Speech By Kenyan's Prof. Lumumba At The Nigerian Legislature Conference On Anti-Corruption

your excellency the device president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria your excellency the chair of the Senate the Honorable the Attorney General in absentia the speaker of the house of representatives in absentia the chair of the House Committee Senators ambassadors distinguished guests good afternoon I'm very happy to be invited to join you today to speak about the subject of corruption it is a subject that is evergreen in Africa and one that deserves attention at all times because corruption has undermined and continues to undermine development in Africa it is true that corruption is to be found in every society but the reason why corruption in Africa must receive greater attention is because corruption in Africa continues to be pervasive and pernicious to the detriment of the continent many African countries would have realized great economic and political growth but such growth has been stunted because of corruption today many of us know that the 50 odd African countries combined have a GDP that is lower and many European countries such as Germany Spain France and many others and this is so because of corruption talking about the impact of corruption and governance in Africa the Liberian president with whom I agree Johnson Soloff saves that Africa is poor because it is poorly governed and those who have looked at Africa for a long time including the famous South African who was advised when these government Greg Mills in his book why Africa is poor and what Africa can do about it have asserted that Africans are poor because their leaders have chosen that path he therefore gladdened me that I have been invited to speak in the presence of elected leaders it has also been said that one of the reasons why corruption thrives in Africa is because Africa is in the business of canonizing thieves and sanctifying and celebrating the wrong people while it vilifies our good men and women it has also been argued that Africans I in the business of punishing small thieves and electing the big ones into public office and that is why therefore when one is asked to speak about corruption in Africa one must ask the question why it is that Africa has never succeeded in this fight I can't agree more that there is a place for legislation in Africa but those who have observed Africa have also said that the problem of the fight against corruption in Africa is not the shortage of legislation in fact Africa has forests of legislation which are honored in breach which begs the question what is the problem the problem in Africa is that we have succeeded rather paradoxically to create an environment which allows thieving and thievery to blossom and thrive we have created an environment that ensured that our men and women who engage in graft occupy positions of power and influence and therefore when one is asked to ask what is it that other African countries have done in the fight against corruption which we can emulate one must remind oneself that there have been a number of countries in Africa which have succeeded in the fight against corruption and the reason why they have succeeded is because the leadership in those countries have demonstrated by what ended that they mean what they say in the fight against corruption as I said a few minutes before African countries are quick to sign international instruments that speak against corruption if you look at the countries which were the first to ratify the UN Convention Against Corruption African countries why in the forefront if you look at the countries which were picked to adopt protocols that speak against corruption African country is wine the forefront and Nigeria was never far behind if you look at the countries which adopted legislation against corruption it is African countries in other words African countries have the inclination to sign anything on-site without doing what those things require and demand of them so it is not legislation in and of themselves it is something else it is the culture that we have evolved over the years in Africa of celebrating ill-gotten wealth it is not the shortage of political pronouncements in many African countries those who occupy political leadership when they seek political office will invariably say that we are going to fight against corruption but many times in the fight against corruption they are understanding of it is that they should appear to be fighting corruption without actually fighting corruption so the question that we must ask ourselves what must we do we who have the privilege and honour of serving our countries in the positions to which we have been elected in order to salvage our countries from the chains of graft the ADO's are fro pessimists who hold the view that Africa will perpetually and eternally be mired in the muck and mire of corruption but the truth is that African countries have demonstrated that it can't be done countries such as virtue Ana have demonstrated that when there is a committed leadership at the very top corruption can be thought and can be fought successfully countries such as Mauritius have demonstrated that corruption can be fought countries such as Rwanda have demonstrated that corruption can be fought and what they have demonstrated is that corruption is so serious of business that it cannot be left to the political class they have demonstrated that corruption is so serious and ill that it cannot be conduct the fight against corruption cannot be conducted on the basis of equivocal and vague political pronouncements or technicalities of procedure they have demonstrated that sometimes there must be a deliberate conspiracy of institutions in order to fight corruption they have demonstrated that the executive must positively and creatively conspire with the legislature and that the legislature must conspire with the judiciary not to undermine those institutions but to strengthen those institutions and I hold the view that it can't be done and it must be done because if it is not done many African countries will never realize their potential it has also been demonstrated by those countries that in order to fight corruption there must be collaboration of a Continental nature and is not lost on me that the African Union has brought to pass the