SERAP IN THE NEWS

Please let’s know if you encounter and/or you’re a victim of corruption when accessing public services such as health, education, water, electricity, etc. We are happy to support and assist on how to address the problem. Please send us email: info@serap-nigeria.org. Or call us: +2348160537202. Or call toll-free hotline 0800-CALLSERAP (0800-2255-73727).

Victims and witnesses will enjoy absolute anonymity and SERAP will treat with strict confidentiality any information received.

It’s corruption for public officials to take bribe to allow toxic waste to be dumped illegally in an area planned for residential use: Bribery (UNCAC, Article 15).

Exposure to wastes which have serious health and life consequences amounts to violation of the right to life under s 33 of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended), article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It also amounts to violation of the right to health under article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

A judge receiving a bribe to give a favourable ruling in a lawsuit is corruption and amounts to unfair trial and denial of the right to effective remedy and justice: S 46 1999 Constitution. Also: art. 15 [bribery] UNCAC; art 2(2), 26 [non-discrimination and equal protection of the law] ICCPR. Nigeria has ratified both treaties.

Forced evictions and dispossession, denial of right to adequate housing, denial of means of subsistence and restriction of access to natural resources amount to violation of the rights to adequate housing and self-determination: art 1, 47 of the ICCPR; arts 1, 11, 25 of the ICESCR.

Bribery of voters and rigging of election by incumbent officer holders. Abuse of functions (UNCAC, Article 18). Trading in influence (UNCAC, Article 19). Bribery (UNCAC, Article 15). Denial of free and true participation in political and governance process. Right of political participation (ICCPR, Article 25).

Poor working conditions; unreasonable working hours; low remuneration; unhealthy or unsafe conditions of work amount to a violation of the right to just and favourable conditions of work, guaranteed under art 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to which Nigeria is a state party.

Illegal diversion or sale of medicines from public clinics to private practice by doctors and health officers amounts to misappropriation, as per the terms of art 17 of the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party.

Reduction in drug availability and poor and discriminatory service by health officials violate the right to health and non-discrimination: arts. 12; 2(2) of the ICESCR.

Bribing teachers to obtain a place at school is bribery and contrary to art 15 of the UNCAC.

Restricting access to education and giving unfair privilege to certain students amount to violation of the right to education: arts 13, 14 of the ICESCR and the right to equality and non-discrimination: arts 2(1), 26 of the ICCPR.

Asking persons who request an official document, such as passport, visa or identification card for bribes to obtain them is corruption and violates our laws and international standards: art. 15 [bribery] of the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a party. It also amounts to restriction of access to personal official documents; restriction in liberty to move within and leave a country.

It’s illegal for corrupt police officers to arrest Nigerians and other individuals for no reason and without a warrant and to request bribes for their release: S 34, 35 1999 Constitution; art 15 UNCAC; art. 9 ICCPR. Nigeria has ratified both human rights treaties.

Asking hospital patients for bribes to be treated is corruption, and against our laws and international law, particularly art. 15 on bribery of the UNCAC.

Giving unfair privilege to certain patients and restricting access of others to public health services is a violation of the right to health, guaranteed under art. 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It is also discriminatory, violating the right to equality and non-discrimination, guaranteed under arts. 2(1) and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and art (2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Definitional issues

The fight against corruption is central to the struggle for human rights, including the right to education, health and water.

Corruption has always greased the wheels of the exploitation and injustice which characterise Nigeria.

It’s the vulnerable and marginalised among us– women, children and the elderly – who often suffer corruption’s harshest consequences. In dealings with hospitals, schools and accessing other basic public services like water, poor citizens tend to suffer more violations than the rich and see a larger share of their resources eaten away.

The income earned by poor households is lost to petty corruption. Those with the least influence are left with little recourse against bribery.

Nigerians have a right to equality, a fair justice system, and access to goods and public services, such as education, health and water and regular electricity supply.

Transparency and access to information empower individuals to make informed decisions – from exercising their voting rights, to monitoring how state expenditures on public services such as education, health and water, are spent.

States such as Nigeria that are party to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) have an obligation to promote the active participation of civil society, requiring that countries seek, publish and disseminate information on corruption. UNCAC also calls for establishing channels to report violations, and governments are required to provide protection to whistle-blowers and witnesses.

Longstanding endemic corruption in Nigeria has destroyed the fundamental values of human dignity and political equality, making it impossible to guarantee the rights of Nigerians to life, personal dignity and equality, education, health, water, and many other rights.

Corruption threatens the rule of law, democracy and human rights, undermines good governance, fairness and social justice, distorts competition, hinders economic development and endangers the stability of democratic institutions and the moral foundations of society.

Article 13 of the UNCAC contains a requirement that States Parties like Nigeria respect, promote and protect the “freedom to seek, receive, publish and disseminate information concerning corruption”, subject to the restrictions provided for by international law.

