Analysis… Litany of probes: All motion, no movement

In from Etaghene Edirin…
A report recently released by the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS) showed that the two chambers of the National Assembly have conducted no fewer than 52 probes between them in the last 16 years.
Even as the federal legislative body continues to probe into other activities of government, piling up on the number of files on enquiries into different government activities, investigations show that many of the issues so far probed remain largely unresolved, and in some cases have worsened over the years.
The executive arm of government is no different. Since the inauguration of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, the only sing song the people continue to be inundated with has been how government has been probing one deal, ministry or the other of its predecessor, and how huge acts of corruption had been uncovered.
Yet for all the probes and investigations, no one has so far been successfully prosecuted, or Nigerians told how much money has been recovered, from who or on what. It’s all been lip service.
According to the NILS, probes by the legislature covered government agencies/parastatals, alleged corruption and diverse issues. Some of the problems probed by the two chambers are: alleged corruption in the oil sector, and the expenditure of $16 billion on the power sector.
One probe that Nigerians had thought would bring sanity and succor to the nation, went the same way of the others. This as the 2009 Ndudi Elumelu-led House of Representatives probe of the $16 billion spent on the power sector which concluded that “several contracts were found to have been awarded to people who did not know what to do in the first place while millions of dollars were paid up front. In many cases, the contractors didn’t even know the construction sites.”
The panel report soon sparked controversy across the land and another panel was set up to probe the report. The rest as they say, is history. Suffice to say, Nigerians are still the worse for it as far as power supply is concerned.
In 2008 another probe in the House of Representatives concluded that a former GMD of NNPC wasted over N2 billion on hotel accommodations in less than four years.
In the same year, another probe and public hearing on “Operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries from 1999 to 2007” found a litany of corruption practices.
The probes into both sectors, critical to the nation’s economic growth and development, have produced no change, and no one has either been indicted, or successfully prosecuted and made to pay the penalty to serve as deterrent for others. But Nigerians continue to suffer the pinch from the inadequacies of the sectors as crude oil theft continues, fuel scarcity is the order of the day, and electricity supply is yet to improve.

Read also: How judges, lawyers thwart recovery of stolen funds —Buhari

Still, the Senate recently asked its committee on petroleum to investigate all issues associated with the current scarcity of petroleum products in the country.
The upper chamber mandated its committee on Petroleum (Downstream) to urgently determine how the legislature will collaborate with the executive arm of government to bring lasting solution to problem of fuel scarcity in the country. The outcome of this recent exercise is yet to be seen or felt.
There were also reports that Nigerians are to expect yet another probe of the power sector by one of the two tiers of the National Assembly, this time the House of Representatives. This new probe, if and when it happens, would be coming on the heels of the probe of the same sector by the Senate, which had commenced on September 8, 2015, but whose outcome remains indeterminate.
That means in about two months, two probes of one sector of the economy have been proposed – and may be executed with or without clear results – by both tiers of the federal legislature.
On his part, as soon as he resumed duties as president, Buhari made it clear that he intends to probe his predecessor, which was not unexpected, given the allegations of corruption his party, The All Progressives Congress (APC) had made against the Goodluck Jonathan administration during the campaign periods.
Buhari, at his first Independence Day nationwide broadcast on October 1, 2015, said the probe of revenue generating agencies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian Communications Commission and the Nigerian Customs Service, became necessary following noticeable widespread corruption in the agencies.
President Buhari said, “Prudent housekeeping is needed now more than ever in view of the sharp decline in world market oil prices. It is a challenge we have to face squarely. But what counts is not so much what accrues but how we manage our resources that is important.
“We have seen in the last few years how huge resources were mismanaged, squandered and wasted. The new APC government is embarking on a clean up, introducing prudence and probity in public financing.”
Watchers of the situation, especially at the legislative level opine that these incessant, and somewhat indeterminate, probes may be an expression of the National Assembly’s commitment to its oversight function, which would be commendable depending on the outcome.
They however advice that there is a need to interrogate the desirability of such repetitive and fruitless probes of the power sector by the same arm of the federal government, which they argue may do more harm than to the national interest.
For one, they say, the incessant and fruitless probes may portray Nigeria to the international community as an unserious country, where immense resources and energy is expended to fruitlessly unearth what happened to immense resources that was thought to have been embezzled or mismanaged.
On the part of the executive, while a lot of energy and resources are being spent trying to project the nation in good light to the outside world, to convince the world that Nigeria is being wrongly characterised with violence, corruption and such ills, and so is safe for investors and their money, arguments abound that the statement of the present administration on level of corruption in the country, is doing more harm than good in that direction.
This argument is supported by the fact that as has come to be associated with fight against corruption in the country, and prosecution of corrupt public officials, no one have so far been brought to book.
Worries that such probes may just actually be publicity stunts were heightened when Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, decryied what he termed “lack of political will to prosecute high-profile corruption cases.”
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Despite the tough posture flaunted by government in the public domain, the CJN, who bared his mind during a meeting with the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, said government displays a the lacklustre attitude towards the prosecution of such criminal cases, “especially those involving politically exposed persons or political party family members”.
This, he said was a major factor that has stalled trial of so many corruption cases.
This is even after President Buhari had earlier slammed the judiciary, accusing it of sabotaging his effort to prosecute high-profile corruption cases.
The arguments follow that rather than encourage investors, the president’s speeches may actually be a discouragement, calling to question the integrity of citizens, and projecting Nigeria as a nation where corruption thrives, and no one pays the price for crimes committed, especially as it concerns stealing of state resources and assets.
Some also argue, that the consequence for the national interest from such allegations of corrupt practices is that, proven or not, and considering their sometimes high-profile government sources, they are likely to make investors, especially foreign investors, consider the country a high risk destination for investments due to such purported intractable moral challenges, with the result that they would prefer to take their investments elsewhere.
Others are of the opinion that while there is a need to support the anti corruption stance of the present administration, there is also the need to balance the fight against corruption, with the need for actual governance that will promote and revive the nation’s economy, and provide meaningful change for the people, rather than chasing after probes and corrupt officials which may not be brought to logical conclusions.

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