African Convention for combatting and preventing corruption which is the Continental instrument that allows African countries to participate in the fight against corruption through collaboration and it can be done through regional efforts in the echoes region the echo s environment provides an opportunity for Nigeria and the countries in this part of the world an opportunity to engage in the fight against corruption in a positive manner it has never been lost on me that the day in nigeria arises that is the day of the crisis you may not know but one out of every five Africans is a Nigerian and the reason in my view why Africa continued is to Tata in the manner that it does is because Nigeria has never realized the potential the day Nigeria realizes our potential that is the day that Africa will rise so we are here today also to remind Nigeria that it must play high real leadership role not only in this region but in Africa by demonstrating by what and did that Nigeria will be in the forefront in the fight against corruption and is not only at the Continental level that Nigeria must demonstrate this Nigeria must also demonstrate a leadership position in the world the United Nations Convention Against Corruption provides several opportunities which can be exploited by members states including Nigeria to ensure that funds that have been ill-gotten I refer created under men and women who engage in such unconscionable and harmful behavior are punished in accordance with the law that the world may know that if you reap where you have not sown there are consequences to it it is also important to create an environment that is hostile for people to participate in corruption there was a time when I believe that procurement laws in and of themselves were magic one which upon being waved would eliminate corruption in the civil service but over the years I've come to realize that procurement laws only allows people to steal in accordance with the law and that therefore do not be under the impression that laws in and of themselves will solve the problem as a young boy I read the great Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe who said that since men have learned to shoot without me without missing and a cat the bird has learned to fly without passing so we who are here must remember that when we are noting laws regarding procurement sometimes we do so in a manner that provides an opportunity for bureaucrats to still in a manner that lends a veneer of legality to their illegal activities the quality of laws that we are not are therefore very important we must also as a country look at the lifestyle of the individuals who engage in public office how is it that in Africa when an individual whom we knew to be a Papa is appointed as a public official on whom we knew to be a Papa he's elected permit me and forgive me at once members of Senate and members of the House of Representatives that no sooner have you set foot in the Senate or the House of Representatives than you become a millionaire and you begin to leave as if money was not a problem if it was so easy why aren't all of us sorry the privatization of public wealth without consequence is something that we must throw enough groun upon and that is why lifestyle audits are important and I argue to a knock legislation that will require Nigerians that before you build a house as a public servant you must show us the source of your friends you must tell us where you got the money and if you did that you'd be amazed that those who build mansions will be reduce by 99% and corruption is something that also undermines democracy that is the tragedy of corruption and it has no I've been demonstrated that in the countries we are corruption has been fought and fought successfully democracy also thrives I have already indicated to you countries such as Mauritius and Botswana which are the only two countries in Africa ever to have had budget surpluses because the leaders in those countries have been in the forefront in the fight against corruption the other thing that we must do is to create public awareness and public awareness is not merely to tell the people that corruption is the wrong thing people know when people go to church on Saturdays and Sundays they are told that corruption is a bad thing when they go to the mosques on Friday they are told that corruption is a bad thing what we must do is to ensure that there is behavior change and throughout history it has been demonstrated that men only change their behavior when there is a threat of pain the pain of deprivation or the pain of imprisonment we must therefore ensure that those who engage in corruption are punished and punished in accordance with the law I was also asked to organize jointly with you as I now do what are the challenges that stand in our way in the fight against corruption in a multi-ethnic multinational countries such as Nigeria as indeed on many African countries the fight against corruption is even more difficult a friend of mine in an attempt to rationalize corruption once said how is it that fish can swim in the ocean without water getting into its mouth and I said what do you mean he said when you work in the public service how is it that you cannot take a little out of the public service and I told them you are another fish and if you are fish blow your mouth when you are swimming and he also told me how can you be tethered around a tree and you do not graze on the grass that is around there I said you are not a cow and even if you are remember that the grass does not belong to you there is no shortage of attempts at the rational izing corruption in Africa and there is no way in which we are going to fight corruption without changing people's behavior my prescription is that we must realize that those who engage in corruption belong to a different color of people and that they must never beyond the culture in many African countries that if a thief if from your tribe you say yes we know is the thief but is our thief master this is the ownership of thieves because they come from our ethnic groups or they come from a social class or they come from a religious circle is one of the things that undermines the fight against corruption in many parts of Africa we must therefore create an environment where those who engage in Graaff do not have places of