"International Justice" and Nigerian Corrupt Officials.

The Bible says "a Prophet has no honor in his country". This is used to say that a person of great deeds is hardly recognized by their own people. Bring this saying home and flip it on the other side. It would not be false to say that in Nigeria, the misdeeds of our (great) men are hardly "recognized".

It takes the trial and prosecution of foreign authorities to find them guilty of offences that also amount to crime in our country. As though this is not shameful enough, after the trial, prosecution and sentencing, these convicted (great) men return home as heroes and are received with grand celebrations.

There were many allegations levelled against the former Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs Allison-Madueke during her time as Minister and even after she left office. It was dubbed witch-hunting.  In the end, nothing much came out of it. We never heard if she was acquitted by a Court (was she even charged in a Court, or was it all media trial?), and somehow, even the witches stopped hunting. And we never heard about her again.

Until recently when a company owned by her close allies came under investigation for fraudulent transactions and criminal diversion of about 1.6billion dollars. Monies from proceeds of sales of petroleum products accuring to the government.

Mrs Allison-Madueke is caught in the middle as she awarded the contracts during her time as Minister to Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria, and two Shell Companies owned by Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore respectively. These men in return helped Mrs Allison-Madueke launder millions of dollars which were used in buying exotic properties in the United Kingdom and the United States.

It is not as though money laundering, fraudulent transactions and diversion of funds do not amount to crime in Nigeria. But somehow, persons fingered in such dealings either evade prosecution, are acquitted or the investigation and trial linger for so long without end. Leaving the suspects free to roam and operate in all normalcy. Unlike "lower-cadre" common man criminal, who languish in detention while investigation lingers.

Nigerians would keep spectating as Mrs Allison-Madueke's trial proceeds. This is a woman that was celebrated as a role model to women. She was applauded whereever she went, and she on her own part, gave us the impression that she was working endlessly to ensure that the oil industry under her leadership is revived. During her time as Minister, the government tried to encourage the inclusion of local companies in the industry. This opened up opportunities for more local companies to bid for contracts in the industry. As Minister, she used her powers to award oil contracts to her close allies.

Those were the days of high oil prices. After she left office, she was alleged to have diverted monies totaling up to 6 billion dollars(1.2 trillion naira), according to UK sources. Former CBN Governor, Emir Sanusi blew the whistle on a missing 20 billion naira from NNPC, and up till date, nothing much came out from the alarm.

Corruption is not the only problem besiging Nigeria, we have many more. These problems have crippled our Nation and made the country a ridicule before the international community. The continuing perpetuation of these problems raises two questions. First, are there not statutory provisions that spell out what course the law would take in the event a person commits a particular act or offense?Secondly, why has our judicial system and security agencies been unsuccessful in bringing persons involved in these offenses to justice?

Unaccounted public funds, insurgency attacks, award of contracts without due process, killing and maiming of helpless people, demand and accepting bribes, inflated prices, supply of substandard materials, abandonment of projects after (part) payment is received, inciting violence and propagating hate, etc. We see all these in our country everyday being perpetuated by known and unknown men. Are there no laws they contravene? Must we always wait till they breach the jurisdiction of another country before the offenders will be brought to book?

A Bill is currently before the House of Representatives, a Bill dubbed "the Economic Amnesty Bill". This Bill seeks to absorb any past and present government official from prosecution, who declares all monies and assets he/she acquired illegally that is stashed abroad. A percentage of the declared funds would be forfeited to the government as tax, while the remaining funds must be invested in the Nigerian economy.

The proponents of the Bill argue that the current approach toward recovery of stolen assets and prosecution of persons involved has been tedious, indeed it has. And it has not recorded the needed success as many persons involved have not been prosecuted and all the monies stolen have not been recovered either. With this, they are trying on a new approach - declare stolen funds, pay some percentage in tax, invest in the economy and be pardoned.

Whatever may be the gains of this new approach , the approach is defeating in itself. It is a way of saying that our justice system is unable to try and prosecute financial crime offenders(successfully) , so we need new laws that would literally set them free if they voluntarily come forward, declare any amount (they wish to declare), forfeit part of it as tax, and mandatorily invest the rest in the country.

If this is not laughable, I do not know what is.

This paints a picture of a lost but found return. Who knows, the declarants may even be applauded for coming forward. Nothing was lost, nothing was found. Monies were looted and stolen. That is what it is.

These are monies meant for the development and progress of our country. Yet those put in charge chose to "privatize" it instead, and tuck it away (safely) in foreign countries. And here are are, trying to make a safe landing for the looters to return the stolen funds and be forgiven. This is a country that loses 12% of its GDP to corruption. The highest proportion lost by any African country.

What is law without retribution? What is restitution without retribution? Hundreds and thousands of people are behind bars for theft. Not because the items they stole were not recovered, but because they need to be punished for stealing. And here we are, attempting to enact a legislation that would allow people that catered away the fortunes of our country to be absorbed from criminality. On the condition that they voluntarily come forward, declare, and invest.

Maybe the (only) hope Nigeria has for corrupt officials to ever be brought to book is hoping that they be indicted by a foreign government and be tried and prosecuted by them. Because left to our system and our ways, these men would remain champions, great achievers and Saints, free from any and all wrong doings.