Optics from Monday’s meeting between Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Abdulrasheed  Bawa and workers aren’t  exactly complimentary.  Although they are most likely the very opposite of what the chairman and his minders intended, public reactions show why leaders must be circumspect about public perception of their activities.

By having staffers of the EFCC stand in the sun while he addressed them from the relative comfort and shade provided by the roof over the veranda of the commission’s offices, Bawa comes across as an overlord, speaking at infidel subordinates who needed a new gospel to secure some much-needed redemption.   It conveys a superiority, if not messianic complex, suggesting that the addresser is the “all in all” in the circumstance.

Backtracking a little, that event seem to replicate the situation where the hype of President Muhammadu Buhari’s unimpeachable character became synonymous with his administration’s avowed determination to stem the tide of corruption (already eating deep at Nigeria’s foundation) ultimately, alienating literally every other necessary collaborator. 

There is no doubt that one man can lead a revolution to change the lives of a people irreversibly,  but it is delusionary for anyone to imagine that only he and a select group of people around him are enough to change a country. It is a fallacy that democracy will never accommodate. Enduring change only occurs when the people buy into a vision and pursue it with vigour as their leader. In the same way, the measure of effective leadership is how much you succeed in transiting your vision to others, it is only then that change can be achieved.

Even though the content of his message was the very opposite of the imagery that one has of the meeting, the EFCC chair seem to have been sending out a message that another strong man has arrived at the EFCC. This is why the EFCC chairman must realise that for the kind of job he does, perception may be as good as reality. The truth that you let people take away, will remain in their minds.

To compound issues, the EFCC has always come across as a fiefdom under the superintendence of a mini god in proxy for whoever the god of Aso Rock is(of his delegates) at every material

This is why aside from the president of the country at every time since the return to democracy in 1999, effort has been made to make an institution of every chair of the EFCC.  From Nuhu Ribadu to Ibarahim Magu, whose tenure ended ignominiously few months back, the fight against corruption has hung on the personality of the incumbent chair of the organisation. It is such that the failure of the man and woman at the helm is often seen as the failure of the institution. That is of course, testamentary of our country’s inability to understand the difference between hinging reforms on fundamentally fallible human beings and enduring institutions. The temptation to become swollen headed and develop an overblown impression of self is what this man, Bawa must avoid at all cost.

In addition to that, Bawa must do everything to grow the EFCC into an institution that belongs to “nobody and everybody.”  Monday’s conversation with employees of the agency, in spite of the wrong signal it may have sent to Nigerians, is an indication that he understands his remit on this front. The fight against corruption anywhere in the world, not to speak of Nigeria, where it has become a way of life, is a collaborative one to which every participant needs absolute convincing and subscription.

It also does not start with anyone playing holier than thou and then, tarring every other person with a murky brush.  At the EFCC, Bawa has an army of familiar leg soldiers. He must tap from his experience to raise consciousness, which may have hitherto been half hearted or non-existent to gain support and make majority of, if not all EFCC workers, see the value in the fight against corruption.  His greatest asset would be in having the trust and confidence of his people.

And he seems to have a fair idea of how to get there. On more than one occasion, he has pledged his commitment to leading by example.  Most importantly, he has promised to pay attention to the welfare of workers at the EFCC. A good measure of Nigeria’s seriousness at fighting corruption is a re-consideration of the condition of service of those who work for institutions like the EFCC. It does not seem to be something no one can be proud of at the moment.

This point was made by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, at the inauguration of the N24bn headquarters of the commission in 2018. The former Speaker told the gathering, which included President Muhammadu Buhari, former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and the immediate past EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu: that: “…emphasis must now be moved to those wonderful men and women who are sacrificing so much in order to ensure the war is sustained and won. We… should take measures to insulate men and staff of this agency from temptations…by ensuring a practical means of engagement and service for them.”

At another forum organised by the EFCC, the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, told of a story where his plane stopped to refuel in an unnamed African country. While taking a walk round the plane, a policeman, oblivious of Kageme’s identity came to beg him for money.

“But this left something in my mind…during a cabinet meeting, I told them the story. Since we have a mission to carry out against corruption, there are things I saw in this: a policeman on duty begging for little things. I told them maybe that was even happening in our own country. That would mean that maybe we are making too many demands on these policemen, we’re not paying them well, they are literally impoverished and they have to keep going around begging, and maybe, later on, they will use that gun…we don’t have so much, but we can share the little we have, so that even the policeman feels that they are being taken care of…” the Rwandan President recounted.

Bawa must also strive to wrest the EFCC from the hands of politicians who use it as a tool of vendetta or harassment of antagonists. This is one of the most documented grouses of Nigerians against the agency. Now, is the time to register it as an independent body, which Nigerians can totally trust to prosecute the anti-corruption war without fear or favour.

It is also good that the chairman has promised to employ the use of technology in his reform plans. There really seems to be not many other options for a body that wants to be taken seriously.  Technology should play the lead role in the investigation and prosecution of crimes by the EFCC with the assurance that the country has left the era when suspects would be arrested when the commission has no real evidence against them. This abnormality has incurred the wrath of judges, who insist that a prosecuting authority must have its facts right before filing cases in court. Diligent investigation is tool for successful prosecution of cases and the way of serious-minded prosecuting agencies.  This is the route the agency should take henceforth so it redeems itself from the sludge of frequent media trials and sloppy prosecutions.

With his appointment, Mr Bawa has been presented with a lifetime opportunity to change the story of the EFCC and the prosecution of cases of crime in Nigeria forever. He will for sure need the support of the President for proper funding and the establishment of a culture of independence for the agency. He should not compromise on any of these fronts. Rather than bother himself with quick gains that would mark him as another anti-corruption Czar in the mould of any of his predecessor, Bawa should labour to build an EFCC, which cannot be tampered with by any leader, regardless of how weak or strong they may be. That is what legacies are all about.

Adedokun tweets @niranadedokun