67 Effect of public servants’ financial abuse on Nigeria economy Ogbu Elijah Chikwado Department of Sociology and Anthropology Enugu State University of Science and Technology. Email: comrade.elijah@yahoo.com Contact: 07035350755 Abstract The misuse or abuse of public fund by public servants and politicians has always been the short fall of most appropriated public funds in Nigeria. This however has grave consequences on the growth of the nation’s economy. This paper examines the Effect of Public Servants Financial Abuse on Nigeria Economy. In carrying out the study, three theories were extensively reviewed to establish the theoretical foundation of the study. This paper through the researcher developed a model, identified various forms of financial abuse by public servants; and their effects on Nigeria Economy. This paper recommended stringent laws to deter public servants from misusing public funds; mandatory declaration of assets by public servants; proper budget planning, accountability and periodic monitoring of it execution. Keywords: Public Servants, Financial Abuse, Economy, public funds. Introduction Finance, no doubt is the life blood of every organization. The effectiveness and efficiency of any organization is dependent on how well it manages it resources, whether financial, material or personnel resources. Financial management takes place within the context of economic activity as well as within a structure of social and ethical constraints (Geoffrey& Stanley, 2008 p.3). Government as a common agent of the people to which all members of the society surrenders some of their individual right in a social contract, exist to serve the needs of the citizens and to ensure those needs are provided efficiently and effectively (Okechukwu, 2010 p.13). It accomplishes this lofty goal by providing clear processes, structures and follow up for all aspect of executive management (decision-making, strategic alignment, managerial control, supervision and financial accountability. mailto:comrade.elijah@yahoo.com Public servants financial abuse Nevertheless, this indispensable role of government as the common agent of the people has in many instances appeared deceptive and elusive as personal interest of it public servants often overrides general interest. Nowadays there are blatant cases of financial abuse perpetrated by public servants with outrageous effect on the nation’s economy. Every regime in Nigeria is always known with one form of corruption or another for instance under the gowon regime Nigeria acquired a reputation as the most benevolent father Christmas (Akani, 2000 p.20). It was clear that Nigeria was threading the path of self-destruction. Elsewhere, other oil producing countries did not fold their hands and watch their petro-dollar stolen by agents of corruption, but in Nigeria case, this was the order of the day (Akani, 2000 p.20). Furthermore, during Olushegun Obasanjo military regime in 1976, operation feed the nation was introduced with good intention, but it planning and execution was riddled with fraud, mismanagement extortion and corruption (Akani, 2000:20). The administration in furtherance of it ineptness in management of the oil revenue accruing to it, introduced FESTAC (Festival of Act and Culture) in 1977. This programme drained Nigeria economy of virtually all her oil revenue. The second republic under Shagari mapped out a whopping N2billion for the development of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. Most of the contractors disappeared into a thin air with millions of naira of mobilization fee to build new houses, buy new cars, marry new wives and take numerous chieftaincy titles (Akani, 2000 p.23). From December 31 1983 when General Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon sacked the civilian government of Shehu Shagari, the nation experienced one form of military dictatorship after another. It was during this period which terminated on 29 may 1999 that corruption became acceptable politics of government (Akani, 2000 p.23). 69 We have heard cases of Abacha loot, where he gave his son 700m USD in cash to keep for him. Akani in above cited made it clear that this 700m USD if used in the economy, will be able to pay the salaries of 1 million Nigerians workers on any Grade level at N55,000 for 11 years. And yet somebody had the gut to steal that much from our common wealth, when retired workers are not paid their pensions and gratuities. Sacked ones are not paid in lieu of notice and Nigerian workers are dying in their thousands (Akani, 2000 p.23). The Goodluck Jonathan civilian led administration recorded or experienced flagrant abuse of public funds by public servant. This was evident in the over 12 billion naira, unaccounted NNPC missing fund, exposed by the then governor of Central Bank of Nigeria. Much more recently was the exposed Dasuki, gate arm deal fund perpetrated during Jonathan’s Administration. Nevertheless, it is disheartening to note that despite all the efforts put in place by successive government in the form of laws and establishment of divers anti-graft agencies to write the above wrongs, financial abuse cases has remained unabated. It is therefore against this background that the need to research on the Effect of Financial Abuse by the Public Servants on the Economy of Nigeria has risen. Statement of Problem The diagnostic survey conducted in 2001 into the Federal