Capacity Building , Leadership Question and Drains of Corruption in Africa : A Theoretical Discourse

It is stating the obvious that corruption has posed challenges to the socio-economic development of the Third World. Corruption permeates all facets of human life as it is observed in every economy, whether developed or developing. It is disheartening to observe that in the present millennium, when development is dictated by the forces of knowledge, capacity building and utilization, information and communication technology and management, the Third World countries, especially in Africa, appear to be enmeshed deep into corruption, bad governance and crises of all kinds. At the root of these cataclysmic disorder and crises of development include corruption, leadership ineptitude in Africa, rape of democratic processes and lack of structured foundation for economic development. Other major causes of this development enigma are the failed status of these states, dependence on foreign development assistance and the rhetoric theoretical economic framework. These factors challenge the spirit of commitment, patriotism, entrepreneurship, capacity building and nationalism as they commit the people to a socio-psychological battle for survival. This paper uses some paradigms to explain this duel. It suggests a reform of government policies redirected at capacity building, knowledge economy, entrepreneurship, critical youth empowerment, revaluation of the cultural values of material acquisition, making the fight on corruption to be holistic instead of selective, adoption of good governance, accountability and pursuit of critical agenda for micro-economic stability. These are recommended to strengthen the structures for critical economic development in the Third World.


Introducing the Conclusion
It appears that, in this knowledge-driven millennium, the issue of development and the attendant characteristic problems especially, have remained insurmountable to policy makers the world over.The underdevelopment condition of Third World countries and Nigeria in particular poses a serious concern considering the rapid changes in world economies and production technology.The challenge of underdevelopment status and the critical attendant characteristics demand for a rapid economic policy planning and progressive social capital to leapfrog the welfare of the entire population.This challenge is critical and explains why Third World countries must develop.The characteristics of underdevelopment -misery, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, disease, squalid conditions, corruption and general insecurity of life and property plaguing developing countries of Africa are now becoming burdensome, effectually recognized and efforts are made to reduce the agonizing pains these conditions pose to development and livelihood.Despite these, it is still observed that the efforts by the developed nations on the economic development of the countries of the South appear to be like a crab walk (Iheriohanma, 2005;Omoankhanlen & Ighalo, 2009).It is also critical that while rapid growth rates are recorded in the industrially developed economies of the North, the per capita incomes in the developing economies of the South have either been constant or have risen at negligible rates.
Rapid economic and social development has become a challenge as a result of increased global economic integration and dependence.Ebaye (2009) observes that despite efforts at development, the gap between the developing countries and the technologically developed and rich nations continues to widen.This is not because of insufficient efforts on their part but because of certain global and internal forces that are in operation (Omoankhanlen & Ighalo, 2009).It is not gain-saying that for some past few decades now, some of the developing countries, including Nigeria that appear to be swallowing the theoretical development bitter pills by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other Development Assistance Agencies (DAA) have not been developing.(Brundtland, 1991;Rufus, 2006;Okwechime, 2009).Okwechime (2009) posits that the fall in income generation and fallen standard of living in these Third World countries are more pronounced among the vulnerable groups and rural dwellers.The erosion of their livelihood is worsened by the demand and use of new improved technology and emergent globalization.Among the central and peripheral development zones, the gap between the economic divide continues to widen.Rapid growth rates have been recorded in the industrially developed nations, which are ironically described here as the developing nations (Iheriohanma, 2010).Economic and socio -political growth of the developing or underdeveloped nations has been stagnated.The cause of this therefore demands investigation in order to put peg to this development challenge.
