THE ROLE OF ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

The story of the war against corruption in the last six years points to the fact that Nigeria and indeed Africa is faced with a major crisis of transparency and accountability. Our public and commercial institutions are plagued by astronomical and catastrophic corruption. This entrenched culture of corruption is facilitated by iron clad bureaucratic secrecy. Public funds are managed by cronies and social networks that account to no one but themselves. Commercial institutions including banks and the capital market are bedeviled by sharp practices that undermine public confidence. We do not need foreign experts to tell us something is wrong. We know something is wrong. We can see something is wrong. We are determined and resolved to correct everything that is wrong in the way we do public business or use the people’s money. Therefore, in spite of the grim realities which we ourselves have acknowledged, the government and people of Nigeria are resolved to defeat and eliminate the monsters of corruption and economic crime from public life. Not only are institutions like the EFCC resolved to fight this war to the finish, but the prominence of the anti-corruption discourse in public fora like we are having in the city of Kaduna indicates the battle is being fought and the war will be won.

3. Accountability and Transparency: What Do These Words Mean?

Before locating the roles of the anti-corruption agencies in the anti-corruption war, it is important to understand what the words TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY mean. Accountability is a concept deeply rooted in political power and democracy. It is the bridge linking the People or the electorate with the Executive- to whom enormous power has been entrusted. Accountability is the public servant’s report card on how public money is spent and used on behalf of the people. It therefore goes without saying that the notion of accountability and good governance are very connected. In fact, the first evidence of bad governance is the absence of accountability. So we may ask, “What are the characteristics of an accountable public service?” All you have to do is subject the system to the following ACCOUNTABILITY TESTS. This TEST consists of the following;

(a) The Fiscal Prudence Test-the key question here is: Is Government losing money? Is there value for money in government expenditure? Can things be done in a cheaper way? Are estimates and budgets “overloaded” with private attachments and interests?

(b) Citizen’s Accountability Test- Are services being delivered to the people? Is the electorate satisfied with the state of public infrastructure and services?

(c) Public Integrity Test- How is the executive arm held responsible for charges of abuses of office?

(d) Public Morality Test- Is the business of government being run by people with a public conscience?

Ladies and Gentlemen, that last test is very important. Having dealt with many corruption cases, I am inclined to suggest public officers should be subjected to some form of psychiatric evaluation to determine their suitability for public office. The extent of aggrandizement and gluttonous accumulation of wealth that I have observed suggest to me that some people are mentally and psychologically unsuitable for public office. We have observed people amassing public wealth to a point suggesting “madness” or some form of obsessive-compulsive psychiatric disorder.

4. Forms of Accountability

Accountability has two (2) forms. There is VERTICAL ACCOUNTABILITY-which is the accountability of government to the voting public through the ballot box. This is closely allied with the capacity of the electorate to remove a government that fail to account to them or deliver services. It   assumes the existence of a political culture where the individual’s vote counts. The other form of accountability is HORIZONTAL ACCOUNTABILITY-which the accountability of government institutions to anti-corruption and anti-graft agencies. It also includes the accountability of the public sector to statutory auditing agencies; oversight committees of the state assemblies and the National Assembly; human rights agencies and the media. From the foregoing, it is clear accountability is basically a feature of democratic governance. It is characterized by “answerability” and “openness”. This leads us to the sister concept of TRANSPARENCY. Transparency is characterized by the following:

(a) A disclosure system.

(b) Access to information.

(c) Openness to public participation.

(d) Absence of undue secrecy.

(e) Readiness to face and accommodate legitimate scrutiny.

(f) Humility on the part of executive office holders through readiness to answer questions raised by citizens.

 Transparency is therefore an instrument of accountability. Transparency is impossible or very difficult were freedom of access to public information is not guaranteed in law or statute.

 Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a very critical aspect of this address. As you may all know the struggle has been on to get the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill passed into law. Closely related to this is the bid to have a Whistle Blower Act passed into law. Let me emphasize that the future of the anti-corruption war may depend on what happens to these efforts. If we truly expect a public service that is accountable to the people of Nigeria, then the Freedom of Information Bill must be passed. If you deny the public the right to know, the anti-corruption war is lost.

5. Institutional Reform: The Role of the Anti-Corruption Agencies

The most common word in government today is the word “REFORM”. It is not surprising that at the very top of Mr. President’s 7 Point Agenda is the Anti-Corruption War within the context of the Rule of Law. You have asked me to look at the role of the anti-corruption agencies within the context of transparency and accountability. As this distinguished audience knows, the anti-corruption agencies that readily come to mind are the ICPC; the EFCC; and the Code of Conduct Bureau. The ICPC ACT specifically targets public sector corruption, especially bribery; gratification; graft; abuse and misuse of office. Details of the functions of the ICPC can be found in Sections 18 and 19 of the ICPC Act 2000. The EFCC is endowed in Section 8 of the EFCC Establishment Act with Special Powers to investigate anyone who appears to be living above his means. Apart from being the designated Financial Intelligence Unit of the country, it is empowered to investigate and prosecute money laundering and other financial crimes. Thus while the ICPC deals with the mélange of abuses and misuses of power by public officers, the EFCC deals with the disposal of the proceeds of acts of corruption. It tracks illicit wealth accruing from abuse of office, especially where there are attempt to integrate such wealth into the financial system. The Code of Conduct Bureau is the public watchdog empowered by law to raise the alarm whenever its routine reporting mechanism indicates a person in a position of public trust has accumulated unjustifiable wealth.    These three (3) actually compliment each other. While the ICPC deals with the misconduct itself, the EFCC deals with the “economics” of wealth acquired through abuse of office, embezzlement or theft of public funds. The Code of Conduct Bureau is the alarm bell of the anti-corruption institutions. When these agencies work together, they are potentially capable of creating an environment which could make corruption a very hazardous affair for a public officer.

6. The Anti-Corruption War Is Your War

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me end this address my making this appeal: YOU MUST MAKE THE ANTI-CORUPTION WAR YOUR WAR! Let me state it categorically clear that no one is immune from the effects of corruption. When I launched the Anti-Corruption Revolution (ANCOR) skeptics thought it was just another jamboree. But I think the crisis rocking the banking sector has justified our efforts. Were it not for the swift intervention of the Central Bank and the EFCC, we were surely heading for a crash that would rubbished our financial system along with your money; your hard earned savings and even your pensions! You cannot afford to be neutral in this war. Make it your war!

7. What the Kaduna State Government Can Do-The Next Step

I want to end this address by imploring the Government and people of Kaduna State to go a step further by creating an anti-corruption watchdog in Kaduna State public service which could work closely with the EFCC. Such an outfit could work with us in the following areas:

(a) Information and intelligence gathering.

(b) Whistle Blower activity.

(c) Anti-Corruption education and awareness.

(d) Grassroots anti-corruption mobilization.

(e) Budget tracking and project implementation- that is finding out if projects reported to have been completed were actually executed without loss to the public treasury.