Introduction
Social problems in
general, deals with aspect of social life, seen to warrant concern and
intervention i.e. Crime, Poverty, Drug Abuse, Prostitution, Domestic Violence
etc. social problem is associated with economy factors, such as Poverty, Unemployment
etc. there are social problems associated with cultural factors – Divorce,
Juvenile Delinquency. Also, it is associated with biological factors i.e. Food
poisoning, infection’s diseases. A psychological factor is also involved in
social problem in the form of Neurological (Cultism).
Corruption
Corruption
“As
the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth
riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his
end shall be a fool.” Jeremiah 17:11.
There
is a variable which keep re-occurring in Nigeria. The variable is “Corruption”. Corruption is the reason
for the unavailability of drugs and modern medical equipment’s in our hospitals.
It accounted for the pot holes and fails portions on our high way which claim
the lives of Nigerian in their thousands on annual basis. It is the reason for
the dilapidated and lack of infrastructures in our tertiary institutions. This
is also the reason for the avoidable deaths of our infants, children and
expectant mothers in thousands yearly, because of the inadequacy of maternal
and child heath supporting facilities. Corruption is the reason why our
refineries and the power sectors are not working. The contracts for the
provisions of these facilities have been awarded on paper; over and over again,
even at inflated cost and the monies appropriated for their provisions have
gone into some private pockets. Corruption has accounted for the high rate of
unemployment and poverty in the Nigeria .
Corruption is one of the
social evils found in all the societies of the world. In some societies, it is
more rampant than some others. Unfortunately, Nigeria is regarded as one of the
countries in which corruption has become very much widespread during the recent
years. Corruption is one of the factors that has contributed to the degradation
of the Nigerian politics.
Nigeria is a country
abundantly blessed and endowed with natural and human resources. It is the
eight (8th) largest oil producer and the sixth (6th) largest
deposit of natural gas in the world.
The economy (on the
average) has remained stagnated, the ranks of the unemployment swell at one
extreme, and the number of jet owners grows at the other end. Excruciating
poverty exists side-by-side with obscene opulence. The national airline was
‘killed’ to allow for private airlines; the national electricity corporation
which has been named at various times as Electricity Corporation of Nigeria,
National Electric Power Authority, Power Holding Corporation of Nigeria and
IBEDC was ‘killed’ to boost the business of generators importers and
distributors; the National Communication outfit NITEL was ‘killed’ for private
ones. The railway was ‘killed’ to enable private haulage business to flourish
and stolen public funds are spent to import weapons to suppress political
opponents and rig elections. In the education sector, pre-school,
primary and secondary schools were rendered moribund to allow for private
schools to flourish while the National Universities were ‘killed’ so that
private universities can emerge.
It is an understatement
to say that many of the Nigerian officials steal; the correct position is that
stealing is official in Nigeria. Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo puts it this way in his book – My Watch ‘…in the area
of corruption we have been going back steadily from the inception of Yaradua’s
administration when the hunter became the hunted. But under Jonathan we seem to
have gone from frying pan to fire.
“Power corrupts and
absolute power corrupts absolutely.” That is what the events at the national
political scene seem to suggest, at least, during the last couple of years.
Practice of corruption at lower levels by some clerks, peons and attenders for
some petty amount, is understandable and tolerable. They may practice it due to
tough financial conditions, excessive demands from family, friends or society,
health hazards, or some or other kinds of pressures. What is more disturbing
and dangerous is corruption at higher levels.
Corruption in various forms has become the mainstay of our national
polity in the recent past. It is needless to say that the evil of corruption
meaning bribery and graft, is not conducive to social stability and
equilibrium. It invariably involves negation or betrayal of normative values of
society, which are essential for the smooth functioning of society.
What
is Corruption?
According
to Webmaster Dictionary defines corruption as “an inducement to wrong by
bribery or other unlawful means: a departure from what is pure and correct.”
According to Bhargava,
Corruption is the “act of omission or omission by a public servant for securing
pecuniary or other material advantage or indirectly for himself, his family or
friends.”
