Bishop of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) Afikpo Diocese in Ebonyi State, Rt. Reverend Paul Udogu, in this interview with OGOCHUKWU ANIOKE, speaks on several national issues, including the proposed national dialogue and why kidnapping remains a huge challenge especially in the Southeast. Excerpts:
The country recently celebrated its 53rd independence. Are you satisfied with the level of development so far?
We thank the Almighty God for our continuous existence as a country despite many challenges that threaten our national unity. The Bible is true: “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not, they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness”. (Lam. 3:22).
Nigeria is a great country with great potential. We are blessed with abundant natural and human resources. We have all that is needed to make Nigeria stand tall in the comity of nations and Nigerians walk proudly as Nigerians anywhere in the world.
However, a chronological analysis of the events in our country since independence to the recent happenings shows that Nigerians are responsible for all the predicaments in our country. Both the leadership and the followership are part of the problem.
What is your take on the level of corruption in the country?
Our greatest problems in Nigeria are not poverty, unemployment, epileptic power supply but corruption. Corruption has been defined by Transparency International as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It hurts everyone who depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority.”
Nigeria is ranked 143 out of 182 countries by Transparency International in 2011 corruption perceptions index. Corruption is an endemic disease that has eaten up every facet of the Nigerian society. The causes of corruption in Nigeria includes: greed which is the desire to gather all for oneself and lack of contentment, ostentatious lifestyle – a society in love of ostentatious lifestyle may delve into corrupt practices to keep the lifestyle and embrace a style of public sleaze and lack of decorum and ethnicity otherwise known as tribalism – people want their kinsmen in government; to bring government house, if possible to their village and favour their kinsmen. This is why some key Northern politicians and leaders insisted that the President of the country should come from the North otherwise, they would make Nigeria ungovernable.
Corruption has been prevalent throughout Nigerian history though it was kept at manageable level during the First Republic. The cases of corruption then were sometimes occasioned by political in-fighting.
Under Shehu Shagari administration, a few federal buildings mysteriously went on fire after probe of the finances of some establishments began. Officials working in such establishments who are involved in some dirty deals would allegedly set the building on fire in order to cover up their ills.
General Muhammadu Buhari seized power in 1983 and accused the National Party of Nigeria (NPN)-led government of corruption. Many political gladiators were convicted of different corrupt practices.
Buhari/ldiagbon regime tried to fight corruption. However, the administration itself was allegedly involved in a few instances of lapsed ethical judgment. The regime of General Babangida was said to be characterised by corruption. It was alleged that under Babangida’s regime, corruption was institutionalised in Nigeria.
The administration, allegedly, failed to give account of the gulf war windfall, estimated at $12.4 billion. He also annulled the democratic election of June 12, 1993.
Abacha followed the path of his master. After his death in 1998, Swiss Bank revealed in 2000 of about $600 million allegedly deposited by Abacha and his family members. In the same year, a total of more than $1billion dollars was allegedly found in various accounts of Abacha throughout Europe.
All subsequent regimes, military and civilian, have been pervaded by corruption. It results in a combination of scandalous wealth among the ruling class with growing poverty, misery and degradation among the masses of Nigerians.
Political life has become dominated by winner-take-all syndrome, political cynicism and violence, while the economy and social institutions have been driven into decay. Corruption seems to have become an acceptable way of doing business for those in public offices.
In your estimation, is the government doing enough in the fight against corruption?
The government is toothless in its fight against corruption because those appointed to either investigate or prosecute are said to be corrupt or loyal to their corrupt godfathers.
Recently, we heard of about five members of staff of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who were jailed for taking bribe. Secondly, there is no willpower and sincerity of purpose. It is disheartening that Nigeria as a country is set on a visionless journey by selfish individuals that have controlled the resources of this country since its independence.
They have metamorphosed from military to politicians, controlling the resources of this great country, brutalising its ability to grow and shattering the hopes and aspirations of millions of innocent citizens. Therefore, we are in a vicious circle and any attempt to step out of this circle can be seen as a betrayal of their masters. It is unfortunate that the judiciary is not helping matters in the war against corruption. There are alleged high profile cases of corruption instituted by the EFCC which had allegedly been struck out in the recent past by High Court Judges either for lack of diligent prosecution on the part of EFCC’s lawyer or for lack of substance.
Such cases included that of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and the former Governor of Delta State Chief James Ibori. It is too appalling that the same James Ibori whose charges were struck out by the Nigerian court was jailed for 12 years by a court in the United Kingdom for the same offence.
If corruption should be curbed in Nigeria, the EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies such as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (I.C.P.C), the police and the judiciary must sit up.
Corruption is seen in almost all the sectors of our national life, be it in banking, oil and gas, education, politics and agriculture. The list of corruption cases is endless. From the $16 billion dollars spent on power during Obasanjo administration, to the banking sector scandal that saw the closure of many banks, to the oil subsidy scam to the Hon. Farouk and Odetola bribery saga to the bullet proof car scandal in the Ministry of Aviation and so many others.
