Anti-corruption Crusade Research Articles

Assessing the Implication of Plea Bargain under ACJA, 2015 in Nigeria’s Anti-corruption Crusade: Lessons from Kenya

The fight against corruption under the Nigerian Criminal Justice System has gradually witnessed the use of plea bargain in the prosecution of corruption cases; drawing criticism and approval from stakeholders. Plea Bargain is an agreement between the prosecutor and defendant whereby the defendant concedes to plead guilty to a particular charge in exchange for some concession from the prosecutor. This paper assesses the implication of plea bargain under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 in the fight against corruption in Nigeria; drawing lessons from Kenya. The paper is doctrinal, using primary and secondary sources of law such as case law, books, articles in journals, and internet materials. It examines plea bargain and innovations under Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 as well as complementary analysis of plea bargain under Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of states and Kenya’s application of plea bargain in its anti-corruption fight. The paper finds that judicial decisions considered both in Nigeria and Kenya reveals that plea bargaining is a useful tool in fighting corruption. One of the key recommendations of this paper is having a Plea Bargain Guideline and Rule pursuant to ACJA 2015 as obtainable in Kenya. This will act as a guide for prosecutors, accused persons and other stakeholders in negotiating a plea bargain agreement.

POLICIES TO PREVENT CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA: ENFORCEMENT OF THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION

This paper investigates how well Nigeria conforms to international best practices on the right to education. The quality of education that is available to Nigerians is affected by inadequate budgetary allocation, which is compounded by mismanagement of scarce resources and generally by corrupt practices. Education at the level of the primary, secondary and tertiary levels suffers on account of corruption, despite government propaganda that the state provides adequate educational opportunities at the three tiers of education. Attempts to prosecute and punish acts of corruption have failed consistently. Nigeria is a signatory to international and regional instruments which have influenced it to enact national anti-corruption legislation. However, the political will of successive governments to fight corruption remains on the decrease, particularly when a government itself is a product of corrupt practices. Such a government appoints politicians to the councils of the universities as a reward for political patronage and with a view to recouping the huge sums expended on elections. Anti-corruption laws are sidelined, regulations are compromised and the anti-corruption crusade fails. This results in education being the responsibility of unqualified teaching staff working with poor quality teaching infrastructure. The enforcement of the right to education is undermined. In order to salvage the education sector, it is submitted that Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade should emphasise preventive measures. A university should be autonomous in respect of its objectives and finances. When funds allocated to education are safe from misappropriation, the right to education may be enforced properly.

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Anti-Corruption Crusade in Nigeria, (2015-2020)

Corruption has proven to be intractable in Nigeria, with resultant consequences on the political, economic and socio-cultural development of the nation. Though past military regimes, before the return to democratic government in 1999, initiated series of anti-corruption crusades at various times, corruption in high and low places continued to be on an alarming increase. With the return to democratic governance, President Olusegun Obasanjo saw to the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2002, which amongst others is vested with the responsibilities of prevention, investigation and prosecution of individuals, groups and institutions found culpable or corrupt, and unearth frauds and recover public loots in the country. After over a decade of the commission’s existence in the country, corruption remain a pandemic, which informed President Muhammadu Buhari’s second major promise during his campaign in 2015, to fight and completely eradicate corruption. Between 2015 and 2020, a lot a successes and failures have punctuated the activities of the commission and this is the thrust of this study. The Institutional Approach was used as the theoretical framework for the study and we relied on materials collected from secondary sources. Among other recommendations of the study, the Federal Government of Nigeria should speedily take steps to establish special courts to deal specifically with corruption cases while the Judicial Service Commission and the Nigeria Bar Association should be strengthened to deal firmly with alleged cases of corruption or misconduct involving Judges and lawyers respectively.

