Sixteen states and their fight against democracy, By Umar Yakubu

…none of the states is performing well in terms of employment, industrialisation, education, healthcare, and other socio-economic indicators, primarily due to public sector corruption. The recent Transparency and Integrity Index (TII) highlights the governance failures of the states involved in the lawsuit. This Index evaluates government performance across 29 variables, including public procurement, fiscal transparency, and access to information. All 16 states scored poorly in these critical areas, with none achieving a positive score on the ‘Control of Corruption’ variable.

Good people don’t need laws to tell them to act responsibly…and bad people will find a way around the laws – Plato

Democracy is designed to foster good governance, characterised by transparency, accountability, and adherence to the rule of law. However, it is apparent that members of the political class, who are supposed to be the main proponents of democracy, are its primary saboteurs. This discussion centres on sixteen governors who are exploring legal avenues to circumvent federal anti-corruption mechanisms and evade accountability

In the realm of ethics and governance, accountability encompasses transparency, answerability, culpability, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. Independent research consistently reveals that states and local governments exhibit low levels of accountability. Notably, no State Assembly has demanded accountability from any state governor in the past 20 years. All 36 assemblies are structurally impotent and incapacitated, likely due to corrupt political processes, facilitated by the recurring incompetence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which brought most of them to power.

The states in question include Ondo, Edo, Oyo, Ogun, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Enugu, Benue, Anambra, Plateau, Cross-River, and Niger, with Kogi leading the group. Starting with the leader of the pack, Kogi, it is assumed that these states are pursuing this course of action to weaken the powers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which has declared former Governor Yahaya Bello wanted for the alleged embezzlement of approximately N80 billion. It is common practice, and psychologically understandable, for a governor who has evaded accountability during an eight-year tenure to resist sudden scrutiny. This resistance, fueled by ego and cognitive dissonance, reflects a failure to recognise that Nigeria operates under the rule of law, even if Kogi didn’t under his tenure.

Back to the EFCC-phobic sixteen states. Despite receiving approximately N3.4 trillion in federal allocations as of August, there is little evidence that these state governments have mitigated poverty, which has been exacerbated by the current government’s neoliberal economic policies, including the removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the naira. These policies have negatively impacted all developmental indicators and worsened poverty levels.

The persistent refusal to appear in court undermines the legal system and constitutes contempt of court. The National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) should have sanctioned the legal practitioners facilitating this misconduct. The situation represents an attack on the judiciary, and accountability should have been enforced. The NBA, as an independent institution, has the potential to significantly improve the country’s governance by championing the rule of law. Unfortunately, the same NBA has shown resistance to complying with anti-money laundering legislation in Nigeria.

Back to the EFCC-phobic sixteen states. Despite receiving approximately N3.4 trillion in federal allocations as of August, there is little evidence that these state governments have mitigated poverty, which has been exacerbated by the current government’s neoliberal economic policies, including the removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the naira. These policies have negatively impacted all developmental indicators and worsened poverty levels. According to the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index survey for Nigeria, 63 per cent of the population (133 million people) are multidimensionally poor. Given these drastic policies, it is statistically reasonable to project this number to increase to 160 million, considering the inflation rates of 11.40 per cent in 2019, 13.25 per cent in 2020, 16.95 per cent in 2021, and 34 per cent in September 2024.

Inflation, akin to economic diabetes, erodes savings, diminishes value, deepens poverty, stifles production, and cripples a nation. None of the aforementioned states have reduced poverty by even a single percentage point in the past year. Measures range from Anambra enacting laws to control local government funds to other states distributing rice as a poverty reduction strategy. Ironically, most of this rice were provided by the Federal Government.

The NBS-UNODC Corruption Patterns and Trends Survey, released in July, indicates that Kogi State, leading the lawsuit, has a high bribery prevalence rate of 40-60 per cent. Sokoto, another example, is one of Nigeria’s poorest states, with 91.9 per cent of its population living below the poverty line. The state’s failure to address poor infrastructure, inadequate healthcare, and insecurity has worsened living conditions for millions. This is the same state in which the governor publicly announced the repair of boreholes at a cost of over N50 million.

The 2022 UNICEF report identifies Jigawa State, one of the litigating states, as having a high percentage of multidimensionally poor children, at 73.9 per cent. In addition, Statista reports that Jigawa’s poverty rate was 87.04 per cent in 2019. The NBS-UNODC Corruption Patterns and Trends Survey, released in July, indicates that Kogi State, leading the lawsuit, has a high bribery prevalence rate of 40-60 per cent. Sokoto, another example, is one of Nigeria’s poorest states, with 91.9 per cent of its population living below the poverty line. The state’s failure to address poor infrastructure, inadequate healthcare, and insecurity has worsened living conditions for millions. This is the same state in which the governor publicly announced the repair of boreholes at a cost of over N50 million. Similarly, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MDPI) data shows high poverty rates in Kebbi and Nasarawa, at over 95 per cent and 60.7 per cent, respectively.

Regarding education in some of the states involved in the lawsuit, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) reveal that school enrolment and literacy rates are critically low in many of these 16 states. For example, a 2024 UNICEF report indicates that Katsina State has one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children in Nigeria. Though Edo has the lowest out-of-school children among the lot, it has 1.4 million people living in multidimensional poverty. All the developmental indicators of Benue are in the red. This is similar with those of Plateau and Cross-River states.

In summary, none of the states is performing well in terms of employment, industrialisation, education, healthcare, and other socio-economic indicators, primarily due to public sector corruption. The recent Transparency and Integrity Index (TII) highlights the governance failures of the states involved in the lawsuit. This Index evaluates government performance across 29 variables, including public procurement, fiscal transparency, and access to information. All 16 states scored poorly in these critical areas, with none achieving a positive score on the ‘Control of Corruption’ variable. Ironically, these same states seek protection from anti-corruption agencies that are not exerting sufficient pressure on them.

Umar Yakubu writes from Abuja.