Nigeria Content Online

Something positive
is stirring in India. Over the past few weeks, a number of senior
government officials have been frog-marched through the country’s
courts to answer to charges of fraud and corrupt self-enrichment.

Last Tuesday, an
India court remanded Suresh Kalmadi, the former chief organiser of the
Delhi Commonwealth Games, for eight days. Mr Kalmadi, a senior lawmaker
who has been suspended from the Congress party, is charged with
cheating in tenders for timing equipment worth millions of dollars in
the sporting event which held last October.

The $6 billion
Commonwealth Games were originally billed as India’s answer to the
highly successful 2008 Beijing Olympics. It, however, almost never
held, as preparations descended into acrimony over leaking stadiums,
dirty and unsafe athletes’ rooms and gross corruption. As Mr Kalmadi
headed to the courtroom, an enraged Indian threw a sandal at the
accused – an insult in the Middle East which has spread across the
world.

Mr Kalmadi is not
the most senior politician to be facing trial. Andimuthu Raja, a former
telecoms minister sacked because of his manipulation of the sale of
telecoms licenses and spectrum in which India lost close to $39 billion
in revenue, is also facing trial. Mr Raja is being arraigned alongside
executives from telecoms firms and the daughter of the chief minister
of Tamil Nadu state. She was accused of taking bribes routed via a TV
channel owned by her family.

Indians are,
naturally, excited by this crackdown on corrupt businessmen and
government officials. It is not every day that senior politicians in
the country are hauled before judges and these ongoing trials are being
held amidst stiff opposition by other political grandees, some of whom
have threatened to bring the government down. It is thus a credit to
the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and the leadership of the Congress
party that this trial is permitted to take place. Perceived impunity by
the political leadership has dented the image of the country and is
seen as one reason why it lags behind China in the receipt of foreign
investment.

This holds major
lessons for our country. In many ways, the Nigerian society is as
corrupt as India’s, if not more. The thieving elites in government and
business also routinely evade punishment, or escape with a slap on
their well-connected wrists. It would be a good departure from the
usual if the incoming government of Goodluck Jonathan would make a
concerted effort to break the myth of invincibility surrounding corrupt
senior government and political officials.

We would like to
suggest that President Jonathan pay his first official visit to India
to consult with Prime Minister Singh on how he is dealing with the
pressure by his political allies who are opposed to seeing their
colleagues publicly sanctioned. The Indian leader might then also be
persuaded to throw in some advice on how the country is tackling its
infrastructure challenges – including the ongoing registration of
Indians that will result in the provision of cutting edge identity
cards to the over one billion of them.

In other words, Mr
Jonathan should fight corruption with the same single-minded zeal with
which he had prosecuted his electoral reform agenda. One of the bogeys
associated with the ruling People’s Democratic Party, which made a
number of voters turn their backs on the party, is the perception that
its ranks are filled with unreconstructed looters of public treasury.
Mr Jonathan could start his reform of his party by letting his
supporters know that it will no longer be business as usual. He should
also strengthen the EFCC – possibly with new leadership if that is what
it takes – for optimal performance. If INEC could become a qualified
success, then the EFCC should also become one as well.

Mr Jonathan’s election represents a new opportunity for Nigeria. One
way he can effect the positive change he often spoke about for his
nation during his pre-election campaigns, is by tackling heads-on, the
hydra-headed monster of corruption. NEXT has done several
groundbreaking stories to expose skulduggery in high places. The most
recent, published on April 15, 2011, concerned Diezani Allison-Madueke,
the petroleum minister’s involvement in a N2.2 billion bribe scandal.
That case could be a good place for the president to start.