Corruption in Africa: Why It Persists and How We Must Fight It

The dilemma "corruption” is evergreen in Africa, and it deserves attention at all times because it has undermined and continues to undermine development on the continent.

It is true that corruption exists in every part of the world. But corruption must receive greater attention in Africa because it has remained pervasive and pernicious, to the detriment of the continent.

Many African countries, including Nigeria, would have realized their potential and achieved great economic growth. Yet such progress has been stunted by corruption.

Many of us know that the 54 countries of this continent combined have a total GDP lower than that of individual European countries such as Germany, Spain, and France. This is largely because of corruption.

African countries are poor because they are poorly governed.

Last year, I read Greg’s book, Why Africa Is Poor and What We Can Do, by a South African writer. In it, he asserts that Africa is poor because its leaders have chosen that path.

It has also been said that one reason corruption thrives in Africa is that Africa is in the business of canonizing thieves and sanctifying and celebrating the wrong people, while vilifying our good men and women.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to speak at a webinar organized by “African Rising.” There, I argued that Africa is in the business of punishing small thieves and electing big ones into office. How is it that the likes of Yahaya Bello of Nigeria can get a senatorial ticket to the Senate despite his corruption saga while he was governor?

That is why, when one is asked to speak on corruption in Africa, one must always ask the litmus question: why have African countries never succeeded in the fight against corruption?

I agree there is a place for legislation in Africa. But those who have observed Africa carefully have also said the problem is not a shortage of laws. In fact, Africa has forests of legislation, all of which are routinely breached. This begs the question: what is the problem?

The problem in Africa is that we have, paradoxically, created an environment that allows thieving and thievery to blossom and thrive. We have created an environment where men and women who engage in graft occupy positions of power and influence.

When asked what other African countries have done in the fight against corruption that Nigeria and others can emulate, we must remember that some African countries have succeeded. The reason is that their leadership has demonstrated, by action, that they mean what they say. They have fought corruption unequivocally.

African countries are quick to sign international instruments. If you look at the countries that were first to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, African countries were in the forefront, and Nigeria was never far behind. The same is true for protocols and anti-corruption legislation.

In other words, we have the inclination to sign anything on sight without doing what those commitments require of us.

It is not legislation in and of itself that matters. It is the culture and custom we have evolved over the years of celebrating ill-gotten wealth. It is not a shortage of political pronouncements. Those in leadership often say they will fight corruption, but in practice, they appear to fight corruption without actually fighting it.

So we must ask ourselves: what must we do, we who have the privilege and honor of serving our people, to salvage our countries from the chains of graft?

There are Afro-pessimists who believe Africa will perpetually be mired in the muck and mire of corruption. But the truth is, some African countries have demonstrated that it can be done. Botswana has shown that with committed leadership at the top, corruption can be fought and defeated. Mauritius and Rwanda have shown the same.

What they have demonstrated is that corruption is so serious that it cannot be left to the political class alone. It cannot be fought through vague pronouncements or procedural technicalities. Sometimes, there must be a deliberate conspiracy of institutions to fight corruption. The executive must positively and creatively work with the legislature, and the legislature must work with the judiciary—not to undermine these institutions, but to strengthen them.

I hold the view that the fight against corruption can and must be done. If it is not, many African countries, including Nigeria, will not realize their potential.

It has also been demonstrated that fighting corruption requires continental collaboration. The African Union has passed the African Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, a continental instrument that allows African countries to collaborate in the fight. Regional efforts matter too. In ECOWAS, Nigeria and its neighbors have an opportunity to engage positively in this fight.

It has not been lost on me that on the day Nigeria rises, Africa rises. One out of every six Africans is Nigerian. The reason African countries have continued to behave as they do is that Nigeria has not yet realized its potential.

The day Nigeria realizes its potential is the day Africa will rise. Nigeria must play its leadership role, not only in the region but in Africa. Nigeria must be at the forefront of fighting corruption—and must demonstrate this not only at the continental level, but on the global stage.

The UN Convention Against Corruption provides opportunities for member countries to ensure that ill-gotten funds are repatriated and that those who commit such acts are punished. The world must know that if you reap where you did not sow, there are consequences.

We must also create an environment hostile to corruption. There was a time I believed procurement laws alone were magic bullets that would eliminate corruption in the civil service. Over the years, I’ve realized that procurement laws often just allow people to steal in accordance with the law.

We should not be under the illusion that laws alone will solve the problem. While I was at Abolarin College, I read Chinua Achebe’s words: “Since men have learned to shoot without missing, the naked bird has learned to fly without perching.”

One of our issues is that when legislators enact laws and procurement rules, they often do so in ways that allow bureaucrats and elites to steal while giving their acts a veneer of legality. The quality of the laws we enact is therefore very important.

We must also look at the lifestyle of those in public office. How is it that in Africa, someone we knew to be a pauper is appointed to public office, and soon becomes a millionaire, living as if money was never a problem?