Government Public Procurement, revealed that Nigeria lost several hundred billions of naira over the last few decades, due to flagrant abuse of procedures, lack of transparency and merit in the award of contracts in the public sector and accountability quandary (Uremadu 2004 P.21). In spite of the numerous laws and relevant institutions, there has been significant increase in the number of reported cases of all kinds of misappropriation of public funds and properties. Evidence abound that public funds are misappropriated and are not well utilized. Brazen theft Public servants financial abuse of public fund are usually headlines of the country’s dailies. Examples are the police pension scandal, a fraud of over N40 billion (Daily Independent 2013 p.4), pension scam of N5.6 billion involving Oyo State Head of Service (Uwujaren, 2013 P.11), and 1.6million bullet proof BMW car in the Aviation Ministry (Alechenu, Ameh Adetayo and Ogundele, 2013 P.5). The former petroleum minister, Alison Maduekwe money laundering issue, and Dansuki gate arm deal just to mention but few. Therefore, it was as a result of some of these developments that Inekwe (2014 P.9) contended that Nigeria governments cannot effectively and efficiently utilize it resources and report to the populace how well the resources have been used. The problem of this research paper is based on the perceived weak accountability of government fund by public servants in Nigeria, which has not only increased the height of corruption but also resulted in enormous waste of national resources and decay of economic infrastructure within the economy. Other problems include poor planning and implementation of national budget experienced in all facets of Nigeria public sector, lack of transparency leading to mistrust and other negative consequences and weak accountability mechanism. Finally, it is worthy to note that despite all effort put in place by government to write these wrongs, the above mention problems have remained unabated and have resulted to divers economic disorder in the nation’s economy. This has arose curiosity on the mind of the researcher that he has decided to research on the Effects of Financial Abuse by the Public Servants on the Economy of Nigeria. Objectives of the study The broad objective of the study is to examine the effect of financial abuse by the public servants on the economy of Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study are as follows: 1. To identify forms of financial abuses prominent among public servants in Nigeria. 2 To examine the impact of financial abuse by public servants on the economy. 71 Research Questions The following questions guided this study: 1. What are the forms of financial abuses prominent among public servants in Nigeria? 2. What is the impact of public sector financial abuse on the Nigeria economy? Literature Review Conceptual Framework Forms of Financial Abuse Effect of Financial Abuse By Public Servants on the Economy Fig. 1 Public finance abuse model Financial Embezzlement Misappropriation of Funds Corruption Extortion Over budgeting Over invoicing of Contract Fraud Money Laundering Discouragement of Foreign investors Increase in national Debt High cost of Governance Youth Unemployment Income inequality Among citizens Adverse balance of Payment Poor or lack of Accountability Poor execution of Contracts Waste of resources Uneven Development Public servants financial abuse Public servants financial abuse Meaning of Financial Abuse/Corruption The term financial abuse and corruption are often used as synonyms when it comes to financial management. However in disparity, it appears that corruption is more broader in coverage than financial abuse. In other words the term financial abuse can be seen as an aspect of corruption. The term financial abuse is made up of two words firstly, the term finance according to Onyiriuba (2010 p:202) is a money available to a person company or organization. He also defined it as a money one own and manages to conduct his own affairs or business. Secondly the term “Abuse”. According to Onyiriuba (2010: p1), simple means to benefit often to the expense of one’s employer. In other words, it means to take advantage of ones position to have an unusual benefit or gain. Therefore, the term financial abuse can be seen as the misuse of public fund to satisfy self interest. According to Akani (2001 p.31), corruption simply means the debasement or pervasion of an approved process, for the purpose of gaining an advantage which in most cases is selfish and personal. Corruption as applied in this research, can be defined as the abuse of public office for private gain. However, it is pertinent to note that the main goal of corruption and financial abuse is the satisfaction of a private objective to the neglect of the majority objective (Akani 2001 p:3). Finally on this note, according to section 2 of Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (I.C.P.C) act (2000), financial abuse/corruption simply connotes impropriety and encompasses all forms of reprehensible, indecorous and infamous conduct in the performance of some official and non-official responsibilities. This means acts which go out of any normal societal behavior. Forms of Financial Abuse/Crime 73 1. Embezzlement of Government Funds Embezzlement of government funds is simply a theft of government money by it officials or employees. Embezzlement can be seen as a theft by a government workers who appropriate to himself money meant for public use. This form of financial abuse is usually common among all public servants irrespective of their cadre. 