Are Nigeria’s institutions damaged beyond repair?
In years past, appointments into government ministries, departments and agencies were usually not advertised and were filled by children, relatives, or kinsmen and women of those in power. However, with the advent of democracy and the strict requirements of the procedures for recruitment into the federal public services by the Federal Character Commission, vacancies are expected to be advertised in at least two national dailies and only candidates who have met the basic minimum requirements for each position would be shortlisted for interview or any other selection process. It is only after a shortlist of qualified candidate is compiled that the requirements of federal character (selection on state by state basis) begin.
In keeping with the requirements the Department of Petroleum Resources, last year October, advertised for various vacancies and invited applications from suitably qualified candidates. After a rigorous process, a shortlist of qualified candidates was drawn and they were subsequently invited to write a computer-based aptitude test/exam. For over a week last month, about 80, 000 applicants from all parts of the country queued at examination centres to sit for the computer-based test to fill the about 250 advertised positions.
But just as they were waiting for the results of the test to be released, they were shocked to see a leaked letter, reportedly from the Office of the Chief Whip, House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, requesting for eight (8) candidates – all with their application numbers – to be considered for employment. The letter, addressed to the Director of DPR read: “I am directed by the chief whip Federal House of Representatives honourable Alhassan Ado Doguwa to introduce the under listed candidates for consideration at your organisation,”….. The letter was signed by one Ahmed Tijani Musah, Senior Special Assistant to the chief whip.
Well, that is just the chief whip’s candidates. We haven’t seen those of the Speaker, deputy Speaker, Majority Leader, Senate President, his deputy and other principal officers of the National Assembly. And of course, the Senate President and other offices will be entitled to more slots than the chief whip. And don’t forget, all Senators and House of Representative members will also want to fix their relatives and members of their constituents in these lucrative MDAs too. Then we have the list from Ministers, permanent secretaries, special advisers etc. By the time all elected and appointed officials submitted their lists, all the 250 or so positions would have been filled and probably no one will be employed based on merit. Is it any wonder then that the results of the computer-based test, which normally should be ready the moment the candidate finished the tests, have not yet been released? Is it any wonder that our public service is filled with poorly educated, incompetent, lazy and often corrupt individuals out only to satisfy their selfish interests? Is it any wonder also that majority of the youth have lost hope in a country that never ensures merit and fair play over favouritism and nepotism?
Before I could fully recover from the shock of the realisation that the DPR just took desperate jobless Nigerian youth on a merry go round, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the European Union, last week, released the report of a survey conducted on the quality and integrity of public services in Nigeria and the impact of corruption on daily life in Nigeria. The 125- page report titled: “Corruption in Nigeria, Bribery: Public Experience and Response”, put the figure given out as bribe to public officials in Nigeria at N400 billion annually. More interestingly, the report pulled no punches as it listed the most corruption institutions and professions in Nigeria with full statistical backing. The Nigerian police came out tops, closely followed by judges, prosecutors and the Nigerian Customs. According to the report, 46.4 per cent of Nigerian citizens have had “bribery contact” with police officers, 33 per cent with prosecutors and 31.5 per cent with Judges/magistrates.
In terms of average bribes paid, the Customs were without rival. The survey estimated the average bribe paid to Custom officers at N88, 587. That paid to judges/magistrates was N18, 576 while prosecutors received an average of N10, 072 as bribes from Nigerians.
But one would have thought that the institutions concerned will be sober enough to seek further clarification from those who conducted the research, one of which is the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, a federal government agency. They would have nothing of it. The Nigerian police, in its characteristic manner, simply described the report of the survey as “misleading, misrepresentation of facts, based on hearsay and false”. But that is expected from such an institution that is steeped in corruption and falsehood. The most disappointing response came from the National Judicial Council (NJC). Such a learned body is supposed to engage with the report. But it didn’t. It also dismissed the report with a wave of the hand, describing the result of the survey as “not only subjective but speculative.”
But the import of the survey should not be lost on us. The most critical institutions in the dispensation of justice in Nigeria – police officers, judges and prosecutors – are the most corrupt public officials in Nigeria. What this means is that justice or the rule of law in Nigeria, just like the signs hanging on every police station that “bail is free” is a ruse. Another reality we must countenance is that our public institutions are all so rotten and perhaps, damaged beyond repair and that if we have to make any progress as a nation, we must take the courageous decision to do away with most of these institutions and start afresh.
Christopher Akor