Femi Falana (SAN)
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana,
speaks on corruption in the public service and the temple of justice in
this interview with LEKE BAIYEWU
You recently called for payment of tax by religious
organisations. Why did you say that, since they are non-profit making
organisations?
Religious bodies are not money-making ventures stricto sensu. The
traditional churches, i.e. the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church,
have remained largely conservative with respect to the commercialisation
of religion. But some of the prosperity churches have to pay tax
because they are smiling to the banks. For example, the Pope doubles as
the Head of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide and a Head of State but
he flies the Alitalia Airline, the Italian commercial airline. The same
goes for the head of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of
Canterbury. But today, there is a craze among the leaders of the
prosperity churches for private jets. At home and abroad, they pay
prohibitive fees for parking the jets at local and international
airports. Since they earn fat incomes, they should pay tax to the state
for development. It is unjust and illegal to tax the poor congregants,
while multi-billionaire pastors or bishops are not subjected to any form
of taxation. Many of us attended missionary schools and received
treatment in hospitals founded by churches. The fees were largely cheap
and affordable. But today, the secondary schools and universities
established by prosperity churches charge tuition fees on commercial
basis. There is nothing religious in those centres of commerce. It is
so bad that the children of poor members of the congregation, who are
even exceptionally brilliant, are driven away from such institutions on
ground of poverty. My wife was on the board of one of those
universities. She pleaded that the children of the poor be given
scholarship or made to pay substantially reduced fees. She was asked not
to bring radicalism to the church. She had to withdraw from the board.
Happily, Bishop Hassan Kukah and some religious leaders have spoken
against the primitive accumulation of wealth by their colleagues. If
religious leaders make money from their business outfits, they should
pay taxes.
If a church is so rich to the extent of presenting a jet as birthday
gift to its pastor, it should be able to pay appropriate taxes
commensurate with its status as a rich religious centre. It is clearly
stated in several parts of the Holy Bible that tithes are for taking
care of the poor and the priests, as well as Levites who minister unto
the Lord. Tithes are not supposed to be diverted for the establishment
of commercial farms, bakeries and other businesses.
Many have scored the Nigerian judiciary low in terms of justice
dispensation, particularly on corruption. Can you say the nation’s
temple of justice is still efficient?
No doubt, there are bad judges but we must never be tempted to
dismiss the Nigerian judiciary because we have some good judges. In the
last eight years, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has
concluded over 200 criminal cases. All the 37 ministries of justice in
the country, put together, cannot boast of that figure. Even by global
standard, that is a record which few institutions can beat. But because
of the difficulty in the prosecution of cases involving politicians and
other powerful people in the society, we dismiss the judiciary.
I know a judge in the High Court of Lagos State who has convicted
powerful 419 kingpins and ‘queenpins,’ public officers and bank
officials. Instead of encouraging the judge, it has been said that he
cannot be elevated to the Court of Appeal because he is not from Lagos
State. Even, the system is trying to frustrate him from transferring to
his own state of origin.
Why is it difficult for successive governments to checkmate corruption, even when several hidden facts have been unearthed?
With respect to corruption, we have never had it so bad. In the
First Republic, it was 10 per cent. In the Second Republic, it graduated
to 20 per cent. Under the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida junta, corruption was
institutionalised. President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration
consolidated corruption. For reasons best known to him, President Umaru
Yar’adua allowed the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related
offences Commission and the EFCC to be taken over by very corrupt aides.
Some of the governors under investigation posted their police
orderlies and relations to man departments in the EFCC. While President
Goodluck Jonathan has re-organised the EFCC, corruption is now carried
out with impunity to the extent that the battle against corruption has
been lost completely. It is as if no one is in control. Can you imagine
that an ambassador of a foreign country has dragged a minister to the
Presidency for corruption? Apart from the loss of over N2tn to the fuel
subsidy scam last year, the Auditor-General of the Federation has just
disclosed that N4.2tn collected by MDAs was not remitted to the
Federation Account from 2006-2009. The Nigeria Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative reported that oil companies have failed to pay
into the Federation Account about $10bn from 1999 to 2008. The Nuhu
Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenue & Special Task Force claimed that the
nation has been short-charged to the tune of almost $100bn. All the
people indicted in the cases of Siemens, Halliburton and other scandals
are walking freely.
