Curbing cancerous corruption of nonprofit organisations

Tribune Online
Curbing cancerous corruption of nonprofit organisations

Annually, the borrowing and begging bowels of Africa fetches over $140 billion from official aid, grants and loans; whereas the leaking nets of Africa wastes over $218 billion to illicit financial efflux.

Between the years 1980 to 2009 alone, Africa lost $1.4 trillion in illicit financial outflows; Nigeria alone lost $140 billion in connected corruption from 2003 to 2011. The connected circuit of corruption orbits around the circumference of government officials, private sector, nonprofit organisations and the citizens.

To inclusively and conclusively curb this menace, the anti-graft agencies need a multi dimensional and sectoral focus to effectively and sustainably win the fierce fight against corruption. We have for so long only looked at the public sector, nearly abandoning the fundamental duty of ensuring that civil society organisations operate with clean gloves.

Prompted by the doubt about the capacity of the states to cope in keeping to responsibilities for its own welfare, developmental and environmental programmes, nonprofit bodies serve as strategic components of a middle way between policies that put primacy on the people and societies, and those that advocate greater reliance on the state. On the international scene, the number of nonprofit organisation increased from about 13, 000 in 1981 to over 47, 000 in 2001 giving rise to millions of nonprofit at the national and local levels that are increasingly involved in welfare, health care, education reform, and public private partnership for a more livable world.

No doubt, watching and monitoring those entrusted with public trust is very crucial but who exactly watches how credible those watching the government are? And how much are these nonprofit organisations working to achieve their objectives and improving the dismal situation of the majority of people they claim to work in their best interest?

NGOs are seen as clean alternative to the status quo and endemic corruption in constituted authorities, but if the NGOs become more compromised than those they set out to correct, then they are nothing but a cancerous component of deceit and destruction of public trust.

Historically, these NGOs are registered and draw their legitimacy from the self-perception that they are working for the citizens and with the people’s backing. Unfortunately, most of the NGOs  have over time failed to reflect good faith and credibility in their pursuit of community’s common good, with sustainable strategies for increasing the backing for their work.

In Nigeria, it is common to see many non-empowered people registering and operating empowerment NGOs, and then end up being empowered in blatant breach of their set objectives. With great project proposals, cooked books, and fake or staged accounts of previously executed programmes, many NGOs are attracting so much fund from international donor, yet nothing seems to be changing in the lives and environment of the proposed beneficiary community. These NGOs must be made to take a deep and sober look at themselves and constantly work in the vineyard of accountability and openness to purge themselves of this ethical dilemmas.

EFCC must tighten its belt against fraudulent activities under the guise of nonprofit through its Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering programme, and those with clean record must be encouraged to join ICPC’s constituencies projects tracking group. We must ensure that all stakeholders within the Nigerian development space are manifestly seen to be working for the best interest of Nigeria.

Ekpa, Stanley Ekpa, Snr.,

ekpastanleyekpa@gmail.com

Curbing cancerous corruption of nonprofit organisations
Tribune Online