SCORECARD: Has Tinubu lived up to expectations fighting corruption one year in office? By Kunle Sanni

In the lead-up to the 2023 presidential elections, President Bola Tinubu emphasised a practical approach to combating corruption in his state-by-state campaigns and national inaugural address on May 29, 2023. His approach included corruption prevention and the cutting-edge use of modern technological innovations to combat Nigeria’s corruption scourge.

 “Our government will continue to take proactive steps such as championing a credit culture to discourage corruption while strengthening the effectiveness and the efficiency of the various anti-corruption agencies,” Tinubu said in his inaugural address delivered at Eagle Square, shortly after being sworn in by Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kayode Ariwoola, vowing to reform the judiciary and combat corruption, emphasising that these efforts would be pursued without regard for personal backgrounds or political affiliations.

Similarly, Tinubu promised that his administration would support the existing anti-corruption institutions, address the underlying issues of corruption in the oil industry and strengthen existing transparency mechanisms in public procurement, fiscal responsibility and whistleblower policy as preventive strategies against corruption.

In his manifesto, he said “streamline the civil service to fight corruption, reduce bureaucracy in government agencies and decrease inefficiency and waste”

“Such expenditures will have a low priority in our administration. Bona fide hard-working members of the civil service are to be commended for their public service and be protected. However, we will continue weeding out ghost workers, as well as ghost projects and expenditures from the system,” the campaign document read in part.

While some anti-corruption advocates may have found these innovations unpopular, given Nigeria’s previous poor performance on the yearly Transparency International Corruption Perception Index and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission’s local experience-based corruption survey, as well as the long list of unresolved high-profile cases of corrupt individuals being handled by sister anti-graft authority, EFCC, President Tinubu, has stood firm in his belief in ensuring the feasibility of his plans.

Tinubu, 72, an accountant and politician who had served two terms as governor of Lagos State, the country’s commercial nerve, won the February 23 elections with 37 per cent of the vote out of nearly 93 million registered voters, according to official data. His main rival, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, received 29 per cent of the vote, while Peter Obi of Labour received 25 per cent.

As he marks one year in office today, as the 16th president of Nigeria, we will examine in this report the Tinubu administration’s anti-corruption efforts.

Cleansing of CBN, EFCC

Soon after taking office, President Tinubu took decisive action by suspending and apprehending the former EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, due to allegations of misappropriation and corruption. This move was made despite the weight of the high corruption record. Ola Olukoyede was appointed to replace Bawa. Bawa’s detention by the State Security Service (SSS) led to questioning regarding his activities while heading the office from February 2021 to 2023.

Similarly, Tinubu appointed a committee known as the Special Investigator on the CBN and Related Entities, headed by Jim Obaze, to review the apex bank’s books and suspended Godwin Emefile, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Obaze has since provided information about his findings, which have exposed several suspected corrupt activities that occurred while the former bank governor was in office.

Emefile has denied allegations of stolen funds against him.

Meanwhile, the federal government has instituted multiple charges against the former CBN governor in various courts in Lagos and Abuja. For one, he is being charged at the FCT High Court, Abuja in a four-count charge filed against him by the EFCC alleging that he unlawfully approved the withdrawal of N124.8 billion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

He is also facing trial at the Special Offences Court in Ikeja for allegedly abusing his office and receiving gratification totalling $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion.

Sustained Ranking

In the past, Nigeria has consistently ranked poorly on Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which evaluates the degree of corruption in countries worldwide.

In the 2015 index, Nigeria scored 136th out of 180 countries surveyed in perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean)”.

And 136th in 2016, 148th in 2017, and 144th in 2018. And in 2019, Nigeria was ranked 146th. In the 2020 index, Nigeria scored 25 out of 100 points and ranked 149 out of the 180 countries surveyed.

In 2021, the country was ranked 154th and scored 24, which was the worst ranking under former President Muhammadu Buhari. In 2022, the ranking improved to 150 with a score of 24 out of 100 points.

Now, Nigeria is ranked 145th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s 2023 CPI, which is an improvement of five spots compared to the previous year. This signifies a significant improvement in Nigeria’s corruption-fighting reputation under President Tinubu’s leadership.

This positive change is largely attributed to the current administration’s sustainable attitude to the implementation of more ethical policies and their determination to combat bribery, particularly in high-profile cases.

Investigation of past and current ministers for corruption

The current administration of President Tinubu has launched an investigation into alleged corruption actions involving prominent individuals who held ministerial positions in the previous administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. The two individuals under scrutiny are Beta Edu, who until her suspension served as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, and her predecessor, Sadiya Faroq, who held the position for four years under former President Buhari.

Also under investigation for alleged corruption is a former minister of aviation, Hardi Sirika who is facing charges along with his daughter and son-in-law.

In April, the EFCC arrested Sirika over an ongoing N8,069,176,864.00 money laundering probe. He was arraigned on eight counts before a judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Maitama, Abuja, Sylvanus Oriji.

The court granted him a bail of N100 million.

Tinubu on January 1, suspended Edu and the EFCC likewise in the same month quizzed Faroq over allegations of corruption in the handling of N37.1 billion social intervention funds during her tenure.