Corruption can be
defined as immoral action which could involve bribery, embezzlement or
misappropriation of public funds for personal use. A corrupt government can be
said to be a government which makes use of public funds for their (the
government officials') personal and selfish use.
Corruption is a cause of unemployment Nigeria
because when those in government who are to use public money for building more
industries are busy embezzling the funds for their selfish use, the result is
massive increase in unemployment rate.
Corruption has become
pervasive, has not only widespread everywhere, it has innumerable forms and
dimension.
Sociologists see
corruption as a process of trade in societal rewards, a process whereby power
is traded for wealth; wealth is traded for prestige, prestige for wealth and
wealth for power.
However, a broad
definition mostly adopted presents corruption as perversion, or destruction of
integrity in the discharge of public duties by bribery and favour.
CAUSES
OF CORRUPTION
Corruption is like
blood cancer. It has taken deep-roots in the country. Corruption in Nigerian
public life is “all pervasive” and
that businessmen, bureaucrats, contractors, industrialists, entrepreneurs,
journalists, vice-chancellors, teachers, doctors, nurses and the politicians
all come under suspicion. As the time moves more and more people are being
swept by the move of corruption. Corruption is a complex phenomenon and various
factors and forces have conspired to cause it and spread it everywhere.
1. Economic Insecurity
This
is regarded as the most important cause of corruption. The poor people become
corrupt in the hope of becoming rich. The rich indulge in it for fear of losing
what they have. The rich have craving for luxurious goods and imported
commodities, such as – dresses, telephone receivers, calculators, cosmetics,
transistors, air conditioners, T.V.s, wrist watches, generators, etc. This encourages smuggling on a massive scale.
2. Greed
Some
ancient scholars attributed official corruption to greed. The 14th
Century Islamic scholar Ibn Khaldun blamed it on the passion for luxurious
living within the ruling group. The poor economy of Nigeria has to be
addressed. There is no gainsaying the fact that there is poverty in Nigeria.
Poverty is linked to so many factors such as lack of employment,
underemployment, under-payment, etc.
3.
Poverty
Poverty is seen as one of
major causes of corruption in Nigeria. Among the top social scourges of Nigeria
is poverty. It becomes the cause of many other troubles in the society. A large
portion of population lives below the poverty line. Since 2004 the number of
people, who have just $1.25 per day to spend has constantly grown. The same can
be said about the number of people, who survive on just $2 per day. Presently
over 70% of the country’s population live under the poverty line and this
percentage has rapidly increased from almost 35% in 1992 to over 70% in 2010 and
on. In Nigeria, the punishment prescribed by law for a common Man that stole a
goat that cost less than ten thousand naira is stiffer than the punishment
meted to a Public Officer that stole millions of Naira. For instance while an
18 year old Samson Atayero was sentenced to three months imprisonment by an
Osogbo Magistrate Court for stealing clothes and sandals valued at five
thousand, three hundred naira, Tafa Balogun the former
Nigeria Police Boss who stole a whopping sum of N17 Billion bagged six months imprisonment. Others like Chuba
Okadigbo, Adolphous Walbara and Patrich Olubunmi Etteh escaped the wrath of the
law, Alamiesigha got presidential pardon. It is reasonable to posit that an
official undertakes a corrupt action when in his judgments it was likely that
the benefits outweigh the likely costs.
4.
The
System of Democracy
The present style of
functioning of democracy in Nigeria, also contributes to corruption. All
parties, especially the ruling party spends crores of Naira on each election.
This money comes from the big businessmen, industrialists and such other rich
men who have their own vested interests in financing the elections. They supply
money to party elections in the form of “black
money” (Black money is that, which is earned or received in contravention of
the prevailing Government acts and regulations, or money that has been retained
without the payment of taxes which are due to the government). This in
turn, gives them licence, a ‘moral’
justification for accumulating “number –
two” money (unaccounted money) in different forms.
5.
Meager
Salary Being Paid to the Government Servants
Employees in some
government departments are paid comparatively very less salary. This situation
is said to be the cause of corruption in administration. Clerks, in the court,
peons and attenders in all government departments, police constables and such
other employees draw poor salary. They expect tips and bribes even doing their
regular or routine duties. It has been estimated that 70% to 80% of the
officers/law enforcement agencies in Nigeria are corrupt in one form or the
other. The United Nations (UN) attributed the prevalence of corruption in
Nigeria to the poor salary structure in the country (UNGPAC, 2012). The salary
levels only place the nation’s workers at “the margin of poverty lines”.