Keeping up appearance? Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade and image dilemma in the global arena

PurposeCorruption is a long-standing challenge in Nigeria. The country’s development crises, including widespread poverty and insecurity, have direct and indirect links to corruption. The paradox of corruption in Nigeria is that political elites have politicised its elimination: while preaching anti-corruption, they are still neck-deep in corrupt practices. The purpose of this study centres on Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade in the context of its effectiveness in attracting global support for external loot recovery. A related preoccupation of this study is to unravel the extent to which Nigeria’s anti-corruption accomplishments or otherwise have shaped international perception.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a qualitative research design. It draws from primary data generated from 25 key informant interviews and complemented with secondary data from archival materials to examine Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade, especially global perception and its overall implication in motorising the country’s quest for external loot recovery. It deploys unstructured interview guide to generate data from the key informants.FindingsThis study unveils three interrelated issues: since 1999, the promise of eliminating corruption from Nigeria’s body politic has been a recurring campaign theme without corresponding credible action against it. Although anti-corruption agencies exist in Nigeria, the country’s corruption profile is high, an indication of their ineffectiveness. The persistence of corruption has resulted in poor national image, thereby shaping negative international perception about Nigeria. The politicisation of Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade has undermined international support and created uncertainty in the country’s quest for the recovery of its looted national funds.Practical implicationsThe negative perception of the international community about the commitment of the Nigerian Government in fighting corruption has negative implications on the strategic partnership necessary for loot recovery across the globe.Social implicationsThe overall social implication is loss of global support for Nigeria’s anti-corruption drive, including its quest to recover its stolen national assets and other forms of international assistance for national development.Originality/valueThe value of this study is two-fold, one, its recency and originality in terms of interrogating the interconnections between domestic efforts at anti-corruption and global perception of such efforts; and two, the contextualisation of the compromised efficiency of Nigeria’s anti-graft agenda and its overall implications in securing global support for external loot recovery.

Ethical Functions of Newspaper Editorials in Nigeria’s Anticorruption Campaign

Using the three dominant frameworks of normative ethics, namely; deontology, utilitarianism, and situational ethics, this paper explores the functions of newspaper editorials in Nigeria’s anticorruption crusade. It is premised on the notion that endemic corruption is a manifestation of ingrained unethical principles that subordinate public good to private enrichment. Newspaper editorials being hallmark of ethical communication, and epitome of the moral messages of media, contribute to attenuating corrupt practices by scrutinising power and espousing norms of accountability, probity, and transparency. The paper highlights the links between ethics and rhetoric. It explores how deontology, utilitarianism, and situational ethics converge with forensic rhetoric, epideictic rhetoric, and deliberative rhetoric in editorial. It also considers the challenges militating against editorials as stimulus of ethical renewal. It ends with conclusion, and recommendations. Keywords : Editorial, Ethics, Anticorruption, Transparency, Editorial Independence, Rhetoric, Public Discourse. DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/100-05 Publication date: February 28 th 2022

Testing Alternatives

Kenya’s legal framework affords the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) vast powers to decide when to prosecute. As described sharply in the 2010 Constitution, the DPP is not subject to any person or authority, nor doeshe/she require the consent of any authority to commence a criminal case.Whereas corruption has grown exponentially in the past two decades, there are only a handful of convictions. Perhaps, this demonstrates the DPP’s poor follow-through in prosecuting corruption-related offences, despite their more than adequate discretion in prosecutions. Analysing judicial decisions, the paper advocates private prosecutions as a useful check on the DPP’s discretion not to prosecute graft cases. The paper is arranged along three arguments. First, corruption is rampant in Kenya and as corruption swells, the authority with the power to wrestle it through prosecution,which is the DPP – and the AG before it – has been slow to prosecute corruption cases historically. Secondly, the DPP enjoys near monopoly over the authority to prosecute to-date. Third, private prosecutions offer an avenue for the anti-corruption crusade by checking the DPP’s power, which has practical and legal limitations.