The privatization of public wealth is something we must fight and frown upon. That is why lifestyle audits are important. I urge lawmakers to enact legislation requiring that before a public servant builds a house, they must show the source of their funds. If this were done, the number of mansions built through corruption would drop by 99%.

Corruption has also undermined democracy. That is the tragedy of it. It has been shown that in countries where corruption has been successfully fought, democracy also thrives.

We must create public awareness—but not just to tell people that corruption is bad. People know. They hear it in church on Sundays and Saturdays, and in mosques on Fridays. What we must do is ensure behavior change. Throughout history, people change their behavior only when there is a threat of pain, deprivation, or imprisonment. We must ensure that those who engage in corruption are punished, and punished according to the law.

What challenges stand in our way? In multi-ethnic, multi-lingual countries like Nigeria, it is even more difficult.

In an attempt to rationalize corruption, someone once asked me, “How can a fish swim in the ocean without water entering its mouth?” I asked what he meant. He said, “How can you work in public service without taking a portion?” I answered, “You are not a fish. And if you are, close your mouth.”

He then asked, “How can you graze around a tree and not taste the grass under it?” I said, “You are not a cow. And if you are, remember those grasses don’t belong to you.”

This shows there is no shortage of attempts to rationalize corruption. And there is no way to fight corruption without changing people’s behavior.

My prescription is this: we must realize that those who engage in corruption belong to a different cabal, and they must not be harbored. The culture in Africa is that when a thief is from our tribe, we say, “He is our thief.” This ownership of thieves because they come from our ethnic, religious, or linguistic group must stop.

We must create an environment where those who engage in corruption have no refuge in their ethnic groups. We must stop the habit of punishing graft in words but protecting the offenders because they are “one of us.” This problem will persist in Nigeria unless, through the legislature—which comprises people from all walks of life—we deny these thieves the oxygen to breathe, so they suffocate through their own inequities.

There are several things I believe are critical in the fight against corruption, as demonstrated in different parts of the world.

First, strengthen institutions. Institutions are at the heart of a sustained fight against corruption. No matter how well-intentioned individuals are, they will not succeed if the legislature is not positively supportive. We need to strengthen and stabilize institutions.

Those who engage in graft have amazing patience. They can sleep quietly for a decade and emerge a greater monster in the eleventh year. Therefore, we must create institutions that defy time.

If it is parliament, it must stay strong. If it is the judiciary, it must comprise men and women of integrity. If it is the executive, it must be strengthened. If it is the EFCC, it must be strengthened. If it is civil society, it must be strengthened. Only institutions that defy time will ensure we succeed.

Second, enact laws that ensure swift punishment. We need a raft of laws ensuring that those who act detrimentally to society are punished swiftly and are not unleashed again on the unsuspecting public.

For a long time, Africans who stole from Africa found safe haven in Europe. I am glad Europe is now closing its doors. Under the World Bank, we have mutual legal assistance. We must ensure these avenues are closed so they cannot hide their money abroad.

It amazes me that these individuals keep ill-gotten wealth in numbered accounts that even their wives and children don’t know about. Often, when they die, that money is enjoyed by foreign civilizations.

We must ensure that public servants do not hold accounts outside this country. If they love this country enough to serve it, why do they not trust it with their money? These are things that can only be done with sound laws.

Third, reform our education system. What are we teaching in Nigeria’s 143 universities and in our high schools? Are we teaching young people that they can be celebrated simply for acquiring wealth, regardless of its source?

We must interrogate our curriculum. This is not one man’s job. Religious leaders, traditional rulers, village heads, and others must be involved.

How can it be that in Nigeria, you cannot allow your daughter or son to marry a thief who stole a goat, but a thief who stole millions is celebrated? We must give the goat and the naira equal value. A thief is a thief.

Lastly, we must introduce hygiene into our politics. The day we introduce hygiene into our politics—so that those who seek office are people of integrity, and finance their campaigns cleanly—that is the day we will begin to sanitize our country.

I have always been amazed that in Nigeria, someone who will earn no more than ₦30 million in four years is prepared to spend ₦1 billion to get into office. There must be something they see that we, the electorate, do not see. And that thing is the ability to privatize public wealth.

The day we deal with the financing of politics is the day Nigeria will begin to be a great country.

I look forward to the day when corruption is the exception, not the rule.

I look forward to the day when the laws we enact are actually observed.

I look forward to the day when we create an environment that prevents corruption.

I look forward to the day when national honors are given to those who deserve them, not to those who bought them.

I look forward to the day when our youth in schools have the instinct to do good.

I look forward to the day when the EFCC can be abolished because there are no more corrupt Nigerians.

I look forward to the day when all our laws have their rightful place.

I look forward to the day when protocols and pronouncements will be in the museum of history because corruption has been eliminated.

I look forward to the day when we can say, like the man in the Bible: “Corruption, where is thy sting?”

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

God bless Africa.

Ambassador Oladipo Taye Luminaria001

A Pan-Africanist.