2. Money Laundering According to aiyekan D.(2005 p.31) money laundering is money coming out from drug corrupt acts (419) etc. Money laundering is a process by which criminals attempts to hide and disguise the true origin and ownership of the proceeds of their criminal activities, thereby avoiding prosecution, conviction and confiscation of criminal funds. This is no doubt the biggest economic crime that have attracted greater attention in recent times. Any crime, be it extortion, terrorism, drug arms and human trafficking, fraud, bribery and corruption e.t.c that generates huge proceeds creates the need for laundering. Laundering takes place in order to avoid the proceeds from being used as evidence against the perpetrators of offences. It also means a process by which monies, sourced from illicit activities are brought into the formal economy and used for legitimate purpose. 3. Over Budgeting This form of financial abuse is usually common among budget planners. This is simply the allocation of more than required monetary value to a budget item. According to Chikeleze (2002 p.80), over budgeting may in fact make organizational goals subservient to budgetary goals resulting in some negative outcomes. This outcome includes embezzlement or misappropriation of fund. 4. Fraud Public servants financial abuse Okoli (2006, pp.15), defined fraud as an irregularity or impropriety involving the use of deception to obtain an unjust or illegal financial advantage. Fraud may involve: 1. Falsification or alteration of accounting records or other documents 2. Misappropriation of assets or theft suppression or omission of the effects of transaction from records or documents. 3. Recording of transactions without substance. 4. International misrepresentation of transactions or of the entity’s state of affairs. The following therefore are the main classification of fraud i. Falsification of account ii. Forgery iii. Fraudulent conversion. 5. Extortion This form of financial abuse is usually common among public servant such as the revenue officers, police and other agencies. Extortion simple means the use of threat to advance or collect money from others. For example revenue officers can use their office as tax collected to levy and collect unusual amount from innocent citizens. 6. Corruption Corruption as stated earlier is the abuse of public office for private gain. High level of endemic and institutionalized corruption has remained the single most dominant factor facing effective tax administrator, especially in developing countries, Chikeleze (2010 p:115). The readiness by corrupt tax officials to accept personal gratification from dubious rich and influential members of the society makes effective tax collection difficult. In Nigeria, corruption has eaten deeply into the born marrow of the system. According to Akani (2001:1), corruption world over is a condemnable phenomenon. But to those who practice it, it confers some benefits. The 75 majority groans under it triumph. Corruption no doubt is part and parcel of the economic culture of capitalism doggedly hinged on possessive individualism (Akani, 2001 p.1). 7. Over Invoicing of Contract This is a form of financial abuse common among public servants that deals directly with contractors of government programmes or projects. Here the value allocated for each project item budgeted for, is usually over inflated at the behest of the public servant incharge. This he or she allows in other to share the resultant excess with the contractor. In a nutshell this is often seen when a public servant connive with a government contractor to embezzle excess money resulting from their over inflation of project or contract money. 8. Misappropriation of Funds This is simply the use of funds for a purpose other than what it is meant for. Most of the abandoned or uncompleted project you can see today is as a result of the misappropriation of funds meant for it by public servants. Effect of Financial Abuse on the Economy The effects of financial abuse on the nation’s economy are as follows: 1. Increase in National Debt Financial abuse by public servant has the capacity of living a country in a sorry state thereby making it to resort to borrowing from international agencies like IMF or World Bank at an unfavourable interest rate. This invariable will perpetuate it indebtedness. A country that is prone to flagrant public financial abuse by it officials will certainly run into debt in order to meet up with it responsibilities to it subjects or citizens. According to Eze (2010 p.358), the conditionality’s stipulated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank loan appeared to make the resources and the economy of the Public servants financial abuse debtor countries to be managing just to service their debt and it is not good in terms of long term economic health. Eze (2010 p.360), further stated that when external debt accumulates, it causes the following services problems. a. The debtor country begins to experience severe balance of payment problems as commodity prices and terms of trade rapidly deteriorate. b. Loss of confidence in the ability of the debtor nation to repay the loan. c. The above situation causes dwindling foreign reserve and stalled development prospects. Foreign aid should be carefully weighed before being accepted. This is because of it aftermath. 