RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 56

THE EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICEFOR THE PREVENTION OF CORRUPT ACTIVITIES BY
PUBLIC OFFICIALS: THE NIGERIAN POSITION
Onuoha Emmanuel Ifeanyi*
I. THE PHENOMENON OF
CORRUPTION
In a world where man’s wants are
insatiable and the resources limited, it is
not uncommon for individuals and interest
groups to compete for the control of theseresources as a means of satisfying theirneeds. This exercise becomes corrupt if thecompetitiors employ foul means to achieve
their objective.
In Nigeria, we are genuinely worried
about corruption which, though a universal
phenomenon, seems to have become soendemic in our body politic that most
discourse about Nigeria, at home and ininternational fora, centers on the highascendancy of corruption in our public life.
According to the Communique on the1988 National Conference on Corruption
and other Economic Crimes in Nigeria,
corrupt activities are not the exclusive
preserve of a particular section of thesociety, but rather an ill-doing that cuts
across all social barriers and strata. It is
not only the politicians and the executives
that are corrupt in our society, but thebureaucrats, public servants, bankers,
insurance brokers, officials involved withthe administration of justice in the country,
law enforcement agencies, the press,
religious leaders and other members of the
public.
* Officer-in-Charge, Management Informarion
Systems, Interpol Section Criminal Investigation
Department, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria.

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Olusegun Obasanjo aptly captured thescenario in a speech he made on the day of
his inauguration as President of theFederal Republic on Nigeria on 29 May,
1999; an excerpt of which is reproduced
hereunder:“Corruption, the greatest single baneof our society today, will be tackled
head-on... No society can achieve
anything near its full potential if it
allows corruption to become the fullblown cancer it has become in
Nigeria’’.
II. REASONS FOR CORRUPTION
In various literature, corruption in
Nigeria has been alluded to as an improperdevelopment strategy resulting in politicoeconomic and administrative inefficiency
which, in turn, leads to inadequacy or
scarcity of goods and services. Thus, theacquisition of such goods and services
becomes a special privilege, rather than anormal entitlement.
Adedokun Adeyemi, in a paper entitled“Corruption in Nigeria: The Criminological
Perspective’’, linked corruption to theupbringing and socialization process. He
opined that in a society whose traditions
permit polygamy, children of polygamous
homes do not enjoy adequate paternal
contact resulting in emotional insecurity
and stability. The combined effect of
scarcity of goods and services tends to
produce in such children exaggerated fear
for the morrow. The result is that they
develop a strong propensity to acquire

113TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
wealth to satisfy their exaggerated fears.
Further reasons adduced for the growthof this national canker-worm include mass
illiteracy, general poverty and frustration,
conflict of values, weakness of social andgovernmental enforcement mechanisms,
tribal sentiments and nepotism. So also
are the acquisitive propensity of a society
where people are judged and accepted bywhat they have and not that they are, theuse of political office as the primary meansof acquiring wealth, lack of patriotism andgeneral disregard for the laws of the land.
Obviously, corruption on the part ofpolitical office-holders, bureaucrats, public
servants, the press and the general public
has tended to stigmatize the image ofgovernment, weaken its credibility andreduce the effectiveness of the development
programs and policies and also, to a great
extent, weaken the economy of the nation.
III. EXISTING MEASURES AND
MECHANISMS FOR CONTROL OF
CORRUPTION
The existing measures for the control ofofficial corruption in Nigeria include:(i) The criminal/penal codes, the policeand other enforcement agencies, andthe courts are the formal
conventional instruments forcontrolling corruption.
(ii) Another set of existing measures andmechanisms for controlling
corruption may be categorized as“target-directed efforts’’. These
include the defunct Corrupt Practices
Investigation Bureau, the Public
Complaints Commission, and theCode of Conduct Bureau.
(iii)I n t h e p a s t a l s o , j u d i c i a l /administrative tribunals of inquiry

were set up for instances of
discovered or revealed large-scalecorruption, especially those involving
high-ranking government officials.
(iv) A t o t h e r t i m e s e d u c a t i o n a linstitutions, religious bodies andtraditional rulers, and human rights
groups have joined the combat
against corruption.
IV. CRIMINAL LAW PROVISIONSAGAINST CORRUPTION
A. Official Corruption
Section 98 of the Criminal Code of
Nigeria provides:“Any person who:(a) being employed in the public service,and being charged with theperformance of any duty by virtue ofsuch employment, not being a duty
touching on the administration ofjustice, corruptly asks, receives, or
obtains, any property or benefit of
any kind for himself or for any otherperson on account of anything doneor omitted to be done, by him in the
discharge of his office; or(b) corruptly gives, confers, procures orpromises, or offers to give or confer,or to procure or attempt to procure,
to, upon or for, any person employedin the public service, or to upon, orfor any other person, any property or
benefit, of any kind on account of any
such act or ommission on the part ofthe person so employed is guilty of afelony, and is liable to imprisonment
for seven years’’.
B. Extortion by Public Officers
Section 99 of the Criminal Codeprovides:477

