Of entrepreneurial passion and corruption

E NTREPRENEURSHIP is the mechanical wheel which determines the speed of development in any society.

Entrepreneurship in Nigeria has undergone an extraordinary century of crises, reinventions and rapid changes, which have negatively impinged on the willingness to invest in business opportunities by sincere, value driven and ambitious entrepreneurs. Not only have some entrepreneurs managed to survive these changes which have led to a hostile business environment in Nigeria, a few have proved to be both adaptive and resilient, particularly in the problems facing entrepreneurs in the country. Corruption is the subject matter of this book written by High Chief Nathaniel Adesiyakan, an entrepreneur par excellence.

The author, indeed, parades an intimidating credential which qualifies him to document his experiences from what he called a ‘bold’ plunge into the slippery terrain of entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Apart from a first degree in Economics, he worked at the top management level in several companies from where he moved to establish, while successfully managing several companies.

The book is organised into seven chapters, with a short section on Conclusion. Chapter One x-rays the nexus between entrepreneurship and economic development. It establishes the fact that there can be no economic development without entrepreneurs who invest in setting up business and stay on to run them. On the other hand, there can be no entrepreneurship without the existence of an opportunity to satisfy human needs. The author rightly argues that patriotic and zealous entrepreneurs have been found in Nigeria long before her independence in 1960. He is of the opinion that in spite of Nigeria being blessed with entrepreneurs (both existing and potential ones) who desire to contribute directly or indirectly to the growth of the nation, corruption, among other evils, is a cankerworm that can checkmate the desire to be a successful entrepreneur.

Chapter Two highlights the many shapes and facets of corruption in Nigeria. This chapter opens with an attempt to define corruption from three important authorities, and from the comments/opinions of some individuals who are knowledgeable about the subject matter. The conclusion from this chapter is that corruption in Nigeria is multifaceted and leads to delay in the treatment of files, fuels extortion, accentuates traffic jams, port congestion, unnecessary queues at passport offices and petrol stations, manifest in the ghost workers’ syndrome, election irregularities, inflation of budgets, contract fees, among others. This chapter drives home the point, that addressing corruption in Nigeria is a herculean but not an impossible task.

In Chapter Three, the nature of corruption in Nigeria’s private sector is addressed. This is the chapter in which the author documents his personal experiences as an insider in the Nigerian business terrain for a period spanning close to 50 years in industries producing diverse products. The author narrates his face-to-face encounter with diverse corrupt practices perpetrated by a wide array of persons with the implications being negative for entrepreneurial growth and economic progression.

In Chapter Four, the author tells the story of his transition from being an employed person on a fabulous monthly salary to being an employer of labour who pays equally fabulous salaries his employees. I, therefore, urge every existing and prospective entrepreneur to read this chapter with rapt attention as the take home here is that “no one can be rich working for other people.”

In Chapter Five, the author gave a treatise of the effort of the government under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to win the war against corruption, with the establishment of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The author recognises that there has been a subtle war of attrition, or mildly put, a demarcation dispute between the ICPC and EFCC owing to duplication in functions. There is also a third anti-graft agency, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) which is the least visible. The author canvasses that ICPC and EFCC have equal mandate to investigate anybody, irrespective of sector of operation — public or private. He notes, however, that instances of prosecution of operators in the private sector are rare despite the many hues and cries of the stakeholders that all is not well in the private sector. The author also calls for more of ICPC and EFCC activities in publicly quoted companies. This chapter was closed by chronicling the activities of some individuals and organisations within and outside Nigeria who have risen to support the national bodies set up to prosecute the war against corruption in Nigeria.

The subject for discussion in Chapter Six of the book is alternative strategies for fighting corruption. While the author sees capital punishment as outdated and extreme, he also detests treating corruption with kid gloves, which can, therefore, encourage it to thrive. He prescribes a middle course of action- a long jail term for convicted perpetrators of corrupt practices.

In Chapter Seven, the author makes some prescriptions as to how businesses can be run without stain, stink or stigma. He compiled a few tips from entrepreneurs within and outside Nigeria. I recommend these tips for careful digest by existing and prospective entrepreneurs who wish to succeed in the slippery business terrain of Nigeria without compromising their integrity and soiling their names.

In Conclusion, the author expresses confidence that as endemic as corruption is in Nigeria, it can be drastically reduced or totally eliminated if there is a determination on the part of all citizens to be a part of the vanguard for this noble cause. The Federal Government, under the leadership of President Muhammed Buhári, has started on the right part by the recent and ongoing campaign christened “Change Begins with Me.”