INTRODUCTION
igeria has faced many crises in her efforts at nation building since the attainment of independence in 1960. Unfortunately, corruption now appears to pose the greatest problem. According to Aluko(2009:2), there is increasing recognition at present that corruption and other aspects of poor governance and weak institutions have substantial adverse effects on Nigeria's economic growth. Transparency International (TI) has seen corruption as blunting anti-poverty efforts worldwide and depriving oil-rich countries of crucial development resources. Very recently, according to The Guardian Newspaper of October; 22; 2009 (pp. 1&2) an institution of the African Union (AU), the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) said that corruption has remained the most formidable stumbling block to the economic development of the continent. It said that while Africa witnessed economic growth of 5.5 percent, the positive change did not reflect in the standard of living of the people.
The report said:
"Corruption is a major challenge to governance and development in Africa. It erodes the capacity of the state to deliver services efficiently, provide security and maintain peace, order and stability. When deep rooted, corruption generates poverty ant turns resource-rich countries into low income, backward societies. Many African countries are trapped in this cycle of corruption, poverty and under-development". It adds that corruption is especially debilitating for Africa, the poorest continent. "It undermines the ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) because resources meant for education, health, rural roads and electricity are diverted for personal use. Corruption also increases the cost of doing business in the region, adding that it is a major disincentive for the much-craved foreign direct investment."
The stigma of corruption envelopes Nigeria every time, particularly from the civilized world. For instance, the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Nigeria on January 26 for corruption and poor living standards which she said encouraged the sort of extremism typified by the attempted bombing of an American airliner by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Christmas day in 2009. Speaking at a town hall meeting of State Department employees, Clinton said the Nigerian government has failed for years to address the legitimate needs of its people. She added that the failure of the Nigerian leadership over many years to respond to the legitimate needs of their own young people, to have a government that promoted a meritocracy, that really understood that democracy cannot just be given lip service, it has to be delivering services to the people, has meant there is a lot of alienation in that country and others. (The Nation, Wednesday, January 27, 2010.)
The general belief in Nigeria is that the country has not been blessed with selfless leaders since independence. The leaders have been seen as self-centred, very corrupt and highly insensitive to the problems of those they govern. This phenomenon has brought untold hardship to the people with attendant massive unemployment, job insecurity, lack of social security systems, unexpected retirement and retrenchment of workers, inability to pay gratuities many years after retirement, inadequate pension benefits and to worsen it, failure to pay pensioners their dues regularly. The situation in the private sector is not different particularly with the high rate of corruption in commercial banks involving the Bank captains, oil marketing companies engaging in product tripping, the rise in Automated Teller Machine (ATM) frauds and collusion(s) by some so-called great entrepreneurs with those in government to steal government funds.
These inadequacies caused by the leaders have impoverished the citizens and have encouraged corruption among citizens. Thus, in the present day Nigeria, many of the leaders and followers in different facets: political, economic, religious, academics, administrative or professional and working class, among others engage in corrupt practices. Various regimes in the post-independence history of Nigeria did not do enough to combat and discourage corruption.
Aluko(2007) quoting Odey(2005) wrote that the administrations of Shehu Shagari(1979-1983), Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida(1985-1993), Sani Abacha(1993-1998) and Abdulsalami Abubabakar(1998-1999) tended to have galvanized the practice of corruption. Scholars such as Achebe (1983), Aluko (2006), Adegbite(1991), Olopoenia(1998), Odey(2001 & 2005) and Dibie(2003 & 2004) have written on the negative impact of corruption on Nigeria in the process of seeking sustainable development. Aluko(2007: 60). Obasanjo like some of his very corrupt predecessors, attempted to wage war against corruption in the nation between 1999 and 2007, but to no avail. It is a thing of joy, however that the ICPC and EFCC which he established in 2000 and 2004 respectively to give sufficient weight to his attempt outlived his administration as the two bodies are still in place.