While some researches (Omoankhanlen and Ighalo, 2009;Ebaye, 2009;Iheriohanma, 2010) impinge the causes of these strangulation in development on erosion of informal sector economy as a result of the effects of global economic integration that has promoted dependence and service economy, corrupt practices among Third World leaders, decay in infrastructures and development structures, rape in critical and sustainable policy framework, political instability, dependence on foreign development aids, dearth of capacity and ingenuity for development initiatives, etc, others implicate the inability of these countries to adhere to acceptable standards of leadership and development.The bane of Nigeria's development, for example, has been hinged on the nation's inept leadership infested with corrupt practices of personal enrichment.This bane has supported the culture of materialism, political instability and the failed status of the states especially in Africa.Most of these leaders are accused of converting public money meant for structural and human development into personal purse, and in some cases have invested the development funds in these developed rich countries where they presume are stable and safe.Limiting the challenge of corruption to inept political leadership and erosion of informal sector economy is to say the least.This caricature and cataclysmic crisis in the nations' march to and grip on economic and social development is conjectured to have been instigated and institutionalized by the North for their own economic gains.Public organizations and the organized private sector are not excluded.There is the postulation that the corrupt practices in the public sector leadership spill over to the private sector where the loots are invested, or do we say there is connivance?This postulation is predicated on the obvious crisis, conflicts and discordant voices that are always evident at the time of profit sharing in investments made with looted public funds by corrupt investors.This necessitates difficulty in reconciling issues related to capacity building and utilization, entrepreneurship, critical knowledge -leadership, Knowledge -management, skills acquisition, youth empowerment and the drains which corruption has wrought on these developing countries with regards to structures needed for development in this information-and knowledge-driven economy of the millennium.This further explains the stiff resistance the citizens present, especially in Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa, any time government proposes deregulation, institutional and economic restructuring, reforms that tilt towards privatization, commercialization, etc.The opposition explains the citizens' distrust on subsequent governments and the leadership in place.
In Nigeria for example, it is observed that, in spite of the introduction and practice of "democracy" and institutionalization of agencies for the fight of corruption such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Code of Conduct Bureau, SERVICOM, Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) otherwise known as Due Process, etc, corruption and fraud continue to escalate among the highly placed government officials, Chief Executives in public and private organizations and sundry.This beats and challenges the imagination of the conformists and others who question the effectiveness and operations of these institutions and government sincerity in the fight against corruption in the country.Most conflict -ridden states in Africa such as Angola, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and indeed the Third World, share the same experiences.Service delivery, constitutionality, rule of law and good governance remain abysmally poor and or flouted.The impression is that the devastating effects of corruption and reverberating flagrant disregard to democratic institutions and governance have become a knotty cancer that has infested the attitude of Nigerians, nay Africans, in their expectations for justice, equity, good governance, infrastructural and service delivery and national development from their political leaders.Where corruption appears to be institutionalized and the leadership is engulfed in it and ineffective to fight it the helpless citizens who suffer the consequences most engage in a psychological duel and feel raped by their so called leaders.There are expected in the land anomie, rebelliousness, terrorism, unemployment, criminality of all kinds, etc, as majority of the people engage in rat race, in-ordinate ambition, avarice and, at best, asylum seeking to eke out a living.Attendant to this is that entrepreneurship, capacity building structures, knowledge-leadership, knowledge-management, microeconomic policy implementation, critical innovation and the like that support knowledge economic processes and development are relegated.Brain drain reverberates as nationals look for safety and livelihood elsewhere outside the shores of Africa.Wouldn't the consequences of brain drain be obvious?
The people's spirit of commitment to development, patriotism, followership and nationalism are affected as they helplessly watch the ostentatious life styles of political leaders who also use state structures for social control and security to suppress any assumed or perceived opposition (Iheriohanma, 2006).This challenges the people's expectations on trusteeship, proper resource management and commitment.It is needless to say that the disillusion, helplessness and hopelessness this cancer and leadership ineptitude create in the minds of the people have rather upturned the societal values of hard work, entrepreneurship, commitment, etc. as people now innovate means of accessing success, thus challenging the institutionalized and legal structures for obedience and coercion.The argument therefore, is that this problematic situation has created a socio-psychological duel among the socialized and conforming citizens entrapped in the bewilderment of hopelessness and helplessness.The monstrous effects of corruption on national development and the observed ineptitude of leadership on improving the quality of life of the generality of the people pose enormous and challenging problems.These also necessitate the following questions that constitute the organizing structure for this search for socio-economic development in the Third World taking into consideration the monstrous drains corruption has caused.
(a) What theoretical strand can effectively explain the factors that pre-dispose or generate corruption, especially in Nigeria?
(b) What is the relationship between capacity building and utilization, leadership question, corruption and development?
(c) Why has the leadership in Third World been unable to fight corruption despite institutionalized structures to this effect?(d) How can this monstrous challenge be mitigated?
This paper has as its challenge the investigation of an appropriate theoretical explanation on the issues that generate interest or pre-dispose people to corruption, the role leadership in Third World plays in perpetuating corruption and the effects such have on capacity building and development as it is assumed that corruption and bad governance affect the psychology of the citizens.The exploration of strategies that will help to eradicate corruption also forms part of the objectives.The methodology for this exposition is library research.