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 56“Any person who, being employed in
the public service, takes or accepts
from any person, for the performanceof his duty as such officer, any reward
beyond his proper pay andemoluments, or any promise of suchreward, is guilty of a felony, and isliable to imprisonment for three
years.’’
C. Judicial Corruption
Section 114 of the Criminal Codeprovides:“Any person who:(a) being a judicial officer, corruptly asks,
receives or obtains, or agrees or
attempts to receive or obtain any
property or benefit of any kind for
himself or any other person on
account of any thing already done oromitted to be done, by him in his
judicial capacity; or(b) corruptly gives, confers, procures orpromises, or offers to give or confer,or to procure or attempt to procure,
to, upon or for any judicial officer, or
to, upon or for any other person, any
property or benefit of any kind on
account of such judicial officer, isguilty of a felony and is liable toimprisonment for fourteen years.
The offender cannot be arrested
without a warrant. The term
“judicial officer ’’ in this section
includes a member of a native
tribunal, an arbitrator or umpire, andany person appointed to act ascommissioner under theCommissions of Inquiry Ordinance,or before whom (under the provisionsof any Ordinance) proceedings aretaken in which evidence may betaken on oath; but in the case of an
offence committed by or with respect478

to any such judicial officer, the longest
term of imprisonment is seven years.
A prosecution for any of the offences
firstly defined in this section cannot
be begun except by the direction of alaw officer’’.
Sections 151 - 121 of the Penal Codeapplicable in the northern states of Nigeria
made similar provisions on corruption.
Part of rule 8 of the ten specific rules or
prohibitions provided for past and present
public officers and their agents by the Codeof Conduct Bureau provides inter alia:“No person shall offer a public officer
any property, gift or benefit of any
kind as an inducement or bribe forthe granting of any favour or for thedischarge in his favour of the public
officer’s duties’’.
The Constitution charges the Code of
Conduct Bureau with the responsibility ofreferring cases of breach of the Code of
Conduct to the Code of Conduct Tribunal,
which is to be appointed in accordance withthe recommendation of the Federal Judicial
Commission.
The Public Complaints Commission isan administrative body charged with the
responsibility of investigating abuse ofadministrative power, and it is recognized
as existing in law under section 274(5) of
the 1979 Constitution. Its main functions,specified in section 4(2), provides that acommissioner shall investigate either on
their own initiative or following complaints
lodged before him/her by any other person,
any administrative action taken by federal
and state ministries, local governments,
statutory corporations or companies
incorporated pursuant to the Companies
Decree 1968, or other public institutions
including the office or servants of thesebodies.

113TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSTABLE 1
Extract from Summary of Crime and Offence Figures 1987-1998
Year

Total Number of

Number of Cases ofPercentage ofCases Known to

Official Corruption

Official Corruption

Policeto Total Numberof Cases (%)

1987
280,879
424
0.15
1988
320,411
329
0.1
1989
309,771
268
0.09
1990
285,859
297
0.10
1991
253,741
314
0.12
1992
271,614
136
0.05
1993
295,878
139
0.05
1994
247,038
224
0.09
1995
241,916
390
0.16
1996
240,354579
0.24
Source: The Nigeria Police Abstracts of Crimes and Offences Statistics
V. DATA REGARDING THE
DISCOVERY OF CORRUPTACTIVITIES BY POLICE RECORDS
Available crime statistics over a ten-year
period (1987-1996) show that the incidence
of official corruption is insignificant inrelation to the national crime level (seeTable 1). This is at variance with the public
opinion on the subject, as manifest in
newspaper reports and the daily experienceof the ordinary citizen in society. Some of
the reasons adduced for the low rate ofreported cases includes the lack ofconfidence in the administration of
criminal justice, the fear of prosecution(since a victim is equal to an offender interms of rights, as required by law) andlack of a clear understanding of what
constitutes official corruption.
VI. PROBLEMS MITIGATINGACTION AGAINST CORRUPTION
A. At the Investigation Level
The following factors constituteunnecessary obstacles to efficientinvestigation of cases of corrupt activities
in Nigeria:(i) The Official Secrets Act often stands
between the investigator and theinformation necessary for theprosecution of a case of official
corruption.
(ii) The agencies charged with theinvestigation of corrupt activities
often lack the required manpower
and financial resources necessary toeffectively monitor the phenomenonor perform their job.
(iii)Sometimes members of the security
agencies do not have the requiste
training and equipment to perform
effectively.
(iv) L o w m o r a l e a m o n g s o m eenforcement agencies arising frompoor salary structure, harsh working
conditions, inadequate facilities andlack of adequate residential