This paper believes that the leadership as well as the followership in Nigeria should go back to the country's age-long value system which shunned corruption in any form and embrace integrity to achieve a meaningful and sustainable national development.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The paper has adopted the historical, the systems and political economy approaches. Historically, it quotes some of the known political fathers of Nigeria. Easton (1973: 195) defines the political system as the system of interaction in any society through which binding or authoritative decisions are made and implemented. He considers the political system as existing within an environment of other systems-physical, biological, social, psychological, etc., which affect it and are in turn affected by the political system through continues transactions and exchange (Anifowose, et al, 1999: 21). The subject-matter of political economy is to study the social relations of people in the production process in any society and show how those who own and control the dominant means of production (the ruling class) also control all the facets of the society and how invariably, policies are made to further promote and protect their interests. In other words, the political economy approach shows the interconnection between the structure and the superstructure. In summary, political economy is a science of the study of society and it reveals the basis for change and development in society.
METHODOLOGY
The paper employs analytical and descriptive method and it relies on secondary source of data, particularly from books, newspapers, journal articles and the internet.
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATIONS
i. Anti-Corruption
The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of current English 6th Edition defines 'anti' a prefix (in nouns and adjectives) as opposed to, against, the opposite. Hornby (2000: 41). The same Dictionary defines "corruption" (noun) as dishonest or illegal behavior, especially of people in authority (ibid: 261). Hence, anti-corruption means opposed to or against dishonest or illegal behavior, especially of people in authority. Since corruption appears more-or-less institutionalized in Nigeria, the word anti-corruption refers to the current war waged against this cankerworm particularly through the two governmental agencies - ICPC and EFCC respectively.
ii. Leadership
Leadership is the exercise of power or influence in social collectivities, such as groups, organizations, communities or nations. Olugbade (1987: 239) quoting Gibb (1968) says that leading implies a shared direction, and this in turn, often implies that all parties to the leadership relation have a common goal or at least similar compatible goals. Leader influence suggests a positive contribution towards the attainment of these goals. A leader is one who is repeatedly perceived to perform acts of leading. A leader establishes the goals, purposes or objectives of the collectivity, creates the structures through which the purposes of the collectivity are fulfilled; and maintains or enhances these structures. Leaders are supposed to co-ordinate, control, direct, guide or mobilize the efforts of others. Leaders may also cajole, manipulate, entice, reward or coerce. (Olugbade, ibid) Leadership usually has consequences for the lives and welfare of followers, hence the importance attached to it in any community. Leadership variable, is therefore, very crucial in understanding and explaining the warp and woof of the political process particularly in a developing nation like Nigeria. Aina(2007) quoting Ugwuegbu (1992) says that it is important to differentiate leadership from supervision. Supervision is influencing sub-ordinates to do nothing more than simply fulfilling the minimum requirement of their jobs to avoid negative consequences. Leadership, he pointed out is influencing them to participate actively in the group's activities.
iii. Followership
A follower is someone who takes an order or instruction from someone vested with power and authority. Such a follower is expected to conform, comply with, and observe some laid down rules and regulations as spelt out by the organization or group headed by a leader(Oni, 2006: 135). This in essence means that a leader cannot operate in a vacuum; he/she must lead in an environment or group, where others are guided, led or preceded. According to Oni (2006: 134) therefore, if then there is variable X, there must be variable Y since a leader influences the behavior of those he/she guides and vice-versa. There is no doubt therefore, that the behavior of the leader to a significant extent influences the group he/she leads.
iv. National Development
This refers to the overall development in a nation measured within a given period. The term development according to Awotokun (1989: 411) can be seen as social, cultural, economic and political change which must infact be accompanied with the ability of the people to control their destiny, relate to the outsider on equal basis with the capacity of the people to conquer and control their environment without resorting to external aid. The government, economist, business and other components of market economy, according to Egwakhe (2007: 149) utilize the real GDP to hail the economic performance of a country. The assumption is anchored on the precept that a high real GDP is a gross measure of a nation's economic activity in terms of total monetary transactions. As such, a real GDP is sensitive to transactions that contribute to corruption, and informal or underground economies, since these are non-positive instruments to a nation's development.
