Nigerian president Umaru Yar'Adua is making good on his anti-sleaze crusade in a country where blatant corruption has not only sapped public trust but pervades all levels of government in Africa's largest oil producer.
Since Yar'Adua took power in May, a glut of bribery scandals involving foreign companies and accusations against former Nigerian state governors, who are suspected of looting public funds and hiding their ill-gotten gains outside the country, have come to light.
The president has, in recent days, ordered Attorney General, Michael Aondoakaa, to head to Houston to gather more facts on the involvement of state-owned NNPC officials and politicians who allegedly took bribes from oilfield services company Willbros to secure the $387 million East Gas Gathering System project.
He has ordered an investigation into allegations that German telecommunications giant Siemens AG paid bribes to some former Nigerian ministers, who served during the then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, to win contracts.
Panalpina, a top US shipping company, in September said it has suspended part of its services in Nigeria amid a US Department of Justice investigation into improper payments.
James Ibori, who was governor of the oil-rich Delta State until May, is being investigated by British and Nigerian authorities over using banks in the UK to hide $20 million in stolen funds that he allegedly accumulated during his years in office. Known as 'Dapper Don' because of his flamboyant taste for fancy cars and his London shopping sprees, Ibori was governor of a state where the residents are among the most deprived oil communities in the world and where corruption has been the central driver of conflict.
Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which has worked closely with the British investigation is also looking into payments made by two major oil companies and the state-owned NNPC to a firm owned by Ibori. While Obasanjo has so far distanced himself from allegations that he mismanaged the oil industry during his eight-year tenure, his aides have not.
His former oil minister Edmund Daukoru is expected to appear in court on November 22 while his former special assistant Timi Sylva, now governor of Bayelsa state will face the court on November 20 to answer questions on allegations of underhand sale of oil blocks and the disappearance of oil revenue.
Yar'Adua's administration has made NNPC a prime target for reform and in August announced plans to split the corporation into five new independent organizations over the next six months in a wide-ranging overhaul of the country's energy sector. A mountain of work is needed to make NNPC an effective organization, corruption has to be stamped out, issues have to be resolved in the Niger Delta and the nation's refineries need to be restored.
Yar'Adua's decision to delcare all of his assets publicly signalled his determination to continue his zero-tolerance for graft but he is said to be concerned that his government's failure to prosecute known corrupt governors may erode the credibility of his campaign.
For Nigerians to believe there is an oasis of hope in sight, a few shock arrests will not be not be enough and Yar'Adua must deal properly with all the corruptors.
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