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by Mary Spicuzza- Ribadu says fighting corruption cost him his job
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Nuhu Ribadu |
Nuhu Ribadu is a man all-too-familiar with the problems of graft, bribery, and corruption that have plagued Nigeria for decades. Ribadu rose up through the ranks of the Nigerian Police Force and in 2003 was appointed to head the newly formed Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
As head of the EFCC, Ribadu became the public face of Nigeria's new fight against corruption.
During his tenure, the EFCC brought charges against numerous high-ranking politicians and former politicians, governors, party leaders and reportedly even Ribadu's one-time boss. It also seized and forfeited billions of dollars worth of criminal assets.
But in late 2007, Ribadu was suddenly removed from his EFCC post and subsequently sent to study for a year. His removal from the EFCC was widely criticized by many in Nigeria and abroad, including Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. Ribadu has since been stripped of his police rank, and in December Human Rights Watch reported that he had survived an apparent assassination attempt.
We say when you fight corruption, it fights back. So it's fighting back and kicking me out. I am now living outside Nigeria, in the U.K. |
Ribadu was given a public service award from the World Bank in 2008.
He has since left Nigeria and is living in England. We spoke with him following a discussion he had with Professor Lowell Bergman at the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Below are excerpts from that conversation.
Q: Many believe that you were forced to leave Nigeria for doing your job. How did you decide to take that job and were you worried that something like that would happen when you started?
A: Well, yes. I think I was fully prepared for anything. I got the job in 2003. Before, I had been a police officer, and within my own limits I was doing just that — fighting corruption. My belief is that if you join the police force you will soon be ridiculed, especially if you intend to do it properly and correctly and you are honest about it. There's a responsibility [to fight corruption], not just in Nigeria but all over the world, especially where you have problems...We do have reputation of corruption, and [Nigeria is] a sad example of everything that is really wrong that is caused by massive corruption.
It's time for us to get to that, to somehow end all forms of irresponsible behavior in management and governance. It's a source-rich country that's made so much money from this very easy way — cheap money got into the country through the oil, particularly through the oil boom and so on. And then we had people who are running the country who are thoroughly unprepared, the military particularly. The whole thing, it was just a perfect storm.
By the time I was kicked out, we recovered more than $5 billion dollars in properties and money. |
By the time I got the job things were extremely bad — very, very bad. When I got the job, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was not originally meant to fight corruption; it was to enforce the anti-money laundering laws and also the fraud laws. Originally nobody thought it was going to address the problem of corruption, but we made it so because others were not doing their work. And when you are fighting money laundering it is an umbrella and sort of covers all sorts of corruption and financial crimes. And corruption certainly is a predicate of money laundering. So, we started that. We decided to fight corruption. We went after the very big people who were doing it. We set up a system in which we were able to identify, trace and track assets. We followed government money. We brought so many people to justice. And we proved that it could be done. At the end of the day, by the time I was kicked out, we recovered more than $5 billion dollars in properties and money.
We say when you fight corruption, it fights back. So it's fighting back and kicking me out. I am now living outside Nigeria, in the U.K.
Q: You were sent for retraining for a year, then demoted after you were finished?
A: Well, I was in the school — the so-called school. They removed me from the office of chairman. They then demoted me from my rank. And finally, they dismissed me from my job, from the Nigerian police force, where I was working before the appointment as chairman of the EFCC. And they also charged me in court on a very stupid thing, for something that is very laughable even by Nigerian standards — that I did not declare my assets.
Q: And you have to declare your assets for your job?
Q: And you have to declare your assets for your job?
I did. I have. They couldn't get anything so the easiest thing is to come up with this stupid thing.
Q: I think it is hard for people in the West who haven't been to Africa to understand the effect that corruption or kleptocracy has on a daily basis on the people there, in terms of poverty and underdevelopment. Could you talk about how the people of Nigeria are suffering?
A: Directly. In Nigeria and indeed Africa, and most of the places you have underdevelopment, it is a result of corruption. And when we talk about corruption we mean the resources that are to be used positively, for development, are being converted or diverted. They will be turned into very suspicious use, very negative — into few hands and the worst use.
Corruption can be directly linked with all atrocities and the horrific situations in Africa. Corruption is the reason why, for example, you have abuse of rights. The police will not work properly because the little money that comes in goes to corruption. And they go about abusing rights and stealing from the people because of corruption. Like you said, the moment corruption is involved in any transaction — whether it is construction, whether it's a contract — rest assured you cannot get quality and chances are it will collapse, it will not work. Corruption is responsible, for example, for lack of democracy, because with corruption you cannot have free and fair elections. And it will always be the corrupt people who will find their way, steal their way, back into power and continue to perpetuate it and remain in office.
That's why it's so easy for people to go into government to steal, because no one seems to think [the money] belongs to anybody. |
Wherever you have corruption, you are not likely to have infrastructures, basics of society that will help society. It's not likely that you are going to have simple things, for example education, you are not going to get health institutions. It is going to compromise everything. For example, even people's ability to attract foreign investment and to do business -- no society can develop where you have this kind-of reputation. Fundamentally the real effect of corruption is that money meant for development goes into the wrong hands and is used negatively. And Nigeria is a classic example of such a country.
Within a short period of time that we tried to address it, everything started getting a very strong footing and it was really beginning to address our problems.
Q: Did you find that people are afraid to stand up when thieves are the people in power?
A: They have massive tolerance, they don't even see it. They don't link and connect with that. Nobody seems to look at government money as their own money; there's a total disconnect with government money and the people. That's why it's so easy for people to go into government to steal, because no one seems to think it belongs to anybody. Even in Nigeria, if somebody is caught stealing they can burn him. But when you steal government money nobody seems to connect it and say, 'Well, it is my own money. It belongs to me.' Not yet. It is part of the problem. And then also, the powerful ones get away with things — not just stealing — they do what they like. In Africa the few rich learned that they can do what they like, they continue to control everything, they live like lords, and nothing happens to them. They are above the law.
Q: How did you find assets in these corruption cases?
A: It's the easiest thing you can do. To follow government money is not difficult because it goes through the banks and you can follow it If it's a contract, the moment a contractor is paid, you can follow his own bank accounts. And you can see where he is taking the money. It's not difficult at all. We set up a financial intelligence unit — to see the movement of money, both coming in and going out.
Q: Was it a hard decision to leave Nigeria?
A: Very, very. All my life I have lived there and worked. I'm very passionate about it. It's not easy for me to have left the country.
Q: Was it a hard decision to leave Nigeria?
A: Very, very. All my life I have lived there and worked. I'm very passionate about it. It's not easy for me to have left the country.
from Assetforfeiturewatch.com.
Nigeria owned appology to Mr. Nuhu Ribadu for the wonderful job he has rendered to his fatherland.
By and large, I personnally blamed the Former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for allowed Nuhu to be treated in this manner. But then almighty God will see him through. From Agadancy Abuja.