LEADERSHIP/FOLLOWERSHIP: A DISCOURSE
According to Chikendu (1987: 250) quoting Chambers 20th Century Dictionary (1976: 748) the word 'lead' - a transitive verb from which the abstract noun 'leadership' is derived means to show the way by going first , to proceed, to guide, to direct etc. He goes further to say that a leader, therefore, is the person who shows others (his followers) the way by taking the first step, by guiding, directing or controlling. Leadership denotes the office of the leader or the process of leading. With regard to political leader Chikendu quoting Vaney (1939) says it means, "that activity which is constituted by the organization, guidance and control of the voluntary and joint efforts towards the attainment of common goals in the area of policies."
We agree and adapt what Chikendu discussed in 1987 because they are still valid for our argument. Therefore, for the purpose of this paper, we shall adopt the behavioural approach to leadership.
The behavioural definition, which we have endorsed for the purpose of this paper, lays emphasis on the behavior of the leader in relation to the led as a reciprocal effort to achieve mutual goals. The leader is seen as shaping the thoughts and actions of his followers, while his followers in turn influence the leader, hence the paradoxical statement, "I am their leader, therefore, I must follow them" (Leon Dion, 1968). Arthur Schopenhauer (quoted by Chikendu) has put it classically thus, "when we think we lead, we most have led". All told, the critical mark of leadership is the ability of the leader to see beyond the perceptual vista of his people, appreciate their higher needs, and inspire and motivate them to cherish and desire those needs as goals that should be achieved. Thus , leaders are agents of change, "whose intuitive abilities and personal qualities are essential in getting followers to extend their energies and attitudes towards larger goals and values" (Chikendu quoting Zaleznik, 1983).
Leadership is important in any political community because the mass is generally atomized and inert. "The mass is able to act as a single unit only when it is integrated from outside by the leader. Leadership can transform the mass from an aggregation of isolated unit into a solid, unified group" (Geraint Parry, 1977, p. 53). Lenin, the great leader of the masses noted that the workers themselves never transcend their mileux to see the distinction between the bread riots and total revolution. He maintains that "without leadership, there is no such coherent thing as a 'people' - there is a messy mass" (Geraint Parry, 1977). Political leaders should, therefore be people who commune emotionally with their followers. They should not be selfish individuals who ride on the back of the people in order to achieve personal goals and ambitions. The goals of the leader must always be one with those of the people he is leading. Because he is apparently more foresighted, he has reduced the needs of his people into working ideologies which he pursues with the support of his people. Leadership is said to be meaningless without values. In pursuit of these values, a leader should be ready to suffer severe deprivations in the interest of his people. In building a nation, therefore, the first requirement is a good political leadership. Without it, and irrespective of all other human and material resources which a country may possess, its progress, growth and development will remain stunted.
LEADERSHIP/FOLLOWERSHIP DIMENSION IN NIGERIA AND THE EFFECTS ON NATIONAL DEVELOMENT.
We may now wish to ask what role has political leadership played in the task of nation building in Nigeria? Has Nigeria produced any leaders that have the political will to lead the country selflessly? How and when will the right type of leadership emerge on the Nigeria political scene? These questions constitute the main thrust of this section of our paper.
The eminent Nigeria novelist, Professor Chinua Achebe, has opined that "Nigeria is less than fortunate in its leadership". According to him, Nigerian leaders have "a tendency to pious materialist wooliness and self centred pedestrianism" (Achebe 1983, p 11). To buttress his point further, Achebe drew our attention to the statements made by Nigerians' best known leaders, Dr Azikiwe and Chief Awolowo respectively in their autobiographies, which could be construed to be the underlying principles of their leadership behavior in Nigerian politics. Dr Azikiwe was quoted as having pledged in 1937:
"That henceforth I shall utilize my earned income to secure my enjoyment of a high standard of living and also give a helping hand to the needy."