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 56
accommodation.
(v) Corruption is an offence of low
reportability. Factors responsible forthis range from the fear ofprosecution arising from the fact thatboth the offender and victim arecriminally liable, to lack of confidence
in the system of administration of
criminal justice.
(vi) The law on the subject of corruption
is far from clear. Because neither“corruption” nor “corruptly’’ is definedin the Criminal Code, theirinterpretation has been left to thewisdom of judicial officers. Also, theemphasis of the provision is
exclusively on public or judicial
officials and only for “bribery’’ and“extortion’’. Furthermore, there are
no provisions making corporate
bodies criminally liable.
B. Problems at the Trial Level(i) During the recent military regimes,
independence of the judiciary
suffered setbacks such as arbitrary
removal of judges from office, thepromulgation of decrees with
provisions ousting the jurisdiction of
the courts on the subject.
(ii) Due to inadequacy in the number ofjudges/magistrates, the courts areoften congested thereby causing
delays in the disposal of cases.
(iii)In the past, there was lack of will on
the part of government to review laws
relating to corruption to make themcomprehensive and effective.
(iv) There is a provision in our criminal
law that empowers the AttorneyGeneral to discontinue any case atany point before judgement isdelivered, in the “public interest’’.

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There is no doubt that the said law issubject to misuse, especially by acorrupt regime.
(v) M o s t c o u r t s s t i l l u s e m a n u a lrecording systems which arestrenuous and time-consuming.
There is a general lack of know-how
in the area of information systems
management.
VII. STRATEGY TO PREVENT THE
CORRUPT ACTIVITIES OF PUBLIC
OFFICIALS
The following strategy is recommended
for the control of official corruption:(i)

Corruption should be attacked
simultaneously in both the public andprivate sectors of society.

(ii) It is important to delineate the ambitof the offence. As much as possible,
the definition should not be
amorphous.
(iii) There is the need to establish a
National Corruption Control
Commission as the various agencies
currently handling issues regarding
official corruption have too much todo, with too little resources.
Already, the President of Nigeria haspresented a bill to the National Assembly
which, if passed into law, will address theissues raised in the recommendations
above.
VIII. INTERNATIONAL
COOPERATION IN CORRUPTIONCASESThere are problems associated with theprovisions relating to corruption under thedomestic jurisdiction when it assumes aninternational character, because hitherto
the Constitution of Nigeria does not permit

113TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
trial of an accused in absentia. In thecircumstances, the investigators can only
rely on rules of international criminal
procedure if there is any existing legislation
or treaty in that sphere.
The procedures of extradition, judicial
assistance, recognition of foreign panel
judgements in domestic courts, and thetransfer of offenders and execution ofsentences of foreign courts within domestic
jurisdiction, are long and painstaking tofollow, even where a treaty is in existence.
Efforts of the government to secure cooperation with other foreign countries have
led to the promulgation of Mutual
Assistance in Criminal Matters Within the
Commonwealth (Enactment andEnforcement) Decree No.13 of 1988. Under
the Decree it will be possible to co-operatewith Commonwealth states in areas
dealing with the location of witnesses,
tracing, seizure and forfeiture of theproceeds of crime.
Also in 1984, Nigeria entered into a
Criminal Investigation Co-operation
Agreement with the Requblic of Benin,
Ghana and Togo. There is also an
Extradition Treaty between the Republicof Benin, Ghana and Togo with Nigeria.
The exploitation of the provisions ofthese co-operation agreements, and the
expansion of such relations toaccommodate relevant countries, will assist
in the retrieval of the proceeds ofcorruption, thus controlling the menace.

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