How Nigerian governments encourage corruption, by Dele Sobowale

“NEITI audit report probe suffers setback in Senate.” VANGUARD, August 4, 2026

The report by Henry Umoru also stated as follows:

• As CBN, NDDC, NEITI, NUPRC shun committee’s summon.

• You must appear on Thursday or we invoke our powers – SENATE.

The news report, which most readers might have dismissed without much thought (if they read it at all), points to two of the cardinal reasons corruption has been institutionalized in public service. Presidents and State Governors constitute the prime accomplices of corrupt officials; perhaps because their own hands are seldom clean. It is very difficult for a man, knee deep in filth to undertake the clean up of the premises. That explains why Nigeria’s public sector stinks so much; it has acquired a well-deserved global reputation.

THE MAJOR CAUSE – DISREGARD OF AUDIT QUERY

“Fish rots from the head.”  

When was the last time you read that the President of Nigeria or the Governor of a State ordered a Minister or Commissioner to respond to an audit query? For that matter, when was the first time you heard or read of the President or Governor doing that? Probably never. Almost without exception, all our Presidents and Governors, past and present, after swearing to uphold the constitution and to enforce our laws, have abandoned, wholesale, the enforcement of one of those laws. Specifically, almost without exception, they have allowed Ministries, Departments and Agencies, under government, not only to ignore audit queries, but to disregard summons by committees of the legislative branch with absolute immunity. Nigeria is lagging way behind its manifest economic and development destiny because virtually every government – Federal, State and Local Government – is run, not only by unrepentant liars; but, as a den of robbers.  

“Every great enterprise starts off with enthusiasm for an exalted aim and ends up bugged down in petty politics.” Charles Peguy, 1873-1914

No Nigerian enterprise had started off with more enthusiasm than the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI. Established in 2004 by President Obasanjo but was ultimately legalized in 2007; when Obasanjo was already a lame duck President after failing in his ambition for the third term. That fact weakened its potency as an anti-corruption agency. Its fate rested in the hands of the Yar’Adua government; for which it was not top priority. The rise and decline of NEITI was very brief indeed. Since then, it has become one of thousands of federal agencies, annually funded with billions of naira; but, certainly, not value for money. In fact, NEITI has achieved next to nothing.

Its mandates included: to conduct regular independent audits of financial flows between extractive   companies and governments; disclose revenue receipts openly to citizens, the President and the National Assembly and to monitor revenue deployment to prevent corruption and foster good governance in natural resource use. With those lofty goals, it was expected that corruption in government would be permanently checked. The government which established it was the first to render it effective – a paper guard dog.           A

fter a slow start on account of funding and the need to iron out issues involving duplication of roles with the Auditor General’s Office, NEITI took off like a rocket. But, its first report soon met with stiff resistance in the National Assembly, NASS, and by the powerful organizations it was established to monitor. NEITI was essentially a whistle-blower agency with no powers to sanction erring government establishments. It can bark; but, it can’t bite. Its reports must be submitted to the relevant committee in the NASS for action. Invariably, there was none. Nigeria’s lawmakers working with Presidents, from Yar’Adua to Tinubu have distanced themselves from controlling corruption, Everybody with access to loot, and conscienceless, has taken advantage.

NEITI eventually got tired of reporting, particularly during the Buhari years. Under Buhari, corruption had its golden years. Nothing was sanctioned; NEITI reports were totally ignored. The organisation had become a victim of petty politics. Nobody in the Executive and legislative branch wants to expose the Minister, the Director General of an   MDA appointed by their President; especially when the Presidency and NASS were also implicated in some of the reports. Nigeria paid dearly for it. Trillions of naira vanished without trace; so did millions of barrels of crude oil and tones of solid minerals.

THE PRESENT CASE AND WHAT IT PORTENDS

“The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, have shunned Senate’s invitation to defend issues arising from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, Oil and Gas Industry Audit Reports covering 2021, 2022 and 2023.” In other words, the   Senate NASS Committee on Oil and Gas was treated with the contempt it does not deserve legally, but, which it had customarily accepted without demure. Shunning NASS invitations, Senate and House, by MDAs had become the rule rather than the exception since civilian rule started in 1999.

My book, PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED, detailed how President Obasanjo refused to appear before the Senator Daisy Danjuma Committee to answer queries regarding how funds from the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, was corruptly mismanaged by the President. PTDF was established by Decree 25 of 1973 by General Yakubu Gowon. 

Its funds have always been “mismanaged” by everybody from President to gatemen. Yet, its accounts have not been subjected to public scrutiny despite audit queries running now to over N200tn. The recent insult to the Senate Committee was expected; what was totally unexpected was NEITI’s refusal to appear before the lawmakers. The whistle-blower has now joined the ranks of the usual suspects – CBN and NNPCL – as well as its subsidiaries. That new twist to an old web of unexamined corruption, under the present administration, portends more cover up of corruption and more debt to finance budgets.

Fortunately, some Senators are standing up against the atrocities.

SILVER LINING IN A DARK CLOUD.

“Mr Chairman, this reflects the level of commitment of government agencies in this country. No letter was written. No excuse was offered. No representative was sent to explain why the chief executives could not attend. To me, they don’t deserve to be given a second chance.” Senator Patrick Ndubueze, Imo North. August 2026.

The contempt was deliberate and premeditated; in absolute certainty that nothing would happen. The rest of the spineless committee failed to accept Sen. Ndubueze’s argument. A second chance was given. Nothing probably will happen. And, that summarises the state of the Nigerian nation; a country where even Presidents and Governors encourage corruption by allowing MDAs to openly flout audit queries. Our leaders, everywhere, have created a nation whose leaders have allowed more trillions of naira to be embezzled than the national debt and a country governed by dubious people and professional liars.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS EPISODE

“Every country gets the government it deserves.” Joseph de Maistre, 1753-1821.

Nigerians have had the governments we deserve; because very few of us want honesty in public service. We have become a nation of sheep; and a nation of sheep, sooner or later, gets to be ruled by wolves or hyenas. Nigeria is in debt because the people are docile. It is only getting worse under Tinubu. Hope is lost.

Follow me on Facebook @ J Israel Biola

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