THE Transparency International has expressed worry over the scope and speed of corruption in Nigeria this year, saying it is beyond what it has ever dealt with. This was revealed in an open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan by Fitch and Associates in the Hague, The Netherlands, on behalf of Transparency International. In the letter, distributed by Save Nigeria Group (SNG), the Transparency International said the scam in Nigeria at present is quite heartbreaking.

See full details of the letter below.
Dear President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,

“We are lawyers representing Transparency International, a global civil society group leading the fight against corruption. Your Excellency, if you look at the website of our client, she defines herself extensively as: “Transparency International, the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption, brings people together in a powerful worldwide coalition to end the devastating impact of corruption on men, women and children around the world. TI’s mission is to create change towards a world free of corruption.
Transparency International challenges the inevitability of corruption, and offers hope to its victims. Since its founding in 1993, TI has played a lead role in improving the lives of millions around the world by building momentum for the anti corruption movement.”

Your Excellency, perhaps, you already know that our client is famous in your part of the world for her annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI). It has become the world’s most famous corruption ranking fiesta. People and governments all over the world expect the annual CPI the way they expect the announcement of the Nobel Prizes. We are sure you know how it works Your Excellency: some 200 countries are ranked from the least corrupt to the most corrupt.

To gather corruption data every year on two hundred countries is arduous work. Our client’s thorough methodology is constantly reviewed and updated by the best experts in the world. This methodology revolves around a national integrity system assessment that is applied by a team of country specialists. Transparency International allots three specialists to each of the 200 countries under assessment. Six hundred specialists work round the clock to help our client draw up the CPI which is released on the last month of every year.

Transparency International has retained the services of our firm because they believe that Nigeria is about to jeopardise their work for the year 2012. Our client suspects sabotage, plotted and orchestrated by Nigeria’s political elite, in order to make it impossible for Transparency International to work effectively on the 2012 Corruption Perception Index. Our client would rather have a peaceful resolution of this matter as international litigation is always sensational, time wasting, and expensive.

The problem, Your Excellency, has to do with the rate and scale of scams and corruption probes coming out of Nigeria in 2012. The scope and speed of corruption in your country this year is beyond anything our client has ever dealt with. When the pension fund scam broke out, the three specialists working on Nigeria complained about overwork and threatened a lawsuit against Transparency International because they had to work 23 hours a day from Monday to Sunday just to cope with the figures coming out of that scam. Our client had to pull country specialists away from zero or low corruption countries such as New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Singapore, Norway, Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland, and Canada. The specialists working on all these countries were transferred to the Nigeria desk.