Another look at TI’s graft index
When Transparency
International (TI) recently unveiled its 2017 corruption perception index,
Nigeria’s ranking effectively left rotten eggs on the face of the Muhammadu
Buhari presidency.
The global index that
was issued on 21st February placed Nigeria 148th out of
180 countries, with a dismal score of 27 marks in a percentage rating field.
And this latest ranking showed the country losing rather than gaining ground in
graft perception – sliding 12 spots from its 2016 ranking at 136th
position with 28 percentage score.
For an administration
that anchored its sheer reputation on its anti-graft labours, this profile
can’t by any stretch be good news. Besides, the narrative, coming from highly
rated TI, just couldn’t be ignored.
And so, the government’s
initial pushback was to deprecate the typically authoritative index as
misdirected and out of track with practical strides being logged against the
long-standing culture of corruption in this country. “Political will is the
first major component of fighting corruption in any country, and President
Buhari has made a huge difference by demonstrating not only the political will
but also extraordinary courage to go after high profile looters,” presidential
spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement. And he didn’t spare the assessor
body a scurrilous underhand, saying: “In the end, this whole episode may turn
out to be just a political distraction, given the strong views some of TI’s
patrons have expressed against the Buhari administration.”
Toeing that line, vice
presidential spokesman Laolu Akande reportedly dismissed the perception index
as inaccurate, having ignored positive developments that have rolled back corruption
in Nigeria and boosted public confidence in the Buhari government. Among
others, he cited the whistle-blower policy of the administration and the Treasury
Single Account (TSA) as lynchpins of the anti-graft drive.
The highest official of
government to so far speak to the issue, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, however
dialed back on the digs against TI, describing the perception index as a
motivation to harder work, rather than a setback for Nigeria. He insisted that “real
progress” is being made in the war against corruption, and that TI’s index is
about perception, which sometimes lags behind reality. Still, he granted that
perception could at times be stronger than reality, hence the need to “keep up
the fight until the full effect of our efforts is clearly seen and perceived.”
Speaking in an address
to an inter-governmental dialogue on justice sector reform and the anti-graft
war in Abuja, penultimate week, the vice president said Nigeria’s 2017 rating
dropped because of a low score in just one out of nine international benchmarks
applied by TI. According to him, whereas the assessor body scored Nigeria low in
economic intelligence and country risk service – down to 20 points from a
previous level of 37 points – the country remained either stable or indeed
upscaled on all other eight indices used for the perception ranking.
It is worth mentioning
that the allusion here could in large part be to the lingering gridlock in the
National Assembly over enactment of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit
(NFIU) as an entity independent of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), for which Nigeria already is at risk of expulsion from the Egmont
Group. NASS touted a determination to break the logjam last week, only that
when last I checked it was yet to deliver. But that is just by the way.
The real issue here, in
my estimation, is that while the Buhari presidency accuses TI of inaccuracy
with its ranking of Nigeria in the latest corruption perception index, it is
doubtful the administration itself read the full script of the country’s poor
showing accurately.
Forget now the raging
allegation that the government typically hunts opposition while turning a blind
eye to suspected infractions by allies in its anti-graft crusade. Transparency
International did say it compiled its rankings using data from some
international organisations like the World Bank, African Development Bank, the World
Economic Forum and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). And the body
made clear it found a strong connection between prevalence of corruption and
conditions whereby journalists and other activists are at risk for speaking
out. It said in its summary: “Further analysis of the results indicates that
countries with the least protection for the press and non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) tend to have the worst rates of corruption.”
‘Nigeria’s press freedom ratings lately stand to hazard favourable
perception of anti-graft exertions by the Buhari government’
By that logic, if indeed
nothing else, Nigeria’s press freedom ratings lately stand to hazard favourable
perception of anti-graft exertions by the Buhari government. The country
slipped six spots in the 2017 World Press Freedom rankings compiled by
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to the 122nd position, from the 116th
place it held in 2016, which itself was a five-level step-down from its ranking
at 111th in 2015. The 2017 ranking located Nigeria in the red zone
for press freedom alongside countries like Afghanistan, Chad, The Philippines,
Zimbabwe and Colombia.
The media watchdog
stated in its summary of the press freedom rankings: “In Nigeria, it is nearly
impossible to cover stories involving politics, terrorism or financial
embezzlement. Journalists are often threatened, subjected to physical violence,
or denied access to information by government officials, police and sometimes
the public itself…Online freedom was recently curbed by a (2015) cyber-crime
law that punishes bloggers in an arbitrary manner.”
It is debatable, of
course, that RSF’s assessment of the Nigerian environment was in all respects
accurate. But practical instances weigh in heavily to give it some credence.
Only last week, the Department of State Security (DSS) released the Abuja
bureau chief of Independent
Newspapers after keeping him seven days in the can, and just barely as some
civic activists threatened to hit the streets in protest of the detention. Tony
Ezimakor was arrested penultimate Wednesday after responding to DSS invitation
over his report on alleged payment by government of some $2million to Boko
Haram in ransom for 82 abducted Chibok girls. Reports said he was pressed
without success to disclose his source. Before being let go last Tuesday without any
court charge, Tony’s home in Abuja suburbs was ransacked by operatives of the
security agency.
Even as we speak now,
online publisher Daniel Elombah with his brother and platform editor, Timothy,
is being held by the Police for alleged online terrorism. London-based Daniel
and his brother were picked up in a New Year dawn raid on their Anambra State
family home by Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives, reportedly on
account of an opinion piece published on their site that the Police found
offensive. The journalists are yet to regain their freedom, and were early this
March charged in court with cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking Police Inspector-General
Ibrahim Idris, as well as “championing Biafra terrorism.” Among others, the
Online Publishers Association of Nigeria (OPAN) spoke out to remind the
accusers that journalists performing their routine chores should on no account
be confused with terrorists.
And that, of course,
isn’t citing other infractions on the civic space, including the January 2017
arrest of Premium Times publisher
Dapo Olorunyomi, along with the medium’s judiciary correspondent Evelyn Okakwu;
the temporary expulsion in April 2017 of PUNCH
correspondent Lekan Adetayo from the State House; the April 2017 arrest of Leadership Newspaper journalist Midat
Joseph at the instance of the Kaduna State government; and the 2017 arrest and
prosecution of blogger Kemi Olunloyo along with Port Harcourt- based reporter
Samuel Walson.
Nigeria purports to be a
democracy and there are perception costs for, advertently or otherwise,
imposing curbs on free expression. In other words, the country’s poor showing on
TI’s index could well be the result, not only of failings in government’s anti-graft
exertions, but also of our shrinking liberty.
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