These positive developments clearly confirm that,it is Govt’s involvement in the delivery of utility services that is engendering graft in Nigeria.Īrising from the above, it stands to reason that as soon as Nigerian sea and air ports, still in govt clutches are privatized, the level of so called ‘petty’ corruption would also abate. But since Govt’s withdrawal from directly providing electricity and telephones services ,the horrendous corruption in those sectors have also ceased to exist.
What the trend of corruption catalogued above reveals is that it is govt’s involvement in the provision of public utilities that breeds corruption.So one of the fundamental ways of killing corruption is for govt to hands off such activities and allow the private sector take over.īefore the privatisation of the public utilities like NEPA and NITEL, Nigerians could not get connected to public electricity grid or have telephone lines, unless bribes were offered to govt officials in charge.
With the withdrawal of Govt control over the importation and sale of diesel and lately petrol, the price of those products has stabilized and the monumental corruption hitherto associated with them, has been reduced to the barest minimum, if not completely eliminated. THEWILL EDITORIAL: APC And Recent DefectionsĮqually tainted is the sales and distribution of petroleum products in Nigeria.īeginning from the opaque method adopted in issuance of licenses/permits by the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR to the allocation of crude oil for sale to selected local and international firms,Nigerian authorities covertly or overtly have made the system susceptible to rigging hence the oil/gas sector is brimming with corruption.Īs a friend pointed out recently, Nigeria is probably the only country that sells her crude oil products to third parties, instead of trading the product directly with refineries.Įqually shady is the allocation of refined petroleum products to dealers, particularly kerosine by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company,PPMC which is also brimming with corruption. How about the nuisance of local govt officials who seize every opportunity to strip compatriots of their hard earned money via spurious charges ranging from road, radio/tv and borehole taxes which end up in their private pockets.
We are also often at the mercy of officers of the immigration service who demand bribe before we are issued international passports or expatriate quotas, if an entrepreneur and engaged in businesses that require foreigners as employees. The farmers response ( in the above narrative ) to those who corruptly fleeced him of his hard earned money was rather vicious,but some would argue that his back was pushed against the walls, so he had to fight back with the only lethal weapon in his possession, snakes.Įveryday in Nigeria,as motorists we are confronted with police corruption via officers soliciting bribes to overlook traffic offenses.Īs importers of goods, we face the menace of customs operatives at the border posts, sea and airports, where we are constantly harassed for under the table settlements of customs duties in ‘long rooms’ that end up in the private pockets of officers undermining the nation’s treasury. A farmer who was extorted by govt officials over land matters in northern India was so aggrieved and wanted to take his pound of flesh, so he dumped a bag of 40 snakes into the offices of the dept of land as a reprisal action.
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