Alleged N15trn public fund loot: Time to turn the table towards fulfilling campaign promises

The endemism of corruption in Nigeria has leaped to the height of woe which have weakened the fabrics of the entire society. The spread of the malady has taken a forceful shoot from the political down to the private spheres in the Country. Corruption with its character in Nigerian has grown to become a phenomenon of cultural decadence that finds its expression in virtually all spheres of life in Nigeria. It has extended its tentacle to become a subject of deficient orientation gaining grounds across the Country. The roots of the orientating spread has been linked to the preponderance of the ill within the political space, particularly among those who are in the class of leaders in the Country.

The reports of high profile corruption among political leaders, who are supposed to be at the vanguard of exemplary conduct of integrity and accountability, is a pointer to the spread of corruption and its inclinations across the Country. The permeating influence has been argued to be waxing stronger with the perception that since those who are custodian of the laws of the land are themselves corrupt cankerworms, then the inclination to corrupt tendencies is justifiable for followers who are supposed to be guarded by the examples of leaders in public offices.

The profile of corruption over the years and the attendant effects in deepening underdevelopment and agony in the Country got Nigerians to the elastic point where they resolved to throw out a ruling party in Government in 2015. The saga of deep corruption profile during the time of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in government was visited with a resistance, particularly with what people perceived as a situation drawing Nigeria behind the status of development it should have attained. The development had culminated in the end of the 16 years of the PDP in government as Nigerians settled for an opposition party that promised an end to corruption once it assumes office. However, the profile of both corruption and the attendant underdevelopment have further waxed deeper with worsened records over a short period. The inability of the present ruling government to address both issues of corruption and its underdevelopment sibling as promised during its manifestos and campaigns, has given the then ruling party the upper hand to become critical in comments against the now ruling party. This is found tolerable since the profile of corruption and its clustered chains of effects under the ruling party have been recorded to be waxing deeper.

The reports of an alleged looting of over N15 trillion public funds in the last few years, had generated reservations as to whether the ruling government is really fighting corruption as claimed. Taking a critical position against the pointer, the PDP, on Tuesday had urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to clear the air on the controversies surrounding the alleged looting of the over N15 trillion public funds in a few years. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP had said that it has uncovered plots “by current APC leadership to blackmail and ridicule President Buhari by pushing out fake performance claims, like those contained in the press statement by its caretaker committee on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, which was designed to rubbish Mr. President, highlight his failures and deflect attention from the atrocities of the APC.” The party had said: “Such fake narratives will not help the APC as our party has details of their nefarious leaders, including APC governors, ministers, certain aides of Mr. President, as well as APC fronts in agencies of government, and would not hesitate to make such public at the fullness of time. The APC had become rattled because of pressure from the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians asking President Buhari to go after APC leaders as well as Presidency officials involved in the reported stealing of N9.6 trillion ($25 billion) oil revenue as detailed in the leaked NNPC memo. APC leaders are having sleepless nights because the dragnet would soon catch up with all of them involved in the reported stealing of N1.1 trillion worth of crude using 18 unregistered vessels; the looting of over N2 trillion in hazy oil subsidy regime, including a criminal under-recovery for unnamed West African countries as well as illegal tax per liter of petrol running into trillions of naira. APC leaders are also jittery because they would soon explain how they siphoned N500bn Social Investment Programme and the N16bn meant for Mosquito Net Project, as exposed by First Lady Aisha Buhari in addition to the N90 billion stolen from the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, in a racket in which certain top APC leaders were alleged to have received N3 billion each.

“Very top officials in the Buhari Presidency have gone under over their alleged involvement in the looting of N33 billion National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, fund as exposed in the findings by the House of Representatives that the funds were never used for the provision of emergency food for victims of insurgency in the Northeast among other items as claimed. Some known APC leaders are now running amok over their involvement in the siphoning of the N48 billion meant for the rebuilding of six northeast states ravaged by insurgency as well as the looting of N25 billion from the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, among others. This is in addition to those fingered in the relooting of repatriated funds, the alleged extortion of N1.2 billion from poor beneficiaries of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, the fraud allegation in the EFCC leading to the suspension of its acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, as well as the looting of billions of naira Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. Having stripped our national coffers, the APC is now using its illegal caretaker committee to attempt to set the narrative of the empty treasury to validate their further looting of funds meant for the 2021 budget. By now, the APC ought to know that such narratives cannot fly when Nigerians are already aware that its leaders stashed away over N15 trillion stolen from our national coffers. We, therefore, invite the new mouthpiece of the APC, Senator James Akpanudoedehe, to find something more meaningful to do with his time as Nigerians are no longer swayed by APC’s lies and propaganda. Under the PDP, people like Senator Akpanudoedehe progressed under the robust economy and a secured nation where the system worked. If Akpanudoedehe meant well, he should be apologising for the failures of his party and the devastation it has brought to our country. He should be apologising to victims of the bandits imported by his party. He should have been apologising for the looting by his party leaders as well as President Buhari’s failures, which have brought economic hardship and untold devastation to our nation,” the PDP had alleged.

It is a call of duty for the ruling government to gear up efforts towards the rising profile of corruption in the Country. The worsening rank of Nigeria in the corruption index does not present Nigeria healthily in the international realm. The profile is a stench robbing off on the image of the Country and its citizens. The domestic effects of this endemism is a cankerworm eating deep into the fabric of the Nigerian society. The weakening of this fabric by the preponderance of corruption is a strong factor in the fulcrum of woes troubling cohabitation in the Country.

The time for the Government to come up with convincing mechanisms to tackle the preponderance of corruption in the Country is no later than now. It is essential for the President Buhari-led administration to begin an overhauling process to sanitise the public system of governance from corrupt inclinations. Pragmatic moves towards remodelling of the operational system of the public service should be brought to bear. The administration should not stop at hunting all those who have cheated on all Nigerians by looting public funds for personal self-aggrandizement. Efforts should be strengthened towards profound investigations into all suspected corruption cases to bring those found wanting to book. It is important that such campaign should be devoid of political leaning and party interests.

The preponderance of corruption is devouring the fabrics of the Nigerian society. Its wings are fast spreading across all spheres of life in the  society. The effects of the ills have sowed destabilising forces into the entire Country. It is therefore paramount for the President Buhari-led administration to wake up to one of the pillars of its campaign promises, which succinctly states the crumbling of the strong holds of corruption in the Country.