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Figure 10: Correspondence between National Health Development Rhetorics (Promises/Claims) and Outcome (Reality)

Figure 10 sought to know the extent to which Nigerian past Presidents contributed to national

Historical Analysis of Nigerian Presidential Rhetorics on Corruption Control and Actual Corruption Management (1999-2015)

Available research evidence showed that between 1960 to 2016, about US$400 billion has been siphoned by corrupt Nigerian government officials (Okoye, 2016). This gave credence to Uji’s (2015) submission that corruption has a crowding effect on the growth and development of the country. According to Adewale (2011) as cited in Nagari et al. (2013), ‘its contributing effects on poverty and poor infrastructural development is more worrying’. Fabayo et al. (2011) as cited in Awojobi (2014, p. 142) took a critical look at the impact of corruption on investment in Nigeria using the Ordinary Least Square modus operandi and the Transparency International (TI) corruption index between 1996 to 2010. In their analysis, they revealed that Nigeria is always at the bottom of (IT) rankings which indicated that the increased high-level of corruption in Nigeria leads to lower investment drive and slippery economic growth. In a similar study, Akindele (2005) evaluates the interface between corruption and development. The empirical results of the study after using some economic variables denote that corruption hinder economic development.

He concluded that there is a strong negative relation between corruption and development nexus and corruption remains the core barrier to the development of any society. Further to this, Adewale (2011) examines the crowding-out effect of corruption in the Nigeria fourth republic.

Using the simulation approach to evaluate the effects of financial corruption in Nigeria. He pinpoints from his empirical findings that corruption retards economic growth in Nigeria which implies that corruption has a crowding-out impact on economic growth. In addition, new African scholars in the horizon such as (Nageri et al. 2013; Agbiboa, 2012; Maunro, 2007; Obayelu, 2007; Sachs, 2005; Smith 2007; PWC, 2016) are of the view that corruption is the bane to African development. According to PWC (2016), which is a member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, Nigeria’s GDP could have been 22%, 18% and 36% higher in 2014 if it had reduced corruption to Ghana’s, Colombia’s and Malaysia’s levels respectively. In the same way, Nigeria’s 2030 GDP can be 22%, 19% and 37% higher if it

reduces corruption to Ghana’s, Colombia’s, and Malaysia’s levels (p. 14-16). Little wonder why corruption control has been a reoccurring phrase in Nigerian presidential rhetorics since 1999.

National Corruption Control Objectives: As a result of the glaring impact of corruption on the development of the country, there is no Nigerian President that did not identify corruption as a bane to the nation’s development and stressed the desire to stem the tide in their Inaugural speeches. For instance, in his Inaugural speech in 1999, President Obasanjo observed that ‘No society can achieve anything near its full potential if it allows corruption to become the full-blown cancer it has become in Nigeria’ and promised to tackle it ‘head-on at all levels’. He equally made similar commitment in his Inaugural speech in 2003 when he pointed out that ‘Our leadership regards corruption as the antithesis of developmentand I would like to assure you that we are determined to fight this evil to astandstill.’ Other Presidents like Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari equally made similar remarks about corruption and promised to address it. For instance, President Yar’Adua stated in his Inaugural speech in 2007 that: ‘We are determined to intensify the war against corruption, more so because corruption is itself central to the spread of poverty.

Its corrosive effect is all too visible in all aspects of our national life’ President Jonathan in his 2010 Inaugural speech was of the view that his ‘total commitment to... the fight against Corruption would be pursued with greater vigour’. Also, the theme of corruption in his 2011 Inaugural speech reads: ‘The bane of corruption shall be met by the overwhelming force of our collective determination... The fight against corruption is a war in which we must all enlist, so that the limited resources of this nation will be used for the growth of our common wealth’.

National Corruption Control Outputs: Fully aware of the devastating effects of corruption on the project Nigeria over the years, President Obasanjo in 1999 swung into action against the menace by strengthening the existing anti-corruption laws and established two important anti-corruption institutions: the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) (inaugurated in September, 2000) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) (established by the Corrupt

Practices and other Related Offences Act, 2004) as well as the Money Laundering (Prohibition) act 2004; to tackle the phenomenon of corruption in public and private life squarely.

The administration of late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua also initiated policies, and laws to forestall corruption in Nigeria. Prominent among them is the Asset Declaration. Upon assumption of office as President in 2007, President Yar’Adua declared his asset and urged his cabinet and other elected officers to do likewise.

In the same vein, President Yar’ Adua was the first and perhaps the last President to returned unspent money back into the nation’s treasury at the end of the budgetary year. Still in the bid to tame corruption, President Jonathan introduced the Treasury Single Account [TSA]; Government Integrated Financial Management Information System [GIFMIS]; and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System [IPPIS] to manage corrupt tendencies and actions.

National Corruption Control Claims: in view of the above corruption control outputs, past Nigerian President claimed to have recorded considerable achievement in corruption control within the period under study. For instance, President Obasanjo noted in his Inaugural speech in 2003 that his administration has ‘been able to put in place an anti-corruption commission which,.. has brought 39 cases of corruption to court for prosecution; this is in stark contrast with none at all in the preceding 20 years’. He further explained that his fight against corruption has yielded results as ‘Due Process has made its impact on costs of contracts, supplies and purchases’. In the same vein, President Jonathan claimed in his 2015 Handover speech that: his introduction of TSA was able to unify the structure of government accounts for all MDAs and brought order to cash flow management; the introduction of GIFMIS helped in plugging leakages and waste of resources; and that the IPPIS which he introduced also weeded out 60,450 ghost workers in 359 out of 425 MDAs, yielding N185.4 billion in savings to the Federal government, and was able to save the nation from the perennial decay orchestrated by

corruption. But how such claimed achievements in the fight against corruption contribute to the Nigerian corruption perception index within the period in question?

National Corruption Control Outcomes: To ascertain the actual contribution of the past Presidents to corruption control, the researcher had to rely on the following indicators as seen in the Transparency International (2016). They are: quality of budgetary and financial management rating; transparency, accountability, and corruption in the public sector rating; corruption perception index; and corruption perception country-ranking (see Appendix B, Table viii).

Figure 11: Correspondence between National Corruption Control Rhetorics (Promises/Claims) and Outcome (Reality)

The data in figure 14 explains the extent to which Nigerian past Presidents contributed to the reduction or otherwise of corruption in Nigeria and the extent to which their rhetorics on