4 - Policing Looted Funds with the Whistle: Newspaper Coverage of the Anti-corruption Crusade in Nigeria
Corresponding Author(s) : Oludayo Tade
Africa Development,
Vol. 44 No. 4 (2019): Africa Development: Special Issue on Money, Security and Democratic Governance in Africa (IV)
Abstract
This article examines the Whistle Blowing Policy (WBP) in Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade between 2016 and 2017. It seeks to understand how looters innovate to keep loots, following the implementation of this policy, and the extent to which looting undermines governance and amplifies insecurity. This is vital as the perception of Nigerian corruption globally has been dismal in the last five years. Corruption slackens development and becomes a major security threat in Nigeria, as collective patrimony/public monies are siphoned or diverted into private pockets. Relying on newspaper data on coverage of corruption, this article argues that ‘incentivising patriotism’ through the WBP has contributed to citizens’ participation in the anti-corruption crusade in Nigeria and enhanced recoveries of illicitly acquired monies. The policy has forced looters to adopt traditional money-keeping strategies to keep looted monies in private fortes, septic-tanks, stores, and/or to abandon the same in airport and market shops. The article concludes by showing the value of what the recovered looted monies could have done to enhance governance and development, to underscore how illicit monies undermine security and democratic governance in Nigeria.
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- Akerlof, G. and Yellen, J.L., 1990, ‘The fair wage-effort hypothesis and unemployment’, Quarterly Journal of Economics 105: 255–83.
- Akindele, S.T., 2005, ‘Critical analysis of corruption and its problems in Nigeria’, the Anthropologist 7 (1): 7–18.
- Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors, 2014, ‘Whistleblowing and corporate governance: the role of internal audit in whistleblowing’, http://www.iia.org.uk.
- Drew, K., 2010, ENRON. The foreign corrupt practices act & The OECD convention, a paper produced as part of the work of UNICORN: a global trade unions anti-corruption project, http://www.psiru.org/reports/enron-foreign-corrupt-practices-act-and-the%C2%A0oecd-convention.
- Fasua, H.K. and Osifo-Osagie, U.I., 2017, ‘Effective whistle-blowing mechanism and audit committee in Nigerian banking sector’, Journal of Business and Management Sciences 5 (1): 18–26.
- Gire, J.T., 1999, ‘A psychological analysis of corruption in Nigeria’, Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa 1 (2): 1–15.
- Goldsmith, A., 2000, ‘Risk, rule, and reason: leadership in Africa’, Africa Notes, May, pp. 1–6.
- Huntington, S., 1968, Political Order in Changing Societies, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- Huntington, S., 1979, ‘Modernization and Development’, in M.U. Ekpo, ed., Bureaucratic Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa: Toward a Search for Causes and Consequences, Washington, DC: University Press of America.
- ICAN, 2014, Study text: Management, government and ethics, United Kingdom: Emile Woolf International Bracknell Enterprise & Innovation Hub.
- Jos, P.H., Tompkins, M.E. and Hays, S.W., 1989, ‘In praise of difficult people: a portrait of the committed whistle-blower’, Public Administration Review 49(6): 552–61.
- Kallon, K.M., 2003, The Political Economy of Corruption in Sierra Leone, Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
- Klitgaard, R., 1988, Controlling Corruption, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
- Klitgaard, R. 1991, Gifts and Bribes’, in R. Zeckhauser, ed., Strategy and Choice, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Kpundeh, S., 1995, Politics and Corruption in Africa: A Case Study of Sierra Leone, Lanham, MD: University Press of America. Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011.
- Myrdal, G., 1968, Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, New York: Pantheon.
- National Audit Office, 2014, Making a whistle-blowing policy work: the systems, structures and behaviours in place to enable effective whistle-blowing arrangements, www.gov.uk/whistleblowing/overview.
- Near, J.P. and Miceli, M.P., 1985, ‘Organizational dissidence: the case of whistleblowing’, Journal of Business Ethics 4: 1–16.
- Nielsen, R.P., Balachandra, L. and Nielsen, A.L., 2013, ‘Whistle-blowing methods for navigating within and helping reform regulatory institutions’, Journal of Business Ethics 112 (3): 385–95, 549.
- Obuah, E., 2010, ‘Combating corruption in Nigeria: the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’, African Studies Quarterly 12 (1): 17–44.
- Odugbemi, S., 2000, ‘The anti-corruption pincer’, The Comet London Reportage Section of the Foreign Affairs Column, p. 11.
- Onakoya, O.A. and Moses, C.L., 2016, ‘Effect of system factors on whistleblowing attitude of Nigerian banks employees: a conceptual perspective’, 3rd International Conference on African Development Issues (CU-ICAPDI), Covenant University Press, pp. 300–7.