In the same streak, Chief Awolowo was quoted as saying:
"I was going to make myself formidable intellectually, morally invulnerable, to make all the money that is possible for a man with my brain and brawn to make in Nigeria (Achebe, 1983, p. 11)."
One cannot but agree with Achebe that "Thoughts like these are more likely to produce aggressive millionaires than selfless leaders of their people." A critical look at the political leadership and behaviour of Nigeria's founding fathers, and those who came after them, both military and civilian political leaders, tend to bear Achebe's submission out. Leadership, we must reiterate, especially leadership directed towards nation-building, is a selfless endeavour. The leader should see himself as true servant of the people whose interests, values and aspirations are inter-twined with his own personal yearning for them; yearnings which have inspired him in the first place to volunteer to lead them. Should there be, in the course of leading them, a clash between personal interests and those of the people he leads, or the original vision which motivated him into leading them, the former interest should be sublimated into the latter. But has this been the case in Nigeria?
Events and incidents in Nigeria's political experience seem to supply a negative answer to the above question. Right from the era of the nationalist struggles, through the period of responsible government and independence to the checkered period of the military regimes, Nigeria's political leaders have failed to rise, at critical moments, above the mundane and pedestrian promptings of their ego, to the chivalrous heights of self-abnegation and sacrifice for the sake of father-land and the masses.
In Nigeria, political leaders have not discharged their obligations well. most of them forgot that true leadership is an interactional process whose sole aim is to procure, the good life for all. They have used political leadership to enrich themselves and their immediate minions. Their idea of political leadership is self-centred. To them, the masses do not count. In fact, in 1947, chief Awolowo wrote that the masses were politically indifferent and refused to be bothered by politics, being pre-occupied with the search for foods, clothing and shelter (Awolowo 1947, p.31-32). The chief, like the other leaders forgot that leaders are meant to help followers find "food, shelter and clothing". The result is that in critical moments in our national history, moments which called for high-order statesmanship, our leaders tend to succumb to the mundane dictates of their selfish interests. Examples are rampant, particularly now in the fourth republic when all hands should be on deck to lay a solid foundation for the country after almost thirty-year rule by the military which brought ruins and untold hardship to the people.
The resultant effect of poor leadership/followership dimension is that the economy is ruined and Nigerian's are suffering in the midst of plenty. There is nothing to talk about as health, education, transportation, infrastructural facilities are all in ruins. According to Egwakhe (2007: 150) the ultimate tragedy is that these unthinkable conditions could have been buried in the sand of history, provided sophisticated code of normal behavior and disciplined economics policies were implemented. This understanding relates corruption plague with the economy.
Egwakhe states further that corruption from practical indication is a disproportional high burden on the economy and previous experience shows that condition harms the economy, undermines the rule of law, and grossly weakens the public confidence in government. From this, corruption escalates economic cost and dispassionately affects the quality of life.
In essence, according to Oshinebo (2007: 104) the want in the midst of plenty sobriquet which Nigeria has attracted since 1996 from the Breton Wood institutions, particularly the World Bank, is an attestation to the devastating pangs of corruption on the country's development. So profoundly has corruption impeded Nigeria's development effects that the current coincidence of poverty is anywhere from fifty-four to seventy percent. It is therefore no surprise that the optimism at independence regarding the country's potential for sustainable development has since given way to despair among the pauperized citizenry. Indeed, there is an increasingly palpable fear of an imminent revolution. The economic reform agenda of successive governments, which were articulated essentially within the framework of the IMF conditionally, have not significantly reversed the underdevelopment quagmire. By the same token, the extent constitutional provisions relating to rule-based governance in democratic Nigeria, including the enormous over-sight responsibilities of the National and state Assemblies as well as a functioning and vibrant independent judiciary, have not discouraged widespread malfeasance: The ICPC and the EFCC, part of the institutional framework for check-mating graft and rent-seeking, act on an ex-post basis and expectedly have no profound salutary impact on Nigeria's corruption profile.
THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS.
The Marxist theory contents that it is the way the society organizes the production, distribution and exchange of goods and services that determines their material conditions. To this extent, corruption is a structural problem, which derives from and has its existence in the socio-economic organization of society. (Aluko 2005). Right away from the time Lord Lugard introduced the indirect rule system in Nigeria beginning with the north in 1914, the royalties nobles, merchants who were close to the colonialists got the control of the economy in collaboration with the colonial agents and became wealthy. When politics was in top gear after the end of the Second World War, the rich, the bourgeoisie, the elite, the entrepreneur by virtue of their status and wealth got the control of the machinery of the state to get the people to vote for them. After getting the control of the state economy, they invariably got the opportunity to redistribute or allocate the resources in their favor. And so they got richer and richer while the masses got poorer and poorer. Since the people are perpetually poor, they cannot organize themselves to wrest the power from the rich. The leaders have tried since to maintain the status quo. It is like committing a class suicide for them to lose power and hence they want to remain in power. Occasionally, they recruit or entice a few powerful dissenting voices to join them.
The army (i.e. the military class) is a professional group and because they have coercive means could become and in actual fact did become an alternative source of power. Even when the military were in power they still used the members of the political class as part class as part of their government.
Mahjan (2005: 820-6) says that the view of Roberty Michels is that a democratic system is in practice a party system. Thus, democracy becomes a "party-cracy". Party organization is controlled by a group of leaders who cannot be checked or held accountable by persons who elect them. That is due to organizational factors such as party funds, control over the press, control over the mass media by the party in power and psychological factors such as apathy of the majority, technical incompetence etc. this principle applies to all organizations.
In Nigeria, the selected few - the re-cycling politicians of the first and second republics and their offsprings as well as the military politicians (politicians in uniform) help themselves to maintain circulation, thereby maintaining the status quo. Members of this group have introduced money politics into Nigerian politics and they promote and elevate their surrogates to siphon government money at all levels of government (Aluko, 2007: 3). They perpetrate political corruption and use the incumbency factor to rig elections in a bid to stay in office in perpetuity, because of the power and wealth which. (Aluko, 2007: 11). They do not encourage both intra and inter political parties' democracy. They select rather than elect candidates for elections.
Members of the ruling class from the three levels of government, their collaborators, and the captains of commercial banks and industries are mostly the people who are engaged in large-scale corruption. Nigerians wake up day-in-day-out to read in Newspapers and magazines of grave corrupt practices in government, its agencies and even in the private sector. Some of the catching headlines of recent include:
- EFCC to Probe Obasanjo, Soludo, Others 'House Power Projects' Report.
TELL Magazine, No. 29 July 21, 2008 (cover page).
- Reps may probe minister over N120m wedding party. *I didn't spend such amount _ Minister, (Front Page, Nigerian Tribune, Tuesday, July 14, 2009)
- N19.5b aviation intervention fund - EFCC arrests Borishade, Femi_Kayode, and Iyayi.
THE NATION Newspaper, Tuesday, July 1, 2008; Front page.
- 10 banks owed N1trn non-performing loans (Front page, Nigerian Tribune, Friday, 16th October, 2009)
- EFCC recovers N171b from bank debtors (Front page, THE NATION Newspaper, Tuesday, November 3, 2009).
