A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has said he regrets his inability to bring about a wider ethical transformation in the Nigeria Police Force during his time as the anti-corruption czar in the country.
Ribadu, who was speaking in a special Visitors’ Forum, a lecture organized by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, in Abuja, said his forays as the head of the EFCC were aimed at giving pride, prestige and respect to the law enforcement profession, adding that he wanted to prove that there were honest police officers within the force.
He noted that, “For decades, Nigeria has lacked leadership that is able to set an example for others to follow. I’ve seen it happen in the EFCC: the first set of people that we worked with at the Commission were policemen from the same Nigeria Police that people talk about derisively and say all sorts of things about.
“They were just about 14 officers that we picked, and we decided from the very beginning that we are going to do things differently. We said to ourselves: this is perhaps the only opportunity in a lifetime for us to set a standard and set an example. We will be the ones who are going to make it; we will be the ones who are going to, hopefully, change the Nigeria Police force.
“That is one of my biggest regrets in life: our inability to accomplish that, because we worked very hard for four years to set an example. And we thought that doing that, others in the Nigerian police force will copy.
We thought that young men in the force will look at us and say these people were honest officers who did their best and got results, and we want to be like them.
Ribadu added that, “Sadly, everything changed from 2007 when some people came from nowhere and said honesty and hardwork does not pay, and they reversed it and brought in people who do not know anything other than making something for their own pockets, and it changed the psyche of the Nigerian police men. It is very sad indeed.”
Harping on the impact of forthright leadership in any culture, the former Presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, stressed that he has no regrets joining politics, adding that he will seek any opportunity to the country and to contribute to national development.
According to him, honest and courageous leadership was central to the growth and development of any organization, and by extension, any country. “Nothing works unless you have a leadership that is ready to set an example and bring out the vision and direction for others to follow.
Leadership means setting a standard, being a model in honesty, competence, justice and equity, and courage.”
He further noted that the pioneers at NERC “had suffered similar fate in the hands of selfish people in government, who treated the professionals with contempt and sought to ridicule them.”
Ribadu charged that “selfish, primitive, crude and narrow-minded people, who ought not to be anywhere near government in the first place, found themselves in power and authority and misused and abused it.
Every Nigerian knew what happened then. Few people who because they were close to government wanted to be everywhere, and because they believed there was money to be made in energy, they flooded the place.
“Even in my present role as head of the Special Petroleum Revenue Task Force, I’ve seen such people; they are all over the place: for instance, you see an adviser who has no qualification or competence about gas, writing memos about gas.
That is what they are doing to the system, which has affected the proper take-off of some of these agencies.”
The former anti-corruption czar, therefore, challenged the officials of NERC to be professional, independent and not allow self-interest dictate their pursuit of their responsibility, pointing out that none of them should ever plan to own independent power plants or distribution companies, or even encourage their wards or relations to operate businesses that may come into conflict with the performance of their jobs.
“The starting point for effective and transparent leadership is that you must learn to fight your own selfish interest, and take yourself out of any decision that you will have to take. Make sure that you have no interest in what you are doing as a regulator. The moment you have an interest, you have defeated yourself.
“I won’t want to see you, even after you leave this place, that you are an owner of an IPP or you have a distribution company, or you have a relation that owns any of these businesses. In life, you have to make choices; you can’t have everything.
There are things you simply have to forego if you are given certain responsibilities.”
According to Ribadu, the price for compromise on the part of any regulator is the failure of the industry over which the regulator oversees. “That is the crises we face today in Nigeria: you see certain individuals who have been part of so-called ‘reform’ of any sector, going back to play a part in the sector. Somebody serves as a regulator in the telecommunications industry, and goes on to own a telecommunications company.
