A book, “Anatomy of Crime of Corruption in Nigeria: Constitutional Framework as the Tap-root,” authored by Dr Onu John Onwe, is set for launch on March 9 in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
This was disclosed recently at a press conference at the Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Norman, in Ikoyi.
The book highlights the root cause of corruption and its effect on Nigeria.
Corruption is adjudged by both the rulers and the ruled as the greatest problem afflicting Nigeria.
It is described as a fulcrum of impediment to the development and progress of the country.
Dr Onu’s book is a departure from the old way of looking at corruption.
The author traces the foundation of Nigeria and its state structure and constitutional framework, all imposed on a conquered and subjugated society, as the real reason for corruption in Nigeria. Our feudal state structure and constitutional framework are the wellsprings of corruption in Nigeria, Onu argues.
The book is written in two volumes: one and two, with 10 chapters divided into five chapters in volume one while volume two has six chapters.
The book has well-resourced references, a bibliography, and appendixes.
According to the author, corruption is like a lubricant holding the nation together. “There is no government that is free from corruption, because without corruption, we can not manage Nigeria, as it is only corruption that is keeping us together.”
It is the state structure and the constitutional framework the British imposed, which we did not break away from, that fuel corruption in Nigeria.
The historical formation of the state and the organisation of the society largely determined how the political community is governed, the type of socio-economic order and state are set up and what norms or laws are permitted and enforced.
Page 74 of the book documents the socio-political life in colonial and post-colonial Nigeria, referring to Chinua Achebe’s “No Longer At Ease” and “A Man of the People”.
Achebe’s work, the author says, vividly describes the decadent and corrupt society. Also, in Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, the alien colonial legal order is portrayed as adversarial as opposed to the inquisitorial African legal system.
The land dispute case between the Aneto family and the Nnama family was submitted to the British colonial court for adjudication.
The said colonial court, not knowing the native laws and customs and the moderating social mores that undergird it, applied foreign legal principles and rules which was further compounded by the tragedy occasioned by the fact that the legal system was administered by corrupt members of the court and other ancillary officials.
This shows that corruption did not start in present-day Nigeria’s democracy as many books claim, but can be traced to the British colonial masters.
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