Restructuring: Derivation or Ownership “Restructuring”; its meaning is debatable, and for many, it is about oil, resource control. Surprisingly, many see resource control as the receipt of an increased top-up percentage of “derivation” by oil-producing states from oil revenues issued by the federal government (FG) as fiscal allocations. Where is the control in receiving a…
There is an insightful article for those interested in governance by Taiwo Makinde titled Problems of Policy Implementation in Developing Nations: The Nigerian Experience. In the paper, the Makinde explains quite persuasively why policy implementation in Nigeria routinely fails with successive governments. He implicates, among other factors, a lack of continuity of policy implementation from a previous…
It is very brazen political lying to equate the refund of stolen funds to the state with political success or successful anti-corruption. Effective correction, detection and prevention are the all-round benchmarks of successful anti-corruption for any given democracy. Only proper correction can make precise detection worthwhile, which in turn makes adequate prevention robust. The recovery…
The complete metamorphosis of the butterfly is a thoroughly adequate analogy for civilisation: the gradual progression from egg to slug to pupa to imago [the beautiful butterfly]. In the Nigerian context, it starts with the colonised state to the inexperienced independent nation-state to transitional nation-state to strong state. The furthest stage Nigeria ever go to…
Nigeria Needs a Fearsome Electorate Nigerians have, with habitual ease, allowed corrupt leaders and kakistocrats to enter positions of power and govern them. Either through coup d’état or fraudulent ballots. Then the resultant dissatisfaction they leave for even worse leaders to manage next time around. The cycle of corrupt leader to bad leader to worse…
Who Will the EFCC Cadet Graduates Serve? People when no dey happy, people when know dey look – Fela Kuti, Overtake don Overtake Last week Ibrahim Malu, the acting chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was delighted to announce that its training college had graduated 183 cadet officers with 331 more to…
The “Babangida Must Go” Protests: A Missed Opportunity for Revolution Young, obscure student leaders in 1989 led the best chance of a revolution Nigeria had at the University of Benin campus in May 1989. These young leaders staged a protest that became famous as the “Anti-SAP Riots”. This protest-turned-riot spilt into Benin-City and with pace…
Nations Trapped by the Guilty Accuser Syndrome Numerous factors are acutely responsible for the persistence and worsening of the phenomenon of corruption in many democracies. These factors include regulatory capture, lack of transparency, inappropriate political systems, vertical policy transplantations, the weak rule of law, harsh economic conditions, the absence of political legitimacy, etc. All these…
