The growing chorus by alarmists over allegations of corruption going on at all the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) under this administration draws perturbing attention. This is heightened more so that it is coming from high personalities and institution. While every well-meaning Nigerian or institutions should be commended for boldly exposing official wrongs in our system, it can also produce opposite result if allegations and alarms are not backed up by verifiable facts; it is capable of bringing down a system.
Nothing exemplifies this than the recent hoopla alleging that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Ministry of Petroleum did not remit a staggering sum of $49.8million to the federal coffers at the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, being the proceeds of oil revenue. But after a painstaking investigation, the fact has emerged to the contrary. Thanks to the prompt action by the Senate.
The outcome of the meetings between the Senate Committee on Finance headed by Senator Ahmed Sanusi and the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Central bank of Nigeria, CBN, governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, as well as the joint press briefing attended by Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s, NNPC, Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu last Tuesday, has placed a large-scale moral yoke on individuals, especially the media, who shriek allegations of corruption against the present administration without concrete evidence.
At the end of these meetings, there was an open admission of errors by the CBN. In actual sense, the figure yet to be remitted stands at $12billion while $10.8billion is the amount yet to be reconciled by the relevant agencies. This is where a word of caution is urgently needed: Presentation of sensitive ‘facts’ or information that is of public interest should not be sentimentalised. Critical observers think that this method projects manifest incitement against government, that is, to misinform first before going to cross check later. In other words, what took away wits from the issue is that it emanated from official quarters that are supposed to possess impeccable knowledge of facts and figures about the running of the economy.
It is wrong and condemnable to give the Nigerian public false impressions about corruption without an iota of evidence, whether as media organisations, concerned members of the society and institutions without fact balancing. The country and the government cannot resort to over dramatisation of ‘genuine’ views or patriotism. It is capable of staining good image, mislead and scare foreign investors. It amounts to having a spoiler from within.
It is, however, obvious from the presentation of facts by the respective agencies that there is a communication gap between relevant agencies in terms of remittances, non-remittances as well as verifiable balance sheets. Steps should be taken towards addressing this gap quickly because it is can spark off avoidable but volatile suspicions like the present situation.