Billions of Naira is spent annually to maintain the country’s 468-member
National Assembly.
6.
Emergence
of New Sources of Wealth and Power
The modern political
economic set up provides a chance for the politicians in power to make money
through illegal means. Lincoln Steffens said “the politicians took bribes
because business men gave them and businessmen gave them because they had to.”
This unholy understanding between the businessmen and the politicians always
encourage corruption.
7.
Social
and Economic Modernisation
It is said that
modernization breeds corruption in industrial society, which “offers prizes for doing evil; money,
position, power”, besides bringing about attitudinal changes in the system.
New loyalties and new identifications emerge among individuals and groups. This
contributes to an increase in the incidence of corruption. More than any other
thing “the get-rich quick” motivation
inspires a large number of people both at the top and bottom of the society to
become corrupt. All the factors mentioned above have generated a favourable
atmosphere for corruption.
SOLUTION/RECOMMENDATIONS.
Corruption which has
gone deep into our social life cannot be removed very easily. In fact, it can
only be reduced or minimised, and can hardly be stopped altogether. No nation
has become successful so far in this regard. Even for minimising this problem,
both preventive and punitive measures will have to be taken. The menace of
corruption, which has eaten deep into the fabric
of Nigeria, would require all the necessary control
mechanisms. In other words, no single and simple remedies will perform the
magic eradicating corruption in Nigeria; and the problem cannot be solved
overnight, because, as we have noted, corruption has been ingrained into fabric
of the Nigerian society. I will discuss about the most likely solution below;
i.
Leadership Model Mechanism:
It has been said that, Nigeria can change
today if she discovers leaders who have the will, the ability and the vision.
Such people are rare. This fact does not need to be overemphasized. Only a
leadership with integrity can infuse same into its followership. Leaders, at
all levels of governance, should take the lead in demonstrating respect for and
faithfulness to the country’s constitution by diligent compliance with the
provisions and stipulations of that sacred document to which they took oath of
allegiance. For example, virtually all our public officers, before their
assumption of office, solemly swore to “abide by the Code of Conduct contained
in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
Also, there is a need for an effective leadership; there must be political
commitment, will and capacity on the part of the leaders.
ii.
Poverty Alleviation Mechanism:
The proposition has been made of the relationship between poverty and
corruption. Poverty, it is said “facilitates the creation of conditions for
corruption. Consequently, within the corruption package can be isolated a
“need-induced corruption” bracket. For example, an individual who is unable to
meet their three square meal daily meals or whom he/she is living below $2
dollars per day are prone to being involved in one form of corruption or the
other. A provision of a relief programme that would take care of these basic
needs should reduce, and may not wipe out the need-induced corruption. Persons
whose corrupt tendencies could not be taken care of by the relief programme
would be passed on to the greed-induced corruption category.
iii.
Informal Mechanism:
The responsibility for the attainment of a sound ethical behaviour in society
revolves around the various societal stakeholders namely, the family, the
religious and educational institutions, the mass media and other moralizing
non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The mass media, on their part, should be
fearless in denouncing corruption from all quarters, and mount an orientation
campaign that aims at de-emphasizing value on wealth and naked power, and
pointing out the dangers of ethnicity, nepotism and religious bigotry in a
confederacy such as Nigeria.
iv.
Non-Conventional Mechanism:
In spite of the powers and provisions invested with the judiciary to punish
offences under corruption, the Presidency, as it deems necessary sets up either
Tribunals or Commissions to check the incidence of corruption in the country
ensure accountability and uphold integrity in Nigeria. In the present
dispensation, there is the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related
Offences Commission (ICPC), which was signed and passed into law by President
Olusegun Obasanjo on June 12, 2000. As a demonstration of the determination by
the present government to give corruption a good fight, the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police,
Mr. Nuhu Ribadu has also been set up.
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