If the above listed headlines are on the leadership, the fact still remains that there is nothing to write home about the followership in terms of integrity in Nigeria. An average citizen in the country because he is holding neither a political/governmental post nor a top post in the private sector styles himself a common man. The fact, however, remains that the "common man" because he is not privileged to be in a position at a point in time to steal either government or any corporate organization's fund merely criticizes for the sake of criticism. No sooner he gets to any position of authority within the society, he even performs worse than the erstwhile leaders who were his target of attack. Who is even a "common man" in Nigeria? Is he a voter who takes a token of five hundred Naira only (N500) to aid a political leader who is interested in selection rather than election? Is he an artisan (bricklayer/carpenter/welder/plumber) who re-sells or steals the building materials of a prospective landlord at his disposal? Is he a motor mechanic who recommends 'tokunbo' spare parts (imported fairly used parts) as opposed to new ones as a way of making quick money on his helpless customer (poor vehicle owner) who drives an imported ten-year old vehicle on the country's poor roads? Is he a shameless and fraudulent parent who wants to 'buy' a brilliant but poor Nigerian, also without integrity, to sit for the General Certificate of Education and perhaps the University Entrance examinations for his lazy and academically weak son? Is he a University lecturer who awards high marks in his subjects to weak, fraudulent and desperate students in exchange for money, materials or even sex? Is he a Pentecostal Pastor who uses black magic and divination power to dupe members of his unsuspecting congregation? Is he a rural area High School Principal who colludes with his teachers to take money from the parents of his students who want to take the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) and end up dictating answers to objective questions in the examination hall? The list appears endless in Nigeria at present.
Given the above stated scenario, one is happy that the ICPC and the EFCC are not just in place but the two anti-corruption bodies are also working hard to enlighten the entire populace with a view to changing the citizens' value orientation. Nigerians are still expecting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, after all. Nigeria just like Botswana and even Singapore which were nothing before but are now leaders in the ocean of the third world countries because of the adoption of probity, accountability and transparency, must rise up to the occasion. For every five Africans, there is one Nigerian, so the vision for honesty, transparency and integrity must start in Nigeria now if the country and Africa will not be doomed but get liberated from the yoke of corruption.
CONCLUDING REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The paper has examined the dynamics of leadership, followership, corruption and national development in Nigeria from the colonial era in Nigeria up to date (2010). It argues that the leadership (royal, political etc.) has controlled the larger share of the country's fund over the years. The resultant effect is excessive control of economic activities which has in turn, created opportunistic behavior which includes corruption due to greed, lack of accountability and lack of care for the welfare and lives of the followers. This phenomenon has impoverished majority of Nigerians who suffer in the midst of plenty as the country's educational, health, infrastructural facilities among others have suffered decadence since 1960 when Nigeria gained independence from Britain. Political party supremacy and its attendance of political blackmailing, the prevalence of the usage of incumbency factor which gives birth to god fatherism in the Nigerian political arena are some of the tools used by the corrupt leaders and their collaborators to cover up their dastardly acts against the Nation.
The Nigerian problem we agreed is the unwillingness and inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility and to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership (Aina, 2007: 55). Aina further says that the inability to exhibit true leadership according to Nwabueze (2000) and Robert Dibie (2003) is criminal and that any society that encourages embezzlement of public funds, abuse and misuse of public funds, capital flight, corruption, abuse and misuse of public property in its midst is guilty of mass murder. Such a leader is self-serving rather than serving the public. Unfortunately the followership has not helped matters or the situation. The propensity to steal or to be fraudulent by the followers who style themselves as 'common' is very high.
Furthermore, the roles of the ICPC and the EFCC in the area of public enlightenment in the country are encouraging since an uninformed citizen cannot put in check reckless members of the political leadership. They should continue to collaborate with the NGOs already affiliated to those organizations, members of the civil society and professional bodies in the onerous task of public enlightenment with a view to changing the present poor value orientation of our political leadership who should lead by example.
In the same vein, the federal legislators are also expected to consider and pass the pending Freedom of Information bill (FOI) and recommend the setting up of special courts by government to try corrupt citizens promptly. This is not saying that our judiciary is not performing, but corruption, as a cankerworm needs a special attention or in the parlance of the present federal government, a declaration of an "emergency" to make for a meaningful approach to the attainment of a meaningful national development.
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