At a philosophical and etymologic level, corruption can be seen as one of mankind's manifestations of naked greed - a carry-over of the atavism demonstrated by lower mammals whose instincts for grabbing anything in sight is crudely on display. A goat wanders about in the streets and suddenly perceives an object worthy of its palate. It does not stop to figure out who owns that object and there is no inhibition whatsoever to retrain from using it to assuage his hunger or thirst. So too a dog in the domestic setting, and even game in the wilds of the forest. As man evolved through the ages its close-to-nature, instincts gradually became refined or distorted through a strange form of quasi-Darwinian challenges.

There are at least a dozen definitions of corruption but I will restrict myself to only three:

"Any induced or uninduced behaviour within a complex or private organisation to falsify its integrity, purpose, virtue and ethics".

A transaction or attempt to secure illegitimate advantage for national interest or private benefit or enrichment through subverting or suborning, a public official or any person or entity

Suborning entity from performing their proper functions with due diligence and probity.

A cross-sectoral and cross-boundary activity involving practices such as theft, fraud, bribery, extortion, nepotism, patronage and laundering of illicit proceeds. (ADB)

All these definitions imply the misuse of authority as a result of consideration of personal gain, which need not be monetary.

An eloquent presentation in last year's African Forum on Anti-corruption held in Johannesburg defines Seven Premises of Corruption.

First, corruption as a practice is rooted in the operation of market forces, the pursuit of individual prosperity as opposed to the common good.. This possessive individualism has undermined the goals and objectives of national and community level development.

Secondly, corruption is fundamentally undemocratic. It undermines the legitimacy and credibility of democratically elected governments and of responsible and accountable civil servants.

Thirdly, corruption is about the interface of political and economic elites on a global, regional and national scale. f

The next premise is that international preoccupation on the global corruption discourse with bribe-takers and bribe-givers, and particularly the former, is disingenuous, ideologically-loaded and simplistic, and certainly serves other agendas that are not linked with developmental goals.

Fifthly, corruption is systemic and the focus must, therefore, be on effects rather than intentions. The effect of corruption is that it undermines the value system, the norms and the very cohesion of society.

The sixth premise is that an anti-corruption strategy must be articulated by leaders in the political, economic and civil society spheres, and must engage all sectors of society on the basis of a core set of leadership practices and values.

And lastly, corruption is a direct impediment to Africa's development. It hurts the many and benefits the few. It inhibits the ability of government to respond to 'citizens' needs and to utilise scarce resources in the most efficient and effective manner. It takes away resources from priority areas such as health, social development and education. It also hampers political, socio-economic and corporate government.

Kofi Annan, in his statement on the adoption of the UN Convention against Corruption, reminds us that "Corruption is found in all countries big and small, rich and poor but it is in the developing world that its effects are most destructive. Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development, undermining government ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice and discouraging foreign aid and investment. Corruption is a key element in economic under-performance and major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development."

From the foregoing it will be seen that it is critical for us to develop a common understanding of corruption based on a conception of the "Common good" and deriving from the State's obligation rooted in the "social contract". This will then bind the elites to the masses, and form the basis for leadership qualities that require the promotion and articulation of values and principles of professional ethics. Without this, we would be charting a field without beacons and the losses of permissiveness will be gargantuan. They will include losses of revenue, of trust, of values, of credibility and legitimacy and that of democratic ethos and impulse within institutions and organisations.

Some will say if only we improve on the circumstances that tend to trigger or aggravate corruption, the battle would have been half-won.. To my mind, society plays a dominant role in sustaining the sense of honour and propriety, and these lessons have to be learnt early in development. Witness the Japanese boy of eleven who mistakenly takes a biro home from class. Mother admonished him urging him to return the biro Ito its owner promptly the next day. But before he could hand this over in class, word had gone round that he was light-fingered. He felt so shamed that he committed suicide. Even at that tender age his sense of honour had been coin promised and he did not immediately see how he would face the future. Out in our own setting in Nigeria this would not even be an issue - some mothers might even react that it is only a biro and she would send a dozen for distribution to the class the next day!

Changing society is often a long and arduous exercise. Sanctions, if firmly and appropriately applied, serve as an effective deterrent. The "them and us" concept will not work, for every member of society is potentially so. The reason the moneyed class is seen to be so conspicuously corrupt is that quite often they flaunt their ill-gotten wealth. And society itself must share in the blame for it connives at and may even actually condone them in the expectation that they will benefit from the crumbs that fall from the affluent table.

For over 40 years now, Nigeria has been wrestling with a host of measures, sometime kid-glove, sometimes draconian, to combat corruption. Outside the normal jurisdiction of the courts system and not infrequently under military regimes it has enacted acts & decrees as deterrents.

