Nigeria’s massive problems are common knowledge. Negative stereotypes and jokes about scams and inefficiencies reverberate around the globe. In crime-ridden Johannesburg, for instance, Nigerians are regarded as primus inter pares. Hand-wringing books and articles also abound. Two examples are Karl Maier’s dystopian travelogue, ‘This House Has Fallen: Midnight in Nigeria’ (New York: Public Affairs, 2000); and Eliza Griswold’s ‘The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line between Christianity and Islam’ (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010), an alarming account of the primarily religious fault line running around the world, including through conflict-ridden Jos. When we read of the recent depredations of the militant Islamic group, Boko Haram (‘Western Education is bad’), we may feel that this could be the final nail in a sick nation’s coffin.

Less well-known – perhaps because bad news sells newspapers, boosts TV ratings, and multiplies online clicks – are the people who are working to do something about one of Nigeria’s root problems: Corruption. No one, of course, has a magic bullet (unfortunate metaphor), but four pro-democratic activists with whom I spoke in Nigeria in October 2011 not only have important ideas for reform, but are also working effectively to implement them. These ideas span politics, law and economics. The interviewees comprise three anti-corruption reformers working for NGOs and a sitting governor who started one of these NGOs. As it happens, the four activists also represent four of Nigeria’s largest ethnic groups.

Before this set of interviews, I had already interviewed three major Nigerian reformers then resident in the US: Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka; recently deceased elder statesman of Nigerian democracy, Chief Anthony ‘Pa’ Enahoro (1923-2010); and the first Head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu. (Titles and links for these interviews are listed at the end of this article.)

Here are some excerpts from my interviews with the four Nigerian reformers:

1. CHANGES IN THE LAW

DR JIBRIN IBRAHIM: DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR DEMOCRACY & DEVELOPMENT-NIGERIA

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The problem we had was that, for 30 years, nobody who could hire a SAN, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, lawyers who have been recognised by their peers… for the 30 years preceding when Nuhu Ribadu came to the EFCC – seasoned lawyers like Femi Falana told me this – nobody who had enough money to hire a SAN was jailed for corruption. This had to do with the capacity of the judiciary. One of the problems was the procedural element that allowed people with good lawyers to take continuous interlocutory injunctions that allowed a corruption case to drag for ten, 15, 20 years, till it exhausted the judiciary. That was a systemic fault. It was not that the judges were being corrupted. When the ICPC [Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission"> was founded [by Obasanjo in 2000">, it had exactly the same rules as the judiciary. So they were also unable to prosecute successfully. The EFCC was set up under a different law, which enabled them to stop these endless interlocutory injunctions and address the substantive issue. So you have to be careful in assessing Ribadu. It was not just that he was a tough guy. It was a combination of the enabling law and Nuhu’s own tenacity that produced results.

2. LOCAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

DAUDA GARUBA, NIGERIA PROGRAMME COORDINATOR, REVENUE WATCH INSTITUTE

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RON SINGER: What does your organisation do?

DAUDA GARUBA: We work in the areas of oil, gas, and mining revenues with a view to enhancing public good. You know, there is a relationship between natural resources and conflict. If you manage these revenues well, you free yourself from the kinds of crisis you have had over the years in Sierre Leone, Liberia, and so on. Our organisation, Revenue Watch, provides technical assistance to governments, as well as working with the demand side. We try to persuade companies to put pressure on government to use its resources in a way that is beneficial to the people.

RON SINGER: Has the Nigerian government used your services?

DAUDA GARUBA: What we’ve been doing in Nigeria is more at the sub-national level; we are just scaling up to national level. We have pilot projects in four countries, Nigeria, Peru, Ghana, and Indonesia. We are studying how sub-national governments are using their resources. We also want to see how we can enhance the process by helping these governments maximise revenues accruing from their resources for public good. Since the projects are pilots, they take into consideration the particularities of each country.

RON SINGER: For instance, in Nigeria?

DAUDA GARUBA: In Nigeria, we are approaching our work at three levels and on two prongs. The first level is the states, like our work with Bayelsa, through what we call the Bayelsa Extractive and Income Transparency Initiative. The second is budget analysis work at the level of selected Niger Delta states with our partner organisations, while the third is responding to natural resource management issues with policy briefs at the national level. The last level has just been expanded through our collaboration on a new consortium with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) called Facility for Oil Sector Transparency (FOSTER). The two-pronged side to our work is provision of technical assistance to governments (free of charge) on request, and to civil society organisations (with grants) to help drive the demand side of any assistance we provide.

RON SINGER: So you help the state governments manage the money from the oil etc?

DAUDA GARUBA: No, we try to show them how best to utilise their [natural"> resources, how to involve local people in the governance of these resources.

RON SINGER: That’s what Chief Enahoro was all about.

DAUDA GARUBA: Yes, of course. Chief Enahoro was much more interested in how ethnic nationalities will take charge of their destinies.

RON SINGER: He said two very interesting things to me. One is that, if you rob locally, people will catch and punish you. If you rob the Federal government and bring the booty home, you will be a hero.

