Temporal dynamics of solidarity and corruption-reporting practices: an appraisal of Durkheim’s theoretical assumptions in Nigeria

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article reviews how citizens’ corruption-reporting practices have challenged some established assertions of the classical thoughts of Durkheim on solidarity to trigger ‘imodoye’ – the third-tier solidarity in Nigeria. Gleaning data from secondary sources, it acknowledges the disclosure-fostering bonds of the mechanical (first-tier) solidarity and the disclosure-suppressing anomie of the organic (second-tier) solidarity. The widely presumed contempt of Buhari for impunity and his use of whistleblowers to make criminals refill the treasury they had treacherously emptied distinguish ‘imodoye’ solidarity as a new norm of reward-driven and disclosure-enabling anticorruption proposal. This article concludes that rewards neutralize the fear of reprisal and intensify the culture of whistle-blowing. The government should establish Imodoye Public Agricultural Settlement Agenda (IPASA) as a prison-extension facility for productive-payback services and Ownership Verification Number (OVN) to make anti-graft agencies track criminal investment of stolen money in the real-estate corridor.