2. Income Inequality Among Citizens Financial abuse often create a room for the dubious rich to get more richer while the poor get more poorer. This therefore, creates a perennial situation whereby the gap between the Have and the Have Not become more enhanced. According to Chukwu (2007 p.84), Public Administrators or Servant should be that of the citizen who is employed as one of us to work for us, or a kind of professional citizen ordained to do that work which we in a complex large scales political community are unable to undertake ourselves. The revise is the case today as public servants instead of serving the masses, takes pleasure in extorting and embezzling public fund to enrich themselves. This therefore widens the gap between the public servants and the masses. 3. Discouragement of Foreign Investors Every investor seeks to invest in an environment where return on investment is rest assured. A country where financial abuse or corruption is the order of the day, it scares away investors from other countries from investing. This invariably affects the Gross Domestic Product of that country. 77 4. Uneven Development Lopsidedness inherent in carrying out the development plan of Nigeria government is traceable to lack of adequate financial resource to achieve all round development. The life blood of any country’s economy is finance. No development project can be achieved without it financial demands been met. Therefore, in a country where public funds are left at the mercy of dubious public servants even development becomes a mirage. 5. Poor Execution of Contracts Many-abandoned project seen all over are as a result of misappropriation or embezzlement of it funds by the contractor or public servants in charge. In Nigeria, public servants clamour to be awarded with a contract. This they seek not because they actually want to work, but in order to enrich themselves knowing fully that the accountability structure is weak. 6. High Cost of Governance The cost of governance is the money spent on administrative processes. It is also known as administrative expenditure. According to Fasua and Osagie (2016 p.34), cost of governance is the cost associated with the running of government in running it affairs. According to Drucker (2007 p.45), cost of governance is government budget allocated to both capitals and recurrent expenditure on maintaining government administrative structures which appears to be very enormous in Africa. This is because of the blatant corruption and abuse of public finance by public servants. The increasing number of ghost workers today is alarming this is due to sheer prevalence of corruption among the public servants. 7. Youth Unemployment Public servants financial abuse Unemployment is a situation whereby those who are willing, able and certified by law to work find it difficult to access job opportunities. The refusal of those who have attained retirement stage to retire has given rise to this unwelcomed state. Many public servants have enlisted many names that are not real in the salary payroll, all in the bid of receiving more money for personal aggrandizement. These ghost workers therefore, fills the position where others could have been employed to fill. 8. Adverse or Unfavourable Term of Trade The world is a predatory terrain. It also implies that at international trade relation every one seeks to infringe upon the freedom of other nations (Abah, 2009 p.2). A country whose economy is prone to flagrant financial abuse by it officials might fall victim of being preyed upon by other countries in the international arena. This infringement will result to unfavourable term of trade (that is earning less from it export than what it spent on goods imported). 9. Lack of Accountability Financial abuse among public servant defiles every atom of accountability. It is the failure on the aspect of financial accountability mechanism that public servants can openly abuse public funds with impunity Theoretical Framework: The following theories where reviewed and applied to the work. However, one was adopted at the end. a. Social Action Theory b. Organizational Role Theory c. Principal Agency Theory Social Action Theory 79 This theory owns it origin to the work of Max Weber (1864 -1920). Weber sees both structural and action approaches as necessary to developing a full understanding of society and social change. In one of his most important works Economy and Society first published in 1920’s, he said sociology is a science concerning itself with interpretive understanding of social action and thereby with a causal explanation of its course and consequences. According to Nwankwo (2011 p.218), Social Action Theory like the Behavioural theory has been developed from the application of behavioural sciences to management. It views the system of management as a system of cultural inter-relationships. This theory is sociologically oriented and deals with identifying the various social groups in an organization as well as their cultural relationships and integrating these groups into a complete social system. Nwankwo (2011 p.219) further stated that this theory looks at the organization from the perspective of individual members who have their own individual goals. Work is viewed from the