While we do not advocate for a revolution at this time, however, we believe our leaders should learn a lesson from the Arabs uprising in the recent times and the reactions of Nigerians when the oil subsidy was removed in January last year. This is because a man cannot be held forever on the ground. One day, he may take his destiny into his hands and fight for his liberation.
How would you appraise the state of our country’s security? In the recent times, Nigeria has suffered catalogue of crises, each leading to loss of scores of lives and destruction of properties. The ‘Boko Haram sect has terrorised Nigerians particularly Christians, in Northern Nigeria. People now live in fear not knowing who the next victim will be or which location the next bomb will come from. This is a clear indication that our security system has failed. It is also clear that the police cannot provide adequate security.
The government normal official press statement “we are on top of the situation” is only a political statement that carries no action plan. The President should come out strongly in dealing with the security challenges. The government should go to the root of these security challenges. The current changes of some service chiefs are a welcome development. However, there is need for total overhauling of our security system because it seems that everything in this country, including our security agencies, is polarised. We also call for decentralisation and the deregulation of Nigerian Police Force. We advocate the regional, state and even community police system.
What do you think are the reasons for the high rate of kidnappings especially in the southeast?
We are still worried on the rate in which people both young and old, the clergy and the traditional rulers are being abducted for ransom in the Southeast. As I meditate on this issue, my heart tells me that kidnapping persist in the South East despite of government efforts on two grounds: It is a manifestation of wickedness, greediness, love of money, jealousy, covetousness and a society whose value system has been thwarted. It is also a product of unjust system. We condemn kidnapping in its entire ramification as criminal, but we also want to say that kidnapping is a bye product of unjust system whereby the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. Can you imagine thousands of graduates that our universities produce yearly who have no jobs, while millions of our graduates roam the street jobless, only the children of the influential people and politicians are employed? Some of these jobless youth are first class brains, so in their idleness, they became tools in the hands of the devil. For instance, in one-robbery incidents in one of the banks at Afikpo, one of the criminal grabbed the bank manager by his necktie and said, “Stupid man, you
What is your reaction to the initiative by President Jonathan for a National conference?
It is a welcome development that is long overdue. We salute the initiatives of Mr. President at inaugurating the advisory committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Femi Okurounmu that will work out the modalities for the national dialogues or conference. We are aware that the advisory committee is busy visiting the six geopolitical zones and collecting memoranda from the general public on what should be the modalities of the national dialogue.
What should be the structure of the conference?
The space called Nigeria was negotiated by the colonialists with the various ethnic nationalities that inhabit the space. Each of these ethnic nationalities has a position with respect to their interest and expectations from the entity called Nigeria. They must therefore form the key groups in any discussion about Nigeria. Participation on basis such as local government, state, geopolitical zones should be de-emphasized. However, to accommodate contemporary realities, the structure of any discourse should transcend an assembly of nationalities to cater for other interest groups from government MDA’s (Ministries, departments and agencies) to professional and trade associations, religious bodies, to activists on human rights, self-determination, gender sensitivity and pro democracy. In addition, credible international organizations such as the UN (United Nations) should be invited to sit as observers. We are of the opinion that each identified ethnic nationality should have five representatives while other interest groups have two representatives each.
Does the national dialogue require any legal framework for it to be operational?
Yes, the process must be conducted in tandem with the operating manual of the entity called Nigeria. For now that document is the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In this regard, an act of parliament is required to give the conference (the necessity for it) and its modality (representation, scope, duration, implementation) the force of law. It should also be subject to the United Nations Charter of Equity.
What about the duration of the conference?
With elections due in early 2015, discussions should not last beyond June 2014 (six months). To this end, a recourse to credible information must form the basis for discussion. A collation of reports of all previous National conference reports (the first was in 1966 under Gen. Gowon) must be made available to all participants prior to commencement of actual discussions. The rationale is that most of the strongly held view points of the different interest groups are already well enunciated in previous confab reports.
What do you think should be the key issues to be discussed at the national conference?
In 1920, barely six years after the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates of the entity called Nigeria, Sir Hugh Clifford who was then Governor General of Nigeria under the British colonial administration described Nigeria as a collection of “independent native states, separated from one another by great distances, by differences of history and traditions and by ethnological, racial, tribal, political, social, and religious barriers.This supports the argument that the space called Nigeria is a negotiated arrangement between the colonialist and separate groups of widely different peoples and tribes with clear disparities, divisions and sometimes hatreds.These diverse entities were lumped together to advance British economic interest and subsequently amalgamated for administrative convenience.This suggests a faulty foundation for the entity called Nigeria and so makes it imperative that to capture the true position of every ethnic nationality and other interest groups, nothing should be considered off limits.The original partners in this unintended marriage of sorts must first agree on the terms of their continued co-habitation. In fact, these ethnic nationalities, must answer the question whether they want to continue as a nation.Frank discussions will engender trust and foster mutual agreements amongst the groups on what constitutes political justice, social justice, economic justice cultural justice and religious justice.
What do you suggest should be the legal procedure of the conference?
Agreed positions from the discussions by representatives of interest groups should be subjected to a referendum to ascertain general will. Hereafter, it should be sent as a “People’s bill” to the National Assembly for passage and incorporation into the constitution.
