China perhaps would have been a more corrupt environment than Nigeria, if theirs was not a system with fatal consequences for graft and corruption. It is no longer news that penalty for corruption in the country is simply death sentence. And not just corruption, that penalty applies for several other cases which possibly are not far from practices or acts that can hinder collective or developmental progress in the country.
Of course, just as stubbornness and rebellion is deeply rooted in the human nature, neither the death penalty, nor the scapegoat made out of others who dared the law, has been able to erase every trace of it from the system. Matter of factly, a former justice minister in the country, Fu Zhenghua, who even led numerous campaigns against corruption during his reign, was recently sentenced to death for bribery involving over $16 million. If this is the case in a place with such a harsh consequence, whither Nigeria where there is a soft-landing option such as plea bargain?
The introduction of the China story was inspired by a comment by a Nigerian social media user in his reaction to a news report about plans or decision by the federal government of Nigeria to terminate unexecuted contracts for projects within the Niger Delta region. In the comment, the said citizen which the writer prefers to simply identify by his first name, Dami (apparently a short form for Damilola), was of the opinion that death penalty for corruption would rid Nigeria of characters who would bid for, and get contracts for projects meant to serve collective good, only to fail to deliver the jobs eventually.
The writer agrees with Dami’s opinion reason being that it will curb these cases of brazen disregard to accountability, abuse of office and constituted authority. Even the laws of the land are now bent for some because the system itself has over the years been treating corruption cases with kid gloves. It is as sad as it is pitiable for a country that is hoping to set herself on the path of genuine development. This is why the decision by the government of President Buhari to revoke NDDC contracts earlier awarded, but yet to be executed, was welcomed and applauded by scores of citizens who happened on the report in the media space. And the writer would suggest that all defaulters be tried and prosecuted according to provisions of the law to serve as deterrence to others.
The president’s bold effort at cleaning the augean stable is commendable. It will give the Umana Okon Umana led Niger Delta Ministry impetus to make more daring efforts at revealing further more graft and corruption within the NDDC, which it supervises. Not forgetting however that all efforts are to sanitise the system and set a new template for fast pace development. The number of abandoned NDDC projects is alarming and has been an issue of serious concern to both Niger Deltans and other progress-conscious citizens of the country. Just last year, Premium Times had reported the number to be about 133,000, while in August this year, the Bayelsa state governor was in the news decrying about 1,700 of those projects in his state.
The years past have seen several cases of social advocates and communities leaders strongly appealing to the government and the NDDC to live up to the purpose for which the commission was established, namely, the formulation of policies and guidelines for the development of Niger Delta areas; to conceive, plan and implement, with set rules and regulations, projects and programmes for the sustainable development of the Niger Delta area in the field of transportation ( including roads), jetties and waterways, health, education, employment, industrialization, agriculture and fisheries, housing, urban development, water supply, electricity and telecommunication; preparing master plans and schemes to promote the physical development of the Niger Delta area and the cost of implementing such master plans and schemes.
The new approach of publishing contracts awarded and projects executed will hopefully bring a breath of fresh into NDDC. Also, it appears current reforms in the NDDC will rid it of bad eggs and retool the commission to achieve it’s policy goals drawn from the core mandate. Perhaps, those in authority will be eager to drag themselves out of the infamous association with abandonment of projects. It is expected that these reforms will likely reduce, to a large extent, cases of protests by Niger Delta communities over abandoned projects, especially ones that have left most communities in worse states than they were hitherto.
While the system takes its share of the blame for the rot within it, the contractors must also be made to take full responsibility for their contributions to this menace. In addition to revoking the contracts, public funds unaccounted for must be recovered and those found culpable, prosecuted. As the new NDDC team looks to have a new and workable template to redefine development in and for the Niger Delta, it is very important to take out every element known to have been clogging the wheel of development in the system, and there is no better time to get on it than now.