refuge in their ethnic groups we must not create an environment where when we punish people because they have engaged in graph we then give them protection because they come from our tribes it is a problem that is going to persist in a country such as Nigeria but it is only through the legislature which comprises people from all parts of Nigeria that we can ensure that these thieves are not given the oxygen to breathe so that they can suffocate through their iniquities ladies and gentlemen the fight against corruption is one which one can talk about for a long time but when one is speaking in the president of the vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria one ought to measure one's words one only or to say the things that ought to be said and therefore as I brought to the conclusion of my presentation there are a number of things that I think are critical in the fight against corruption in the manner that it has been demonstrated in different parts of the world the first thing that we must do is that we must strengthen institutions institutions are at the very heart of the sustained fight against corruption you are president His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari is on the right path he has given us the clarion call he is now recognized the world over as one of the Chiefs fighters against corruption but I can tell you that no matter how well-intentioned is he is not going to succeed unless you support him as the legislators he is not going to succeed unless the institutions are strengthened and in any event the maximum he can stay in office is two terms and let me tell you one thing about those who engage in graft they are the patients that is amazing if they can sleep quietly for eight years only to emerge as greater monsters in the ninth year and therefore what we must do is to create institutions that defy time those institutions must be institution that I recognized by the law if it is the institution of Parliament it must stay strong if it is the institution of the judiciary it must be PI's of the men and women who engage in graft if it is the institution of the executive it must be strengthened if it is the efcc it must be strengthened if it is the civil society it must be strengthened it is only institution that defy time that will ensure that we succeed in the fight against corruption the second thing that we must do is that we must have a raft of laws which ensure that those who want to do things that are detrimental to the society are punished punished Lisa flee in accordance with the law and they are not allowed to be unleashed to the unsuspecting public and I am happy to note that our representatives from Europe are here for a long time Africans who stole from Africa had safe havens in Europe it is my joy that even Europe now is beginning to close the doors under the World Bank we have mutual legal assistance if we can ensure that those avenues are closed so that they cannot keep their money away what amazes me is that these individuals kept their ill-gotten wealth in numbered accounts not their wives not their husbands knew so that when they died this money was enjoyed by other civilizations we must now ensure that those who serve in the public service do not hold accounts outside of this country if they love this country so much that they suffer why is it that they do not have faith in having their money in this part of the world these are things that can only be done if we have sound laws the third thing is that we must look at our education system what are we teaching in the 143 universities in Nigeria what are we teaching in our high schools are we teaching our young men and women that you can be celebrated simply because you have acquired wealth without his source being given we must interrogate our cut our curriculum and we must involve everybody religious leaders traditional leaders because how can it be that amongst the various peoples of Nigeria you would not allow you a daughter all your son to marry a thief was stolen a good but a thief was Tolan naira he is celebrated we must give the goat and Aniyah equal value because he's a thief is a thief lastly I have no doubt in my mind that we must introduce hygiene in our politics the day we introduce hygiene in our politics so that our men and women who seek public office are men and women of integrity so that our men and women who seek public office finance their campaigns in a clean manner we will never succeed I've always been amazed in many African countries that a person who upon being elected if he is a Nigerian for five years will unknown more than 30 million naira he is prepared to spend 1 billion naira to go into public office there must be something that they see that we there literally do not see and that thing is the ability and the opportunity to privatize public wealth the day we introduce hygiene in our politics the day we deal with the financing of our politics that is the day that we will begin to sanitize our country and that is the day that Nigeria will begin to be a great country I look forward to the day therefore that corruption will be an exception rather than the rule I look forward to the day therefore when the laws that we are enacting will be law that will be observed I look forward to the day therefore when we will have created an environment where we can prevent corruption I look forward to the day therefore when national owners in Nigeria will be given to men and women who deserve it not those who have bought them I look forward to the day therefore when our young men and women in institutions of higher learning will have as their natural instinct the instinct to do good I look forward to the day they are for when the efcc may be abolished because they are normal corrupt Nigerians I look forward to the day therefore when all these laws will have the pride of place I look forward to the day therefore when the protocols of Africa and when the laws of Africa will be in the Museum of history because corruption will have been eliminated I look forward to the day when we will be able to say like the man in the Bible corruption where is the ice thing corruption where is thy sting goodness [Applause]

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Length: 27min 21sec (1641 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 19 2016