perspective of satisfaction and the meaning it has for individuals. This theory is based on individuals’ perception of the situation and perhaps explains why conflicts of interest are seen as a normal part of organizational life. Weber was particularly interested on how social action is often conceptualized by social actors in terms of means – ends chains. For instance, a large bureaucratic organization will organize the activity of social individuals by assigning each worker a particular role in a hierarchy. The responsibilities associated with this role are rules, or norms that serve as means to the ends served by bureaucracy. These norms serve to make organized Social Action possible. That is the routinize and formalize social interaction among individuals who for whatever reason are committed to serving the organization. In summary, Social Action presupposes the existence of other individual and some action by him. This means there can be no Social Action in isolation. Therefore Social Action is possible Public servants financial abuse if there is another human being whose action or behavior is prompting to the giving individual to act in a particular manner. Therefore, as this theory tend to be appreciated by scholars in the field of social sciences and management science, so it is highly esteemed by practitioners in every organization. This theory exposes the fact that financial abuse among public servants in Nigeria is as a result of individual members who have their own individual goals to attain, necessitated by the desire to satisfy demands or pressures from family, friends, colleague etc. Organizational Role Theory The Organizational Role Theory was developed by Katz and Kahn in 1966. It states that the assignment of work roles prescribes the behavior that each employee is expected to comply with, so that they are able to perform their specific task and duties effectively. It provides insight into the processes that affect the physical and emotional state of an individual in the work place that affect their work place behavior (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn and Rosenthal, 1964). Role Theory as it relate to organizational leadership is how the leaders and followers in a business usually management and employees defined their own roles, defined the roles of others, how people act in their roles and how people expect other people to act in their roles within the organization. This theory as will be seen subsequently is relevant to the present study as financial abuse by public servants is a negation on their roles as employees to the Nigeria government and Nigeria people in general. Principal Agency Theory This Theory has often been used by scholars in accounting, economics, political science, marketing, organizational behavior and sociology. This Theory sees organizational relationship as a tension between the principal who demands and service and agency who provides it. The model assumes that authors are motivated by rational self interest. The issue in the contents of this paper is how the principal (in this case in Nigeria citizens) can manage the self interest of 81 those empowered to act on their behalf (that is the Agent: Government official, Politicians, Legislators, Bureaucrats, etc). So that it is aligned with the purposes that the principal wishes to achieve. The problem arises not just from conflict of interest but also from the privilege access of the agents to information (the problem of asymmetric information). The agent who have been employed to provide a service will tend to use their superior knowledge to divert benefit in their own direction. In a democratic point, the ultimate principals are the citizens who are the consumers of specific services provided by the government. In the Principal Agent Theory, the electorates are principals in the sense that politicians as agents seek their mandate from and act as the representative of the public. The agency theory throws light on the rationale behind employees (Public servants) abuse of finance. Empirical Review Fasua and Osagie (2016) investigated the financial control and fraud prevention in the public sector. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between financial control and fraud prevention in the public sector in Nigeria. Specifically, the study seeks to verify financial control; prevention in government sector. The methodology utilized in the study was a survey designed with the aid of administration of questionnaire to collect data from selected states – Edo State and Ondo State. A total of thirty three (33) respondents were used. A regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between financial control and fraud prevention in the public sector and analyze other hypotheses. It also used simple percentage for the research questions. The findings reveal that the existing control measures by federal government are sufficient in content and scope to prevent fraud in the public sectors, in addition, the success of these effective controls depend on honest personnel and tone at the top. Public servants financial abuse The study therefore, recommended among others that, personnel of integrity and honesty as well forensic experts should be employed to scrutinize the relevant controls put in place. Acho and Abuh (2016) conducted a study on Corruption and Accountability in the Nigeria Public Sector: An Empirical Discourse. The