Dimensionality of Globalization, Global Governance, and Generational Sustainability

Strengthening the governance of global interactions is crucial for making global and regional groupings significantly representative to provide legitimate global leadership. This advocacy would mean that the need exists for collaboration in a quest for global governance and generational sustainability. In other words, this requires democratic processes at all levels of political governance to provide global leaders the opportunity to galvanize global initiatives to overcome world challenges in preparing the ground for generational sustainability. The survey research design was adopted in this study, and the result showed positive association between globalization and generational sustainability. The study was not exhaustive due to the absence of current relevant literature in the areas. Therefore, further study could examine the need for democratic regional groupings as one measure of improving the architecture of global governance. Because of the relationship between globalization and generational sustainability, the anti-corruption crusade should be intensified around the world.

Lula and the Future of the Past

Lula and the Future of the Past

‘When I See the ‘Broom’, I Will Pass over You’: An Assessment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Anti-Corruption Crusade in Nigeria, 2015-2019


 
 
 Corruption is a global phenomenon. Many states have embarked on several crusades to fight the menace, with little to show for these efforts. Using a critical analysis ofliterature, media reports and press releases, this articleassesses the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, 2015-2019. The article argues that in spite of the strategies and panoply of laws employed by the administration to tackle the menace, the crusade has to a large extent failed because the crusade is waged along ethnic and particularly party lines. The article recommends among other things the need for transparency in the crusade, building institutions, revival of social norms, political will, and respect of the rule of law.
 
 

The Political Class as a Threat to Democracy in Nigera's Fourth Republic

The quest by Nigeria to make appreciable progress in her democratic journey has been a herculean task. This is due the antidemocratic actions of the political class This article aims at identifying how actions of the political class act as a backward clog to democratic growth in the country. Crucial among the causative factors is the fact that its political class decelerate the country's democracy by their abysmal display of undemocratic tendencies. They perpetrate these through a several ways which include: godfatherism, succession crises and abuse of incumbency, electoral malpractices, electoral violence, political alienation, travesty of justice, recourse to primordial cleavages, corruption and inconsistent policy inconsistency, human rights abuse, to mention but some... This article is qualitative. It argues that there is need to make reform in the Electoral Act and strengthen the anti-corruption crusade in order to check the excesses of the political class and record fundamental gains in Nigeria's democratic experience.

GODFATHERISM AND PUBLIC POLICY IMPLEMENTATION IN LAGOS STATE, 1999-2020

The discourse of godfatherism gained much attention at the present time as a result of its need forms of articulation. To sum this up, this study examined the effects of godftherism on good governance and provision of essential services in Lagos state. To actualize this, quantitative method through survey research design was used and twenty-four (24) online questionnaires were raised for the respondents within the Alimosho local government area of Lagos state. For further analysis, two hypotheses were raised and regression analysis was adopted. At the end of the statistical analysis, all the two hypotheses agreed with the alternative hypotheses and the findings revealed that godfatherism occurs in Lagos state, due to high corruption rate, centralized nature of Nigeria federalism, and monetization of political offices. To address the problem above, the study recommends that the anti-corruption crusade of government should be intensified vigorously, and the independent of the judiciary should be stabilized.

Is Nigeria really fighting to win the anti-corruption war?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the seeming paradox that underpins Nigeria’s war on corruption. This paradox centres on the undue interference of the presidency in the war against corruption. This interference has resulted in selective prosecutions and a deceleration in the tempo of the anti-corruption crusade.Design/methodology/approachThe study used an admixture of primary and secondary data to evaluate whether indeed Nigeria is fighting against corruption to win it. The primary data were derived from key informant interviews. A total of ten diverse experts were interviewed through the instrumentality of unstructured set of questions, which were administered to them with room for elaboration. The secondary data were sourced from archival materials.FindingsThe findings of the study centre on three key issues: a characteristic one-sidedness in the prosecution of alleged corruption offenders by the anti-graft agencies. Those with pending corruption cases who have decamped to the ruling All Progressives Congress have had their cases placed in abeyance. There is evidence of the politicisation of the war against corruption as well as evidence of weak institutionalisation, which robs the anti-corruption agencies of the capacity to act independently.Practical implicationsThe anti-corruption war may likely be derailed if the operational efficiency of the anti-graft agencies is not enhanced and their independence guaranteed.Social implicationsIf the anti-corruption crusade fails, it will have multiple negative domino effects on national development and quality of life of the Nigerian people.Originality/valueThe paper is original because no recent study has interrogated the declining efficiency of Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies or linked this declining efficiency on weak institutionalisation and interference from the presidency.