Edu, who was suspended on January 1, was suspended from office after a leaked memo triggered controversies about suspicious financial transactions she authorised in her ministry. Social media went frenzy after some documents of her ordering the transfer of N585.2 million into the private bank account of a civil servant, who is the accountant in charge of grants for Vulnerable Nigerians.

The EFCC is probing the suspended National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu, regarding alleged N37.1 billion fraud in the ministry.

Tinubu equally suspended the social welfare programme following issues of financial misappropriation.

Regulation of BDCs, Currency speculators

After the introduction of the unified exchange rate policy in June of last year, which elicited diverse reactions from various sectors, numerous currency speculators seized the chance to profit at the expense of the economy. Consequently, the value of the naira at the time reached an unprecedented peak of 1,800 per dollar.

Prior to this incident, it was discovered that certain foreign exchange monitoring websites were being used to manipulate foreign exchange rates. These rates were not based on reliable sources and differed significantly from the rates under the Central Bank’s Investors and Exporters (I&E) Window. These activities had remained the normal business for such illegal activity.

Yemi Cardoso, an ally of President Tinubu and former Citigroup executive, was appointed to lead the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in September of last year to address this issue. The CBN, in addition to its traditional role of ensuring monetary and price stability and promoting a sound financial system in Nigeria, is also poised to create a people-focused central bank by introducing initiatives that will promote economic growth and prosperity for the citizens of the country. These were among the many principles and campaign initiatives of President Tinubu.

In February, the CBN published the “Draft Revised Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Bureau De Change Operations in Nigeria,” and approved the document in May intending to properly regulate the BDCs operations. This document contained a provision requiring individuals selling the equivalent of $10,000 or more to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators to declare the source of the foreign exchange.

The bank said the action was by Section 56 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, the CBN hereby issues the attached Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Bureau De Change Operations in Nigeria 2024 for compliance by all operators and promoters of proposed BDs in Nigeria.

The Apex bank graded BDC operations into two tiers; with Tier 1 BDCs having a minimum capital base of N2 billion, while Tier 2 BDCs must have a minimum of N500 million.

Additionally, the application fee for a Tier-1 license was pegged at N1 million and N250 thousand for a Tier-2 license. Licensing fees, according to CBN, are N5 million for Tier-1 and N2 million for Tier-2 BDCs.

Also, CBN said FX sales by BDCs must be for personal travel allowance (PTA), business travel allowance (BTA), medical bills, payment of school fees, and the repurchase of unused naira from a non-resident from whom the BDC had sourced foreign currency in the course of the visit.

Amongst all, the CBN banned BDCs or their franchisee from engaging in street trading of foreign currencies, directing them to maintain any type of account for any member of the public, including accepting any asset for safekeeping/custody, in any currency and any form.

This action followed a series of arrests of street currency traders in Abuja and Lagos. The development was in collaboration with the EFCC and the National Security Adviser, (NSA).

The naira reversed its losses to become the world’s best-performing currency in the world after it appreciated from an exchange rate of N1,950 to N1169.99 a dollar, following a 14 per cent surge in March, according to Goldman Sachs Group, a US financial firm.

Fighting Binance Illegal Activities

On March 29, the EFCC charged Binance and two executives with laundering $35.4 million in illicit assets on the platform. In connection with the case, a court ordered Gambaryan to be detained in Kuje Prison.

Gambaryan, Anjarwalla, and Binance have denied the charges.

Clampdown on Oil thieves

Oil theft in Nigeria has been a persistent problem for many years, impacting the nation’s economy. Despite government efforts to address the issue, criminals continue to engage in oil theft, particularly in the oil-rich South-south region of the country.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the oil sector contributed 5.66 per cent of the country’s GDP in the third quarter of 2022, but this figure dropped to 4.34 per cent in the following quarter. Experts have attributed the decline to activities of oil theft.

A similar research study by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Initiative (NEITI) estimates that the economy lost more than $3.5 billion in revenue in 2018, accounting for 10 per cent of the country’s foreign reserves.

In his first budget, President Tinubu’s administration signed a budget of 28.7 trillion naira ($34 billion) for 2024, with plans to fund it through targeted oil production of 1.78 million barrels per day under the 2024 spending plan.

To ensure it meets its targets, the administration relaunched the OPERATION DELTA SANITY, through the Nigerian Navy to combat oil thieves in January 2024.

According to new statistics, Nigeria’s oil production has seen a significant rise to 1.57 million barrels per day between January and March. This increase can be attributed to the authorities’ successful measures to clamp down on oil theft and address other challenges within the industry. This surge in production represents the highest level of output since September 2021, marking a notable recovery in the sector that is critical to Nigeria’s economy. The improved security and operational conditions have enabled the country to boost its oil output, which plays a pivotal role in generating revenue and supporting public expenditures.

Joseph Akpan, the Navy Chief of Policy and Plans while addressing the press weeks ago at the Naval Headquarters Abuja ahead of the NN 68th Anniversary Celebrations said in the nine months of its existence, its operation has led to the arrest of various suspects and vessels involved in COT. Some of these vessels include MT KALI, MT SWEET HARBOUR SPIRIT, MT SAISNIL, MV TOKITO, MT VINILLARIS and MT SWEET MIRI, among others.