paper adopts the secondary sources of data in generating relevant empirical and theoretical framework. It was discovered that allocations of funds to the public sector are not adequately and judiciously utilized for the purpose for which it is meant for, corruption in the public sector has a significant effect on the level of accountability, the nation lost huge amount of money due to lack of accountability and transparency. Therefore, the paper recommends that the adherence to internal mechanisms for enforcing accountability should be strictly adhere to while stiffer penalties/sanctions for corrupt practices be aggressively implemented, corruption and similar offences should attract capital punishment it also stated that if these measures are properly taken, it will go a long way to ensuring an egalitarian society. Ani, Izueke and Nzekwe (2014) in their work on Public sector and corruption in Nigeria: An Ethical and Institutional Framework of Analysis, examines the imperatives of good ethical conduct in the conduct of government business in Nigeria. They posit that as government business grows in complexity with the adoption of technological innovations in government, governance in Nigeria’s public sector becomes more problematic and ethically tasking as a result of endemic corruption. Their evaluation of the collapse of institutional measures and codes of conduct puts in place to ensure high standard of behavior, using institutional theory suggests that moral contradictions in institutional behavior expectation from the public deepen daily. The perceived lack of an effective ethical organizational framework to coordinate the activities of various institutions has astronomically worsened unethical practices such as corruption in the Nigerian public service. Summary and Conclusion 83 The concept of financial abuse and corruption has remain concept of great academic discuss among scholars and practitioners in recent years. According to Akani (2001 p.31) corruption simply means the debasement or pervasion of an approved process for the purpose of gaining an advantage which in most cases is selfish and personal. Financial abuse being an element of corruption entails the misuse of public fund to satisfy self interest The theories reviewed for the work are, Social Action theory by Max Weber, Organizational Management Theory developed by Katz and Kahn (1966) and Principal Agency Theory. Each of the above theories were adequately reviewed and applied. However, it was the Social Action Theory that was adopted for the work. Social Action Theory tells us that every attitude put forward by a worker in an organization is a product of internal or external influences within or outside the organization respectively. A public servant that abuses public money does that in response to the demand placed on him from within or outside the organization. The Organizational Role Theory stipulates that assignment of work-role prescribes the behavior that employees are expected to comply with. However, it is the negation of this role that result to negative role of abusing public funds. On the other hand, Agency Theory sees organizational relationship as a tension between the principal who demands a service and the Agent who provide it. Nigeria government is the principal while public servants are the agents. The problem arises not just from conflict of interest but from privilege access of the agents to information. The agents tends to use their expertise to divert benefit in their own direction which amount to abuse of public funds. It is worthy to note at this juncture that the findings of this research topic has proven beyond reasonable doubt that the flagrant abuse of public finance has to a large extent impacted to the economy negatively and has as well rendered the activities of government ineffective in meeting the needs of its citizens and attracting foreign investors into the country. Public servants financial abuse Recommendations The following are hereby recommended: 1. Every public funds appropriated should be accompanied with periodic monitoring and accountability on how it is been utilized or spent. 2. There should be speedy prosecution of public office holders that abuses public funds entrusted to them. This will deter other from imbibing or following the trend. 3. There is the need for more citizens participation to ensure prudency, transparency and accountability in the budgeting process. 4. Efforts should also be made to ensure fiscal discipline through effective public policy formulation and implementation aimed at reducing re-current expenditure and budget deficient. 5. Regulatory agencies and authorities in Nigeria should ensure that all salaries and allowances of public servants conforms to due process, constitutional provision and existing financial rules and regulation. This will no doubt reduce the rate of financial abuse cases within the entire system. 6. There should be mandatory declaration of asset by all public servant even before occupy a public office. 7. Government should ensure proper budget planning and periodic monitoring of its execution. References Acho, Y. & Abuh, P.A. (2016). Corruption and Accountability in the Nigeria Public Sector: An Empirical Discourse, International Journal of Public Administration and Management Research (IJPAMR), 3(3):47-54 85 Aghu, U. A. (2002). 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