The Good, the Bad, and the President

NIGERIANS are painfully aware of how much corruption has cost their
country—over $400 billion, according to official estimates. That is the
equivalent of about two-thirds of all the aid given to the whole of Africa since
the 1960s, and more than anything else explains why most people in this oil-rich
country still live in poverty.


Yet in recent years the government had started a belated fight against
corruption. And if one man has become the symbol of that campaign it is the
crusading young head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),
Nuhu Ribadu. Since 2003, Mr Ribadu has attained almost mythic status among his
countrymen by charging and prosecuting the politicians, and particularly the
state governors, who are responsible for most of the fraud and looting of public
funds. For the first time, he gave Nigerians hope that their country could
actually be different. So the news on December 27th that Mr Ribadu is being
forced to resign on a technicality has caused deep dismay among his supporters.
It is also very worrying for the future of Africa's most populous
country.



In short, Mr Ribadu finally got too close to the top. His anti-corruption
agency, once accused of prosecuting only the government's political foes, has
under the new president, Umaru Yar'Adua, been pursuing the former state
governors who lost their immunity from prosecution after leaving office last
May. He had some big successes. The EFCC has arrested seven governors, including
two of the most notorious, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State and James Ibori of Delta
State, both of whom spent Christmas in prison. Another round of arrests was
planned for early January.

Read the full story...

Mr. Ribadu, the head of the Education and Financial Crimes Commission, was responsible for many of the arrests made in relation to governmental corruption. However, he had to give up his position in December due to government regulations. Without his guidance, the Nigerian government could return back to the state of corruption that plagued the country prior to Ribadu's reign.