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It is often said that Nigeria is too corrupt as if Nigeria is a person. Or it is as if corruption is the only problem in Nigeria. The truth of the matter is that there has always been perpetual and endemic corruption in Nigeria – pre-colonial, colonial, independence and post-independence, military and post-military Nigeria. We therefore hope to trace the political evolution of corruption in Nigeria.
In this post, we take a look at how corruption has evolved over the years in the country in both local and federal governments.
In the Pre-Independence and the First Republic, that is
before independence, corruption was evident in the country but it was kept at manageable levels up until the First Republic.
The first political figure to be investigated for questionable practices was Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1944. At that time, it was said that a firm that could be traced to Azikiwe had just bought a bank in Lagos and the reason behind the procurement was to strengthen local control of the financial industry. Dr. Azikwe had resigned as Chairman of the Bank while his alleged agent was planted there as the Chairman. If this is true, that was corruption.
In Western Nigeria, Adegoke Adelabu (Penkelemesi), a popular politician in Ibadan had charges of political corruption leveled against him by the opposition. In Northern Nigeria, there were corruption allegations leveled against some political figures in Bornu. The British administration was later accused of corrupt practices in the results of elections which installed a Fulani political leadership in Kano.
Later, a report that linked the British officials to electoral corruption was discovered. One Harrod Smith a former British Official had narrated in a recorded interview how Britain rigged the most decisive election in Nigeria in 1959 in favor of Northern Nigeria. A corruption that shifted the political power base of Nigeria till today.
The Independence Constitution and Republican Constitution of Nigeria ended in January 1965 through the intervention of the Military Directorship.
The Gowon Military Administration was between August 1966 and July 1975 with Gen. Yakubu Gowon as Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Gowon was not corrupt but some of Gowon’s military governors acted like lords overseeing their empires, many of them very corruptly.
“The Head of State was viewed to have treated with kid gloves and “couldn’t control the corrupt elements in his government” In 1975, a corruption scandal surrounding the importation of cement engulfed many officials of the defense ministry and the Central Bank of Nigeria. Officials were later accused of falsifying ships manifestos and inflating the amount of cement to be purchased”.
Murtala administration (1975 – February 1976), was in power through another counter-coup against Gowon in 1976. The administration of Murtala Mohammed was short-lived but was able to “battle corruption by making reformist changes”.
Obasanjo administration (February 1976 – September 1979), succeeded Murtala Muhamed headed by Gen. Olusegun to Obasanjo after the assassination of Gen. Murtala Mohamed. It quickly launched major projects such as the building of refineries, and pipelines, expanding the national shipping and airlines as well and hosting FESTAC 1977. These projects, however, were insinuated to be conduit pipes to distribute favors and enrich connected politicians and some military members of the government.
There were other famous national projects like the International International Telecommunication (ITT) company led by Chief MKO Abiola in Nigeria, which the then Head of State, Gen Olusegun Obasanjo was allegedly associated with. Also, the Operation Feed the Nation Program, and the associated with the Land Use Decree implemented by the then Head of State were said to be used as conduits to reward cronies. It was also reported that Obasanjo’s Otta Farm was a project that was allegedly borne out of scandalous projects and policies of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo.
Shagari Administration (October 1979 – December 1983), took over from Obasanjo.
Corruption was quite on a wider and higher scale during the administration of Shehu Shagari.
Arsons of the federal buildings under investigation for misappropriation of funds mysteriously caught fire after investigators started to probe the finances of the officials working in the buildings. Were these the hands of God or man? They were all meant to cover the tracks of corrupt practices by politicians.
In 1981, rice shortages led to accusations of corruption against government officials. However, accusations of favoritism and government-supported speculation were leveled against many officials.
Buhari Administration (December 1983 – August 1985), came by military fiat. The Buhari Administration was involved in fighting corrupt practices but this government was short-lived as it was overthrown by Ibrahim Babangida military jaunts.
Babangida Administration (August 1985 – August 1993) came in as a counter-coup. The regime of General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) was said to be a period of legalized corruption in Nigeria. The IBB administration was allegedly involved in what was “particularly known for its failure to give an account of the Gulf War windfall, which has been estimated to be $12.4 billion”. This would have been in Trillions of Naira today.
The Mother of all political corruption was the annulment of the only successful election in the history of Nigeria on June 12, 1993, by the regime of Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB). And without any reason(s).
The administration of Dr. Sonekan was overthrone almost immediately after he was sworn in without financial involvement in 1993.