DAUDA GARUBA: Of course, in those days, it was possible to steal from the national government, and nothing happened. But nobody put his hand into the local purse because everybody in the community knows him/her.

RON SINGER: The other thing he said was, put the money into local coffers directly, and let them pay the tax to the Federal government, the same amount the Federal government is now supposedly getting. Instead of vice-versa, the way it has been.

DAUDA GARUBA: That is tied to the entire question of resource control, which has been an issue since the return to civil rule in 1999.

RON SINGER: But why is it assumed that the local people will be more honest than the Federal ones? Chief Enahoro said that, if they did turn out to steal the money, at least they could no longer blame others for their problems.

DAUDA GARUBA: Well, local rulers have local affinities. They are tied to local institutions and have respect for their culture. More than the larger, formal government organisations. People know themselves [i.e. each other"> much more.

RON SINGER: But a governor in one of those states who is a big thief is not robbing from his own people?

DAUDA GARUBA: Yes, that’s true, but it takes formal institutions for a big thief to survive. In a local place, if you are seen with something your income couldn’t provide, society will ask where you got it from. Your parents, your community, will reject you. Of course, people steal money in office and decide to stay in Abuja and never come back home, except during festivals and public holidays.

3. MAKING PUBLIC SERVANTS SERVE THE PUBLIC

CLEMENT NWANKWO, DIRECTOR, POLICY AND LEGAL ADVOCACY CENTRE

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CLEMENT NWANKWO: We identify what we call ‘pro-poor target committees’: committees that have an impact on poverty issues: agriculture, health, education.

RON SINGER: Are the members of those committees necessarily people who want progress in those areas?

CLEMENT NWANKWO: A mixed bag, all sorts of people. The key thing is to get them to understand their responsibilities to legislate for the poor, the people. The tendency a lot of times is for them to get elected and see their election as an end in itself and an opportunity to make profit.

RON SINGER: How do you persuade them to change?

CLEMENT NWANKWO: We help them understand what their responsibilities are. We also draw attention to what they’re doing by publicising their activities to the public.

RON SINGER: Enforced transparency.

CLEMENT NWANKWO: Yes. If, for instance, they award themselves huge emoluments, we want to make sure the public knows this.

RON SINGER: Don’t they get huge salaries?

CLEMENT NWANKWO: No, not really. What happens is that they get what is called a constituency allowance, which is to enable them to work in their constituencies. These run into millions of dollars. They use them as they please, without accountability.

RON SINGER: Is another part of what you do to push for new laws to control things like that?

CLEMENT NWANKWO: Well, by putting out this information, we have made the legislators respond by asking themselves how they can better account for the use of the money.

RON SINGER: Getting the information out pushes them to change?

CLEMENT NWANKWO: A lot of civil society organisations, plus the media, are raising concerns about this issue. Since the inauguration of the present legislature in June, they have reduced by more than 30 per cent these amounts that they have paid to themselves.

4. FISCAL FEDERALISM: THE DEVOLUTION OF POWER

DR JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI, GOVERNOR, EKITI STATE; FOUNDER, CENTRE FOR DEMOCRACY & DEVELOPMENT, NIGERIA

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JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI: Some things are not going to go away. The principle of fiscal federalism is one that even governors are now drawn toward. And we are mainstream, even if we come from a history of being outsiders.

RON SINGER: How many governors agree to it?

JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI: Many of us.

RON SINGER: Huh! Is that right?

JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI: Oh, yes. When it comes down to it, you see that the governor has difficulty ruling. The resources you’re supposed to get, you’re not getting. So it’s no longer a romantic notion, it’s a reality, on the ground.

RON SINGER: And you see how poor so many services of the Federal Government are – you go on the roads…

JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI: Exactly. They have the bulk of this money, and they are not doing jack with it. And they’re not even expected to. The people who see you as governor want you to deliver the goods. They don’t care about Abuja. Ninety-nine per cent of my people in Ekiti have never been to Abuja.

RON SINGER: So you can get blamed for what Abuja is not doing.

JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI: Yes. Not that I can, I do get blamed. They’re experiencing bad roads. All they know is that they have a governor. They don’t know that the roads are a federal responsibility.

RON SINGER: But you’re used to criticism. When you were an outsider, you got it from inside. Now you’re inside, and you get it from everybody.

JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI: Oh, yes, everybody criticises me. And what I do is, I go ahead and look for money to fix the roads, which is not my job.

RON SINGER: That’s an argument for fiscal federalism, isn’t it?

JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI: Precisely. And we’re all in the same boat, which is why the majority of us are on the same page regarding fiscal federalism. … My take on it [fiscal federalism"> has always been that we need to devolve powers as much as possible, to the lower levels, particularly the state level, and then at the zonal level, especially where there are contiguity and economies of scale to be achieved. For example, the states in southwestern Nigeria are involved in a regional integration plan. All the states – Ekiti, Ondo, Ogun, Lagos, Oshun – we form a bloc.