- Rachagan, S. and Kuppusamy, K., 2013, ‘Encouraging whistle blowing to improve corporate governance?’, A Malaysian Initiative Journal of Business Ethics 115 (2): 367–82.
- Read, W.J. and Rama, D.V., 2003, ‘Whistle-blowing to internal auditors’, Managerial Auditing Journal 18 (5) 354–62.
- Ribadu, N., 2007, ‘Corruption drains Africa of $140bn annually’, The Punch, www.efccnigeria.org/index.php?option=comcontent=view&id-1347&Itemid=2.
- Shleifer, A. and Vishny, R., 1998, The Grabbing Hand: Government Pathologies and their Cure, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 2004, Anti-corruption: Practice Note, (final version).
References
Akerlof, G. and Yellen, J.L., 1990, ‘The fair wage-effort hypothesis and unemployment’, Quarterly Journal of Economics 105: 255–83.
Akindele, S.T., 2005, ‘Critical analysis of corruption and its problems in Nigeria’, the Anthropologist 7 (1): 7–18.
Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors, 2014, ‘Whistleblowing and corporate governance: the role of internal audit in whistleblowing’, http://www.iia.org.uk.
Drew, K., 2010, ENRON. The foreign corrupt practices act & The OECD convention, a paper produced as part of the work of UNICORN: a global trade unions anti-corruption project, http://www.psiru.org/reports/enron-foreign-corrupt-practices-act-and-the%C2%A0oecd-convention.
Fasua, H.K. and Osifo-Osagie, U.I., 2017, ‘Effective whistle-blowing mechanism and audit committee in Nigerian banking sector’, Journal of Business and Management Sciences 5 (1): 18–26.
Gire, J.T., 1999, ‘A psychological analysis of corruption in Nigeria’, Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa 1 (2): 1–15.
Goldsmith, A., 2000, ‘Risk, rule, and reason: leadership in Africa’, Africa Notes, May, pp. 1–6.
Huntington, S., 1968, Political Order in Changing Societies, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Huntington, S., 1979, ‘Modernization and Development’, in M.U. Ekpo, ed., Bureaucratic Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa: Toward a Search for Causes and Consequences, Washington, DC: University Press of America.
ICAN, 2014, Study text: Management, government and ethics, United Kingdom: Emile Woolf International Bracknell Enterprise & Innovation Hub.
Jos, P.H., Tompkins, M.E. and Hays, S.W., 1989, ‘In praise of difficult people: a portrait of the committed whistle-blower’, Public Administration Review 49(6): 552–61.
Kallon, K.M., 2003, The Political Economy of Corruption in Sierra Leone, Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
Klitgaard, R., 1988, Controlling Corruption, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Klitgaard, R. 1991, Gifts and Bribes’, in R. Zeckhauser, ed., Strategy and Choice, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kpundeh, S., 1995, Politics and Corruption in Africa: A Case Study of Sierra Leone, Lanham, MD: University Press of America. Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011.
Myrdal, G., 1968, Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, New York: Pantheon.
National Audit Office, 2014, Making a whistle-blowing policy work: the systems, structures and behaviours in place to enable effective whistle-blowing arrangements, www.gov.uk/whistleblowing/overview.
Near, J.P. and Miceli, M.P., 1985, ‘Organizational dissidence: the case of whistleblowing’, Journal of Business Ethics 4: 1–16.
Nielsen, R.P., Balachandra, L. and Nielsen, A.L., 2013, ‘Whistle-blowing methods for navigating within and helping reform regulatory institutions’, Journal of Business Ethics 112 (3): 385–95, 549.
Obuah, E., 2010, ‘Combating corruption in Nigeria: the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’, African Studies Quarterly 12 (1): 17–44.
Odugbemi, S., 2000, ‘The anti-corruption pincer’, The Comet London Reportage Section of the Foreign Affairs Column, p. 11.
Onakoya, O.A. and Moses, C.L., 2016, ‘Effect of system factors on whistleblowing attitude of Nigerian banks employees: a conceptual perspective’, 3rd International Conference on African Development Issues (CU-ICAPDI), Covenant University Press, pp. 300–7.
Rachagan, S. and Kuppusamy, K., 2013, ‘Encouraging whistle blowing to improve corporate governance?’, A Malaysian Initiative Journal of Business Ethics 115 (2): 367–82.
Read, W.J. and Rama, D.V., 2003, ‘Whistle-blowing to internal auditors’, Managerial Auditing Journal 18 (5) 354–62.
Ribadu, N., 2007, ‘Corruption drains Africa of $140bn annually’, The Punch, www.efccnigeria.org/index.php?option=comcontent=view&id-1347&Itemid=2.
Shleifer, A. and Vishny, R., 1998, The Grabbing Hand: Government Pathologies and their Cure, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 2004, Anti-corruption: Practice Note, (final version).