THE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has faulted activities of the World Bank and Transparency International (TI).
ICPC Chairman Bolaji Owasanoye, a professor and senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said the World Bank’s grants to countries had been marred with corruption, and no government dared challenge the Bank in any court.
He also accused TI of unfairness in its corruption rating of nations.
Owasanoye opined that TI rates countries that accept stolen wealth better than countries losing commonwealths to thieves.
The ICPC boss spoke when he hosted a delegation of Ghana’s Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on a tour of the Commission’s facilities in Abuja.
The visitors were led by the Commissioner of Police and Executive Director of the EOCO, Yaa Tiwa Addo-Danquah.
The ICPC boss frowned at the rules of engagement set by the international ecosystem, which “do not in any way favour the peculiarities associated with anti-corruption fight in developing countries”.
“We have to understand as developing countries that the political economy of the international ecosystem is not designed for us to progress no matter how hard we try. It is enlightened self-interest. For example, Nigeria borrowed one billion dollars in 1978. As of 2006, when we had the write-off, Nigeria was owing 32 billion dollars, and it is designed in that way because of their rules of engagement and dispute resolution. The rule uses IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank to whip you into line when you want to challenge the debt.
“How many countries have taken the World Bank to court? Does it not have failed loans? Many of the loans World Bank grants are marred in corruption, but nobody has the courage to take them to court because those issues are usually politically determined.”
Calling for more collaborations among developing nations, he urged them to develop local surveys they could rely on for socio-economic appraisals, thereby defeating foreign ‘perception surveys’ with local ‘experience surveys’.
According to him, local surveys on corruption will support home-grown solutions as against the international surveys, which he said were being used to form opinions on corruption perception in developing countries.
“In developing countries, we are driven by the outcomes and reports of international surveys. International surveys are not innocent, and it is naïve to think they are otherwise. If you do not create a system where your voice is heard, a kind of platform where you say your own and refuse to be driven by the outcome of those reports, you will continue to be apologetic.”
Speaking on TI’s ranking, Owasanoye stated, “Is it not strange that Transparency International will rank countries that are losing assets as more corrupt than the countries receiving the stolen properties? And under the common law, both the thief and the receiver of stolen properties are both guilty. But when they rate us, they will rate the receiving countries as being more honest, but those of us whose properties are stolen every day are rated to be more corrupt”.
The ICIR reports that the Nigerian government usually disagrees with its corruption rating by the TI because the country is often rated very low.
In 2020, the government faulted the TI through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The ICIR reported in 2021 how the Nigerian government disagreed with the TI.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].