Mallam Lamido Sanusi Differentiates between Two Types of Corruption

 

Mallam Lamido Sanusi, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has said the dearth of positive interventions in the economy, and not just corruption, has continued to add to the difficulties and inequalities in the Nigerian system. 

Sanusi stated this in his remarks as the chairman at a one-day national seminar on corruption, held in the Minna, Niger State, on Thursday. He said the worst type of corruption was the one not tied to production. According to him, “if you build a 3,000 megawatts plant of electricity in an advanced economy and in the process of getting the licence and building of the plant, you bribed public officials, that is corruption, but the 3,000 megawatts you added has created further manufacturing jobs and incomes, which are the positive impacts of the intervention.”

Sanusi noted that the countries had been able to grow, even with corruption, adding that same nature of intervention in Nigeria, however, compounded the negative impact of corruption on the system: “For example, in Nigeria, if you bribe public officials to pay subsidies for fuel you did not bring in, or to pay you for a contract you did not do or to turn a blind eye while you steal crude oil and sell it and you did not bring the money. The nature of the intervention procured compounds the negative impact of corruption,” he said.

The CBN governor then advocated the need for the citizenry and the government alike to, without further delay, develop a general framework for accountability, both in public and private sectors of the economy