A CORPUS-ASSISTED CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF MODALITY IN SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION CAMPAIGNS IN NIGERIA

This article examines modal resources in the mediatised discourse of social transformation in Nigeria with a view to showing how they are strategically used to code interpersonal meanings for enhanced and impactful delivery of messages of social transformation in the nation. Data for the study comprises texts on aspects of social transformation campaigns in Nigeria in the context of democracy, anti-corruption crusade, insecurity and domestic violence compiled as small corpora. The data comprises texts produced by government and non-governmental actors consisting of speeches, radio commentaries, jingles, printed texts, interviews, tweets and online newspaper comments and covers the period from March 2013 to March 2018. The five-year span was informed by the wide gamut of negative realities in the nation during the time frame which led to increased mediatisation of social transformation messages. Corpus-assisted critical discourse approach was employed for data analysis, using Fairclough’s (1989, revised 2015) dialectical relational approach, the corpus linguistic tool of Antconc, chi-square test on R-Studio and normalised relative frequencies. Data analysis revealed that the different participants in the discourse characteristically used different modal resources to reflect their power on the one hand and resistance on the other and to capture the intensity of their views and feelings on the actions required for Nigeria to experience genuine social transformation. The study concludes that even though the discourse is largely ideational, modal resources are deployed for emphasising the urgency and seriousness of the issues in the ideational contents of the discourse.

The Dynamic Impacts of Idle Cash on Economic Growth in Nigeria (1985 – 2018)

The study investigated the dynamic effect of idle cash on economic growth in Nigeria from 1985 to 2018 employing a mixed methodology. The qualitative result revealed that political affluence, social status, treasury single account, asset declaration, biometric verification number, whistle-blower programme, and the empowering operation of economic and financial crime commission for anti-corruption crusade determine idle cash in Nigeria. On the other hand, the quantitative result revealed that idle cash has an inverse effect on economic growth in the short run. However, the long run result revealed a positive, and statistically significant effect on the economic growth, and it was found that idle cash Granger causes economic growth. We recommend that the government should provide a policy regulation framework that will regulate, track and checkmate the superfluousness of idle cash.

Corruption and good governance in Nigeria : zooming the lens on the Buhari anti-corruption crusade

Corruption and good governance in Nigeria : zooming the lens on the Buhari anti-corruption crusade

Discursive strategies in select mediatised social transformation advocacy in Nigeria

This article discusses the discursive strategies used in negotiating the social transformation agenda in Nigeria. Data for the study comprise advocacy texts that touch on anti-corruption crusade, entrenchment of democratic values and security of lives and properties. The data were drawn from speeches and jingles circulated by institutional agencies on television and radio stations and covered the period July 2013 to July 2018. The five-year span was informed by the wide gamut of negative realities in the nation at the time frame which led to increased mediatisation of social transformation messages in the nation. Fairclough’s (2015) dialectical relational approach constitutes the theoretical anchor for the study. Data analysis reveals that the discourse participants deploy framing, legitimation, rhetorical questions, linguistic nativism, metaphorisation of social transformation acts and accentuation of the repercussions of negative actions. The paper concludes that even though the discourse of social transformation in Nigeria is hinged on the desire to impact the society, it also reflects the power disequilibrium in the society which privileges the government and reflects in the construction of Nigeriás problems and its solutions as citizen-oriented.