RON SINGER: For economies of scale. But doesn’t that go counter to idea of the devolution of power to the local level?

JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI: No, because it doesn’t remove the states.

RON SINGER: I see. It just means you share things where you can.

JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI: So there are things that Lagos does much better than the rest of us, so we take those. We [Ekiti"> have social security for the elderly, for example, which everybody wants to find out about. Ondo has something good on maternal and child mortality that has even garnered an award at the World Bank. Oshun has something good on youth employment. So we each have a comparative advantage in one thing or the other. Then, we also have so-called legacy projects. We are trying to build a railway that will cut across the entire zone I just mentioned.

RON SINGER: That’s wonderful.

JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI: It’s a mega-expensive project. But a legacy project for all of us. We feel that we owe our people something more fundamental than fixing potholes and doing all this drudgery that they call governance. Because its not good governance.

RON SINGER: And it wastes so much money. When you talk about the expense of the railroad, at least you have something. They’ve been fixing potholes in the zone since at least when I was here, in the 60s, and, if anything, they’re worse. And they seemed bad, then! … . Lagos to Lokoja?

JOHN KAYODE FAYEMI: Lagos to Warri. The Delta.

CONCLUSIONS

Governor Fayemi’s efforts are part of an important push for reform in Nigeria, which began in Lagos with then-Governor Bola Tinubu (1999-2007), and has been continued by his successor, Babatunde Fashola. This effort has been taken up by several state rulers, notably Governor Fayemi, who fought in the courts from 2007-10 to gain the Ekiti governorship usurped by Segun Oni of the PDP (People’s Democratic Party), the party that has ruled Nigeria’s federal government since 1999. Even before running for this office, Fayemi had been a lifelong reformer, active in local tenants-rights movements in London when he was a student there, and, then, in the course of opposing Nigeria’s military dictators, founding the Nigerian chapter of the Centre for Democracy & Development.

Since most of the reforming governors belong to the opposition ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria) party, and since they are also mostly Yorubas, the question arises as to whether the progress they achieve in their own states can create a bandwagon for cleaner, more efficient government that will extend beyond Yoruba states and Governors. There is some evidence that this is already happening, and many people outside of government, such as three Globacom reps I met in Accra, Ghana (where the Nigerian telcoms giant is about to set up shop) see hope in the Governors’ reform movement.

According to the three Globacom reps, who I met over breakfast at our hotel in Accra, another significant basis for reducing corruption in Nigeria involves those sectors of the economy, including telecoms, which are immune to political pressures, including demands for bribes. This immunity stems from the fact that these sectors fall under the purview of independent regulators. In fact, the trio expressed pride and relief that they did not have to bribe Nigerian politicians, which suggests that many other businessmen are not so fortunate. The contrast is great between independently regulated sectors and others where, notoriously, regulation is politically tainted, such as the oil industry.

Seconding the views of the interviewee who currently holds public office (Fayemi), and the other three, who work for pro-democracy NGOs, the three businessmen felt that the end of the Abacha regime had definitely set Nigeria on the road to far more effective, corruption-free governance.

However, a reform governor like Kayode Fayemi wrestles with terrible problems, such as having inherited inflated, fraudulent contracts that he must let run their course because it would be too expensive to undo them and start the projects over. As he said, he also finds himself blamed for problems that should not be his to solve, such as bad roads. Many of his main ideas for reform address this issue of federal versus state responsibility, a core issue in Nigerian governance since Independence in 1960.

Although reformers like these four abound in Nigeria, no one thinks the country is even close to finding its way out of the woods. However, as Governor Fayemi puts it, ‘You should not allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good.’

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NOTES

Ron Singer visited Nigeria and Ghana in October-November 2011 to interview reformers for his book, ‘Uhuru Revisited’ (Africa World Press/Red Sea Press). The promise of uhuru, or freedom, represented by Independence from colonial powers, which began a half-century ago (Ghana, 1957, and from dynastic rule (Ethiopia, 1974) and minority rule (South Africa, 1994), has been realized very unevenly across the African continent. Uhuru Revisited will provide readers with a sense of the range of social and political problems in Africa today and the variety of responses among activists. In hopes of redressing negative stereotypes of Africa in the U.S. and Europe, the book will celebrate the work of a group of very dedicated people, including the four quoted in this article.

Two sections of the book have been completed in draft. The first is based on a visit to southern Africa from February-April, 2010, and focuses on remedies for economic inequality. The second is based upon January-February 2011 interviews in East Africa and the Horn (the practice of journalism). Singer has already published the following articles on the theme of Nigerian corruption:

- “An Interview with Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s Corruption Fighter,” The Faster Times, Feb. 24, 2010: thefastertimes.com/.../an-interview-with-nuhu-ribadu-nigeria’s- corruption- fighter/
- Interview with Wole Soyinka, opendemocracy.net, 8/25/06.
- "Champion of Democracy: An Interview with Chief Anthony Enahoro," Friends of Nigeria Newsletter, 2000 (reprinted in African Link).