Riding in the Dark

Also published in Daily Trust

Even in more established democracies, where judicial systems are strong and efficient, nothing actually prevents and discourages corruption better than transparency in governance. This is because while judicial institutions only struggle to salvage what it is salvageable after the corruption has been committed and the damage has been done already, transparency prevents it before it actually happens.

This is what particularly underscores the imperative of establishing the culture of transparency in governance in the first place, as it also explains the respect attached to the press in such developed democracies, where press reports influence public opinions and confidence in government to the extent that they can effectively make or unmake a government.

Moreover, the survival of any state corporate structure and its leadership system depends on the extent of its adherence to the culture of transparency in running its public affairs, for the simple fact that, no matter how long a status-quo of opacity in governance persists; it will definitely implode in one way or another.

This is because opacity in governance necessarily creates and maintains the culture of corruption, which in turn establishes social injustice in the society. And any state system or structure built on such basis will certainly crumble sooner or later. Therefore, transparency in governance is the only what guarantees social justice hence stability, prosperity, security and of course sustainability.

Interestingly, it is in the light of this that I have always maintained that, those who lurk around idly wishing to witness and gloat over the spontaneous collapse of many western countries, may have to keep lurking around for long, because despite these countries’ shortcomings and excesses, their level of adherence to the culture of transparency in governance is still higher than that of most of –if not- all the other countries including those who official identify with religions.

Anyway, Nigerians were obviously delighted when the Freedom of Information Act was eventually enacted especially considering the foot-dragging and manoeuvre that had characterized the process of its enactment. The law is supposed to enable Nigerians to request any official information regarding the business of governance and administration in government establishments.

Though I was equally delighted when the law was enacted, I wasn’t that naïve to expect full compliance from government institutions in view of the “Nigerian factor”. Yet I never suspected that their lack of cooperation - at least in the beginning- would be that frustrating either.  After all, despite the “Nigerian factor”, new laws are in most cases reasonably respected to some extent before the status-quo rears its ugly head again.

My scepticism was justified by a Daily Trust report entitled “FG snubs ‘open govt’ law - Presidency, N/Assembly, Adoke others dodge FOIA requests” on Wednesday, 22 August 2012, after it had embarked on an apparently extensive hunt for some information from some of the most important leadership institutions in the country to share it with Nigerians as provided by the said law. Needless to say, the report provides a very strong basis to assess government seriousness and sincerity towards transparency.

I really appreciated the professionalism and commitment displayed by Daily Trust in order to test the sincerity of the same people who had enacted the law and even flaunted it as a sign of their commitment to transparency in governance.

According to the report, out of the twelve requests sent to eleven ministries and agencies requesting some specific official information, only five cared to respond though with some dodgy and ambiguous responses as in the case of the National Assembly. And while some of the remaining six ignored the requests contemptuously as in the case of the Presidency and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, the NNPC effectively claimed that it was not bound by that law for that matter.

By all standards, government has failed the first test on its sincerity in fighting corruption. Incidentally, had the Daily Trust investigation been in one of the western democracies, the government would have been hit by series of resignations, which would have brought it down or undermined its chance for re-election, depending on the type of system operated in the country.

However, predictably, in Nigeria that report could not make the government or at least the specific officials involved feel even slightly embarrassed, as a matter of fact there was no official explanation about it whatsoever.

Anyway, the report couldn’t have been otherwise after all, because under various pretexts, the most important official deals are not done in the official offices of the government officials involved. Instead they are simply done in private residences, guest houses, hotels etc. Facts and circumstances of many corruption cases revealed in courts sessions and probe panels attest to this observation.

Government offices, conference rooms, and council assembly floors, where all official matters are supposed to be processed, deliberated upon and decided, are simply used as platforms for the official announcement of what has been decided somewhere else.

This is largely the situation right from local government level upward throughout the country, which simply means that, the country rides in darkness, which obviously facilitates the mind-boggling and primitive thieveries perpetrated by Nigerian officials.

Ironically however, out of systematic neglect and incompetence some information not supposed to be disclosed for security reasons for instance leak out anyway. The recent scandal of divulging the identities and personal data of several State Security Service staff is perhaps the most recent scandal in this regard.

In any case however, the enactment of the law itself is a good step forward. Therefore it is now the responsibility of the civil and human right organizations, activists and other influential patriotic citizens to step up efforts to create awareness particularly at the grassroots levels and enlighten the people on the importance and the way to avail of this Freedom of Information Act.

Let people at ward levels for instance overwhelm their elected local government councillors and local government chairmen with requests to know exactly how much their respective local governments receive and collect in internal revenues monthly, how exactly the funds are spent and on what.

Let them not stop submitting such requests no matter how many times they are ignored, and let them equally overwhelm the courts with complains against the officials who fail to oblige. Also let them not succumb to any court foot-dragging, reluctance and indecisiveness.

If they sustain this momentum with commitment and insistence at the grassroots levels it will definitely grow into overwhelming phenomena at both state and federal levels, which the governments can’t dodge anymore. And eventually the governments will have to succumb to people’s wish and be as transparent as possible in all their transactions. And this will of course be a revolution in disguise.