Public perception of media reportage of the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari

The study examined public perception of anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari. The study was anchored on the self-perception theory propounded by Daryl Bem in 1972. Survey method was used for the study. The population of this study focused on respondents from south-south states of the country, which was projected in 2017 to be 39, 615 228. Using Australian Calculator, the researcher arrived at a sample size of 385. The sampling procedures that were used in this study were cluster, non proportionate and purposive sampling techniques. Questionnaire was used as instrument of data collection. Findings revealed that over 80% of the respondents were aware of the anti-corruption war of President Buhari. It was also revealed that 60% of the respondents in South-South states were knowledgeable about the anti-corruption crusade of President Buhari. Findings further revealed that 55.7% of the respondents in South-South states were of the perception that the anti-corruption crusade of President Buhari is not satisfactory. It is recommended that government should be more objective, open minded, transparent and proactive in the anti-corruption crusade as a way of winning the sympathy of the people.

TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF SOCIAL STUDIES AND CIVIC EDUCATION AS INSTRUMENT FOR STRENGTHENING THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPT PRACTICES IN NIGERIA

The study examined teacher’s perception of social studies and civic education in strengthening the EFCC for corruption eradication in contemporary Nigeria society. Survey research design was adopted. Three research questions and three hypotheses were posed to guide the investigation. Population of the study comprised of all the Social Studies and Civic Education teachers both male and female in the Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State. Stratified random sampling techniques was applied to select of 260 respondents as the sample but 220 was used for analysis while structured questionnaire which was designed in Likert form was used for data collection since all the respondents were literate and to save time. The analysis of data was carried out with graphs, charts and tables while the hypotheses were tested with chi-square (X2) statistics. The result revealed among others that teachers can use social studies to strengthen the EFCC for corruption eradication. After the conclusion, the following were some of the recommendations made: school management, religious organization, non-governmental organizations and the entire citizenry must stand up against corruption and complement government efforts in anti-corruption crusade. Also, government should support EFCC in eradicating corrupt practice in the contemporary Nigerian society.

The Resurgence of the Niger Delta Militants and the Survival of the Nigerian State

The 2016 resumption of hostilities in the oil-rich Niger Delta region that is the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy, in a dwindling international oil price, has become a subject of controversy. This analysis, which is based on empirical evidence from primary and secondary sources, shows a group of militants—the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), selective anti-corruption crusade, the clamp down on federal government structure in the Niger Delta, amnesty time limit to Niger Delta ex-militants, self–determination and the attempt to single out former President Goodluck Jonathan from Niger Delta, among other former presidents for prosecution, as the core drivers of insecurity in the oil-rich region. It is suggested that the Nigerian government should embrace the power of dialogue that has brought relative peace in the Niger Delta region from 2009 to 2015, as a veritable tool to stop the ongoing hostilities.

Corruption as Cankerworms towards Economic Development in Nigeria

Corruption has been corrosively eating the fabrics of the Nigerian nation. Its persistence in the form of fraud, mismanagement, misappropriation, diversion of public funds, tax evasion, money laundering etc. has led Nigeria into unfortunate national and even international circle of criminal minded persons. This therefore has made the development of the country and its attendant benefits only a paper work or rather an illusion. This paper conceptualizes corruption beyond the point of public officers taking bribes and gratification, committing fraud, stealing public funds and assets to equally include, deliberate violation of standards for gainful ends which may be in cash or kind. It therefore, encompasses any decision, act or conduct that is considered pervasive to democratic norms and values. The method utilized by this work is incidence analysis and documentary research. The paper which is divided into five sections concluded that, only anti-corruption policies and programs anchored on ethical, balanced, independent, and self-sustained, people oriented can succeed in Nigeria and thereby ensure national economic development. The paper recommended among other things for a successful anti-corruption crusade in third world countries that, international agencies such as Paris Club, IMF, World Bank, UNO should review their policies and conditions to reflect war against corruption especially among third World leaders even while in office. That a mandatory involvement of all community based organizations be considered in annual budget formulation, monitoring and evaluation to avoids misappropriation and looting in the country.