Abacha Administration (Nov 1993 – June 1998) stepped in after the IBB stepped aside.
The Corruption continued under General Sani Abacha as if corruption was handed over to Abacha, and when he died, it was revealed that bribes were paid to government officials to ease the award of a gas plant construction in Nigeria revealing one of highest the levels of official graft in the country. It was the result of this investigation that led to the freezing of accounts containing about $100 million.
In 2000, the Swiss Banking Commission was said to have indicted Swiss banks for failing to follow the compliance process when they allowed Abacha’s family and friends access to his accounts and to deposit amounts totaling $600 million US dollars into them. Also, a total of more than $1 billion US dollars were found in various accounts throughout Europe.
Abdusalami Administration (June 1998 – May 1999)
The government of Gen. Abdusalami was short and focused on transiting the country quickly to democracy. Albeit, the suspicion remains that quite a lot of wealth was acquired by him and his inner circle in such a short period, as he lives in an exquisite mansion of his adjacent IBBs that exceeds whatever he might have earned in legitimate incomes throughout his active years in his military career.
Obasanjo Civil Administration (May 1999 – May 2007).
There were several alleged corruption in the Obasanjo civil administration. There were the alleged KBR and Siemens bribery scandals that broke out under his administration. Also, there were other alleged scandals on power and electricity running into billions of dollars.
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua administration (May 2007 – May 2010). Yaradua spent a short time as President of Nigeria yet, some corruption scandals from previous administrations came to light under his tenure and went uninvestigated due to a lack of political will and poor health before he passed on.
Goodluck Jonathan administration (2010–2015). In 2014, Nigeria’s rank improved from 143rd to the 136th position on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. That is not in any way enviable. However, in late 2013, the Central Bank governor at that time, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi informed President Goodluck Jonathan that the state oil company, NNPC, had failed to remit US$20 billion in oil revenues owed to Nigeria. But the President, Goodluck Jonathan dismissed this claim. When the audit of the NNPC’s account was concluded, it was revealed that the NNPC’s non-remitted revenue was US$1.48 billion. However, the PwC and Deloitte report which was released at the end of the Goodluck Jonathan tenure revealed that the unremitted revenue was truly close to $20 billion. But no questions were ever asked till today.
Buhari administration (2015–2019), in which President Buhari was said to be ready to fight hard to end corruption in the country was just turned to a mere barking of a dog. However, many Nigerians think the fight is one-sided as it seems the President turns a blind eye to members of his party who have corruption scandals trailing them.
Buhari was accused of being complicit in corruption scandals like:
1. Emefiele and the CBN (2014 – 2023, in the Naira redesign.
2. Buhari’s Humanitarian Minister and N37bn fraud.
Three other Ministers were probed for a graft of about N150bn.
3. Nigeria Air scandals. This is a foreign airline that was repainted and rebranded one of its Boeing 737-860 Max aircraft and presented to Nigeria as Nigeria Air. This cost Nigeria about N3 trillion.
4. The School Feeding Program.
5. Snakes, rats, and monkeys stole Billions of Naira. In February 2018 a snake was accused of swallowing N36 million from the vault of the JAMB office in Markurdi in Benue State. In the same year, a Senate spokesperson alleged that monkeys carried away N70 ml under one Senator Abdullahi Adamu’s care. The snakes, monkeys, and termites money hungry also ate up N17.128 billion of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund. Nigeria is seriously sick of “corruption cancer”.
Ahmed Bola Tinubu Administration (May 29, 2023 – the Present). Barely one-half months in office, it is very difficult to assess the corporate corruption of the government in office. However, by the review of two international reports we can do a synopsis of the governance. One reported the Standard of Living position of Nigeria, she was recorded as number 134th in the world, which was too shabby when compared to our human and natural resources. The second report reported that the Nigerian President is numbered 1 – 3 scale of corrupt leaders in the world. Maybe one or more than three sides must have done a refutation, which I have not been chanced to read. But after 3 years in office, there would be more opportunities to do a near better analysis of the corruption index of the government.
Very unfortunately another African leader
Kenyan President William Ruto scored the most votes, Mr Tinubu was listed as number three, following former Indonesian President Joko Widodo. But the
Organizers awarded the main Person of the Year label to Bashar al-Assad, the recently ousted leader of Syria, who fled to Russia earlier after spending decades plundering the Middle-Eastern country.
President Tinubu has strongly denied all allegations of corruption. A spokesperson for Tinubu did not immediately answer a request seeking comments about his unveiling as a globally acclaimed organized crime personality Peoples Gazette said.
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