The legislature, as National Assembly, performs oversight function on the work of the Executive arm, scrutinising, inter alia, the annual Appropriation Bill of the Executive Arm with a view to satisfying itself that the proposals are efficient, people-centred and will potentially contribute to enhancing societal development. And after the Appropriation Bill has been passed into law, its implementation is also monitored and evaluated by the National Assembly to ensure value for money and in order to guarantee accountability and transparency. The extent to which this ideal is met depends largely on the relationship of the executive to the legislature. If the legislature is, for instance, prey to selfish pecuniary temptations from the Executive and to excessive politicization of their oversight functions this positive symbiosis will flounder. Then the poacher strangely becomes the best gamekeeper.

2. The Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly and the Auditor-General's Office also have a crucial role to play in the enforcement of good governance., Indeed they are the watchdogs of financial discipline, although in practice their role is aposteriori - the gates are only shut after the horse has bolted!

This. has been defined as the design of a rapid response mechanism for ensuring fiscal transparency, effectiveness and efficiency in the costing, prioritisation and execution of budget expenditure items resulting in an effective follow-the-money tracking process by utilising international and Nigerian expertise, and by adopting the best of information technology.

Over-invoicing by contractors is one of the most fertile grounds for corruption in society and the Due Process mechanism, although slow, has been effective in insisting on strict adherence to laid-down rules and regulations guiding budgetary procurement and payment activities, or actions by all parties relevant to it.

4 The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT)

Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution enjoins Public Officers to maintain a high standard of integrity in the conduct of public business and ensure that their actions and behavior conform to the best practices in public morality and accountability. The Bureau serves to assist public office holders to become adequately accountable and save themselves the unpleasant consequences of being arraigned before the Tribunal. The Bureau has four main operational organs for the execution of its mandate:

These include Assets Declaration and Verification, Investigation and Monitoring, Prosecution as well as Public Education Enlightenment and Advisory Services.

The Tribunal seeks to impose appropriate sanctions by way of removal from office, disqualification from membership or from holding any public office fora defined period or seizure and forfeiture to the state of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office. Where the misconduct is also a criminal offence these sanctions do not exempt such an offender from facing the full wrath of the law as determined by the courts.

We note that these two bodies CCB and CCT have been in existence for almost 30 years. The lifestyle of many public officers has been characterised by conspicuous ostentation well beyond their legitimate earnings. The lack-lustre performance of the two institutions can be traced to their low executive capacity, poor physical facilities and their siting within the Presidency complex and the retarding burden of "nolle prosequi".

It is obvious that these two organisations, need a shot in the arm to rejuvenate and rehabilitate them. The public should be better informed of their mission, there should be a better mechanism for ascertaining true assets as opposed to what the officer actually declares. Their activities should be extended to cover the local governments and they should be located on neutral ground so as not to appear beholden to the very constituency whose conduct they are set up to monitor.

The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).,

Established by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act of 2000, the ICPC in empowered, inter alia, to direct and supervise a review of the practices, systems and procedures of public bodies, which aid or facilitate fraud or corruption. The bulk of its work has been to receive and investigate reports on conspiracy to commit, attempt to commit or the commission of offences relating to corruption and to prosecute offenders. Since its establishment in 2002 the ICPC has had a chequered history in trying to carry out its mandate. Its intercine problems with the Supreme Court were not resolved until 2004 and even thereafter, the Principal Officers of the National Assembly, fearful of threats to their own dubious integrity became allergic to its operatives and attempted to water down its mandate. As at 2005 the ICPC had 39 criminal cases in various courts in Nigeria. Its scoreboard featured - a Senate President and his colleagues, Federal Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, some former Governors, three Chief Medical Directors of Teaching Hospitals, four High Court Judges; a Chief Registrar of a Magistrate Court and former Chairmen of Local Governments. Of these 39 cases only one seemed to have been adjudicated upon by 2005!

A number of factors have worked hardship on the efficient consummation of the mandate of the ICPC, and the present Chairman has at various forums enunciated these, indicating areas where progress could be fast-tracked. In the areas of Enforcement, of Prevention and of Education and Public Enlightenment a great deal still as to be achieved.

It is a matter of regret that the slow pace of movement of cases in the Nigerian Judiciary and the tardy progress of all ICPC cases that are under police investigation has given the ICPC the poor image of a "snail-speed performer". The commission still needs to sell itself more vigorously but for now its present Chair must be highly commended fora wide range of public awareness and enlightenment initiatives.

Only last week, the public was informed through the media that ICPC secured a total of 15 convictions in eight years - an embarrassingly miniscule average of two convictions a year! This does not engender confidence in a public institution that should be advocating sanctions as an effective deterrent to crime.