Corruption in Nigeria : An Examination of Failed National Assembly Probes

Abstract

Nigeria is a country reputed for its high corruption index, the activities of the multinational oil companies have always been reported to be in shortfall of globally accepted best practices and transparency. Matters are not helped by a perceivably corrupt agency in charge of supervising the oil and gas industry, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has had cause in the recent past, to accuse the oil majors of irregularities in their financial operations and non-conformity with the statutory laws. The Mbeki report is therefore, only saying the obvious from other quarters. But that is not to foreclose the fact that there are multinationals in other sectors of the economy besides oil and gas. The legislature who supposed to serve as a watch dog is involved in the act. The seventh National Assembly ended its tenure in early June without resolving majority of the huge misgovernance and corruption issues that characterised the out gone administration. Under the former dispensation, the oversight power of the legislature was not judiciously exercised to guarantee Nigerians the dividends for electing their representatives. There were clear cover-ups and lack of political will to bring a lot of the cases to closure. Even when it issues reports on certain important national issues, such as the fuel subsidy scam, the National Assembly lacked the firepower to compel the executive execute its recommendations. As nothing almost always get done after individuals, agencies and corporations are indicted by either the House of Representatives or the Senate, the billions spent yearly on either public hearings and oversight functions have turned out to be mere drains on national resources. This paper addresses these issues.