A reputable economist, Mr. Henry Boyo, said last week, that duty
waivers running into several billions of Naira are granted to the rich
by the Federal Government, while the poor people are burdened with all
kinds of taxes and levies. The Central Bank Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi,
has suggested 50 per cent reduction in the workforce as a stratagem to
divert attention from the reckless looting of the economy by the
parasitic bourgeoisie. That call came from the blues, as facts emerged
that the CBN is involved in the illegal withholding of part of the
N4.4tn diverted from the Federation Account. The statement was also made
to cover up the role of the bank in the illegal release of N2.3tn for
fuel subsidy in 2011, when N245bn was appropriated. It is a grave
criminal offence to release any public funds without a legal warrant.
So, the heads of the federal ministries of petroleum resources and
finance that recommended the illegal payment and the CBN, which released
the funds, have questions to answer. But, these guys are displaying
arrogance by making provocative statements.
As far as I am concerned, the Federal Government has, as a result of
local and international pressure, provided an enabling environment for
fighting the menace of corruption. We have a corpus of comprehensive
legislations to tame the monster. But, Nigerians expect the government
to fight corruption. No government does that. In the case of Nigeria,
the media and a few individuals called anti-corruption crusaders were
fighting corruption and abuse of office to a reasonable extent. With
respect, the media houses are largely owned by some of those who are
being investigated or prosecuted. So, the battle is no longer fought by
the media with the commitment of the past.
The bar has no serious programme on judicial corruption because some
leaders of the legal profession are deeply involved in corrupt
practices. They serve as couriers for corrupt judges. Worse still,
senior lawyers manipulate the legal system to frustrate the prosecution
of powerful people in the society by filing frivolous interlocutory
applications. In other countries, lawyers are recommended for discipline
for filing processes designed to waste the time of the court. No lawyer
should be allowed to manipulate the legal system in favour of his or
her client to the detriment of the society.
In essence, the battle against corruption has to be waged by
Nigerians and not by the government. And the concept of the rule of law
transcends obedience of a few court orders by the government. It is a
way of life. It is about compliance with the law by all and sundry, the
government and the governed. The exclusion of certain people from arrest
or prosecution is antithetical to the rule of law. Whereas the law is
higher than individuals, however powerful they may be in a civilized
society, the contrary is the case in a neo-colonial society like ours.
What I am saying is that certain institutions and individuals are
higher than the law in Nigeria. Hence, they are entitled to immunity for
life.
Prof. Akin Oyebode recently argued that the problem was not
corruption but impunity. Why has the menace become pervasive even in a
democratic system?
Professor Akin Oyebode’s prognosis cannot be faulted. Corruption is a
manifestation of impunity. The Appropriation Act contains the details
of the budget. The diversion of money that has been appropriated or the
refusal to remit funds earned by the MDAs is the height of impunity. The
system is too weak to punish criminality. Hence, impunity has become
the order of the day. The menace of corruption has become rampant
because of the lack of political will on the part of the government to
arrest the culture of impunity. No society can have political stability
without the observance of the rule of law.
There are several calls by stakeholders to cut down the size of government. What is the best to way to go about the reduction?
There is no doubt that the size of government is bloated. But, the
CBN governor was patently wrong when he asked for 50 per cent reduction
of the workers in the civil service. The available record shows that
there are about 100,000 civil servants, while there are about 970,000
public officers, including political office holders. Only a tiny segment
of the 70 per cent of the recurrent expenditure, which goes for
maintaining the bureaucracy, is allocated for the payment of salaries
and allowances of civil servants.
In 2012, whereas the CBN allocated N300bn for itself, the National
Assembly got N150 bn. It has been revealed that the CBN under Sanusi has
increased its workforce by over 1,000 employees. Up till now, the
report of the committee on the restructure of the public service has not
been implemented by the government. The report has largely addressed
the bloated bureaucracy.
If you believe the CBN governor that the National Assembly takes 25
per cent of the budget, then, the CBN takes 50 per cent because its
budget is 100 per cent higher than that of the National Assembly. These
figures do not take cognisance of ghost workers, pension fraud, and
non-remittance of huge funds to the Federation Account.
However, I believe that the public service has to be re-organised
and restructured for optimal performance. Those who were sacked or
downsized or retrenched should be reposted to other areas of the
economy, which may require their services. But if you send them to the
unemployment market, armed robbery and kidnapping will be intensified.
Saharareporters.com