The UNCAC identifies several categories of information that should be made publicly available to assist the fight against corruption and to ensure effective government accountability.

The term “corruption” comes from the Latin word corruptio which means “moral decay, wicked behaviour, putridity or rottenness”.

The concept may have a physical reference, as in “[t]he destruction or spoiling of anything, especially by disintegration or by decomposition with its attendant unwholesomeness and loathsomeness; putrefaction”; or moral significance, as in “moral deterioration or decay… [the] [p]erversion or destruction of integrity in the discharge of public duties by bribery or favour…”.

A well-known classification distinguishes grand from petty corruption.

Grand corruption refers to the corruption of heads of state, ministers, and top officials and usually involve assets.

Petty corruption, also called “low” and “street” corruption, indicates the kinds of corruption that people experience in their encounters with public officials and when they use public services (hospitals, schools, local licensing authorities, police, tax offices, etc.). It generally involves modest sums of money.

The term “Grand Corruption” was first used by Sir George Moody-Stuart to make reference to the bribery of foreign public officials by international corporations. The term later evolved to cover all corruption at the top levels of the public sphere, where policies and rules are formulated. It is usually (but not always) synonymous with political corruption.

Political corruption involves lawmakers (monarchs, dictators, legislators) acting in their role as creators of the rules and standards by which a polity operates. Such officials seek bribes or funds for their political and personal benefit and provide favours to their supporters at the expense of broader public benefits.

Administrative corruption includes the use of bribery and favouritism to lower taxes, escape regulations and win low-level procurement contracts.

Corporate corruption occurs between private businesses and suppliers or private service providers. It also involves illegal behaviour by corporate officials for private monetary gain.

Institutionalised corruption names the behaviour of those who exploit institutional positions to influence institutional processes and actions, such as law enforcement personnel and members of the judiciary; operational corruption, narrower, describes specific activities and goals.

Robert Klitgaard: “Corruption = Monopoly Power + Discretion – Accountability.”

It encompasses unilateral abuses by government officials such as embezzlement and nepotism, as well as abuses linking public and private actors such as bribery, extortion, influence peddling and fraud. Corruption arises in both political and bureaucratic offices and can be petty or grand, organized or disorganized.

TI: “Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”.

International conventions against corruption reflect this, since they do not define and criminalise corruption but instead enumerate criminal acts that amount to corruption. Even here, they follow different approaches. For example, some conventions use the term “corruption” interchangeably with

UNDP: “Corruption = (Monopoly Power + Discretion) – (Accountability + Integrity + Transparency).”

The UNCAC provides the most recent and comprehensive list of corrupt acts.

Several different forms of bribery are recognised. The act of offering a bribe is commonly referred to as active bribery and the act of accepting the bribe as passive bribery.

In addition, the definition of bribery changes when the act involves a foreign public official, or when it takes place exclusively within the private sector. The bribery of foreign public officials and officials of public international organisations, also called transnational bribery, adds the condition that the undue advantage given to the official must be in the context of international business.

Bribery in the private sector, or private-to-private bribery, may be defined as the promise, offering or giving of an undue advantage, directly or indirectly, to any person who directs or works, in any capacity, for a private sector entity; or the solicitation or acceptance of an undue advantage by any person who directs or works, in any capacity, for a private sector entity, for the person himself or herself or for another person, in order that he or she, in breach of his or her duties, acts or refrains from acting.

Embezzlement may be defined as the misappropriation or other diversion by a public official, for purposes unrelated to those for which the assets were intended, for his benefit or for the benefit of another person or entity, of any property, public or private funds or securities or any other thing of value entrusted to the public official by virtue of his position.

The embezzlement of property can also occur in the private sector in the course of economic, financial or commercial activities.

Trading in influence may be defined as the promise, offering or giving to a public official or any other person, or the solicitation or acceptance by a public official or any other person, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage in order that the public official or the person abuse his real or supposed influence with a view to obtaining from an administration or public authority an undue advantage for the original instigator of the act or for any other person.

Trading in influence is also commonly divided into its active form (giving an advantage in exchange for influence) and its passive form (requesting or accepting an advantage in exchange for influence).

Abuse of functions or position may be defined as the performance of, or failure to perform, an act, in violation of the law, by a public official in the discharge of his or her functions, for the purpose of obtaining an undue advantage for himself or herself or for another person or entity.

Illicit enrichment may be defined as a significant increase in the assets of a public official that he or she cannot reasonably explain in relation to his or her lawful income. This is a particularly controversial matter. Some argue that criminalisation on such grounds infringes the principle of presumption of innocence and reverses the burden of proof, while certain judicial decisions take a contrary view.

Committee on the Rights of the Child has said that it “remains concerned at the negative impact corruption may have on the allocation of already limited resources to effectively improve the promotion and protection of children’s rights, including their right to education and health” (CRC/C/ COG/CO/1, para. 14).