anyone who is in the right place can help himself. And of course, the opportunities to steal these things are very much available to most government officials and their collaborators.
No wonder, the effects of corruption are so punishing to Nigerians!!!
In many countries around the world where a socialist form of government is practiced, the willingness to be corrupt is often met by the stiff arm of the law. In which case, if a person should steal some property belonging to the government, he is immediately summarily executed. This makes it highly unpalatable to want to steal. In Nigeria, on the other hand, those who steal government property are sometimes made heroes and welcomed with pomp and pageantry by those people -us - who are being robbed.
Of course, there is a lot of government property from which anyone willing to steal can steal. In the capitalist countries, government property is reduced to the barest minimum. Most things, except for roads, bridges, and other implemens needed for national defense, are owned by someone, some group or some company. They are therefore not freebies from which anyone can help himself without some form of repercussion. It is in this area that Nigeria can make a difference if we are willing to fight corruption. The government's ownership of properties has to be reduced considerably. In which case, properties under the management of governments – government factories, power generating concerns, hotels, petrol refineries and stations, airlines and airplanes, ships, etc, should be sold to people who can manage them efficiently. This enables the government to have less under its management - or mismanagement.
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--JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, ESQ.
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