Paradigm Explaining Issues that Generate Corruption and the Socio-Psychological Challenges
It is pertinent to proffer some definitions of corruption in order to put it in perspective.Corruption involves immoral, uncoordinated but conscious efforts by individuals or group of people or institutions to amerce private wealth through illegal or unauthorized use of public resources and machinery.The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary looks at corruption as a dishonest or wicked behaviour, especially with public officials willing to accept money, gratification or make personal gains from services they render.This definition is not holistic since its approach is legal.Corruption manifests itself and traverses all facets of life.In this treatise, corruption is an immoral act that encompasses anti-social behaviour and effort that involve especially public functionaries or their agents to change the established structure and process in the society in order to confer on them gratification and improper benefits such as dishonest wealth and defiled situations that are contrary to legal and moral norms.
There are issues underlying these definitions on corruption.
Corruption involves a collusion of individuals interacting in social and official situations and capacities.It involves (immoral) behaviours of public officials especially entrusted with public good and which are anti-social that produce unacceptable benefits against the laws of the land and derogates or debases public institutions.This corrodes good governance, democratic processes (Ayua, 2001), management of public utilities, service deliveries, infrastructural development, effectiveness and efficiency of bureaucratic officials and structures.The consequences tilt towards all the societal ills earlier mentioned in the previous section.The implication therefore is that corruption challenges and devastates the socio-psychological being of the people.Outside these, some of the consequences on the economic and socio-political health of a country have been made somewhere (Onimode, 2000;Iheriohanma, 2009) and they include misappropriation of public funds and mis-prioritized policies, flagrant abuse of office, violation of oat of office, illegal material acquisition, ostentatious living among public office holders, illegal arms deal, god-fatherism, nepotism, mediocrity, etc.
Corruption has been noted to be infectious especially with the improperly socialized, depressed, deprived, impressionable and individuals whose behaviours are determined by external locus of control.However, it is also noted that in most circumstances, people do not just sit and watch with dismay the nation's leadership and those in authority derogate the accepted standards and official procedures.Legitimacy and accountability are called to question, especially not on how political office holders ascend the offices but what happens in government processes.Accountability demands that the people who hold the legitimacy should be carried along.That is how their loyalty and obedience could be secured without coercion.
A critical observation of the situation in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Democratic Republic of Congo indicates that there is increased impoverishment of majority of the masses.The youth roam the streets in search of jobs even when they are skillfully deficient.Industries and manufacturing outfits continue to collapse, while some attribute same to globalization that has eroded the informal sector economy that hitherto supported the formal sector economy.There is a great decline in material conditions of the people especially the incipient middle class and the penetration of public institutions by corrupt officials and practices.A cursory observation indicates that presently those who are occupying the exalted seats of governance were 'the never do wells' in their lower school years and who now surreptitiously meandered their way to power.No wonder then there is infrastructural decay as a result of poor governance.No one gives what one does not have.There is the practice of 'winner takes all' in African politics and this explains the incessant political turbulence and instability in the continent.These catalogued instances generate conflict in behaviour and also sustain corruption.Again, aggression, political conflicts and youth violence have been linked to observed expressions of 'deviants', the oppressed, the marginalized, the depressed that are pushed to the periphery (Galtung, 1996) by structural poverty (Iheriohanma, 2006;2009).
Some paradigms have been selected, without discarding the importance of some others, to explicate and argue the issues, predisposition, sustenance and socio-psychological challenges of corruption on the economy and life of citizens especially in developing countries, of which Nigeria is one.The explication is in line with the critical and expected elements of development for knowledge economy.These factors include capacity building, entrepreneurship, skills acquisition, critical youth empowerment, Knowledge-leadership and management.The tenets of these models are therefore examined.

2.1
The Culture of Materialism Theory examines a society that advocates and worships material wealth irrespective of how the wealth was acquired.It is not bothered about the institutionalized means and structures of acquiring wealth rather the end justifies the means.This society challenges its members to excellence, wealth and material acquisition, uncritical achievement motive and drive etc.; makes comparison between it, individuals and other developed societies and wealthy individuals; adores wealth and rewards achievement irrespective of its source.It develops excessive euphoria and craves for materialism and achievement, however inordinate.This society associates itself proudly with mediocrity against meritocracy; indulges in frivolous, ostentatious and stupendous expenses and lifestyle against industry, entrepreneurship, capacity building, industry and hard work; involves itself in gigantic project execution and merriment and culture of replacement as against sustainable, prudent project execution and culture of maintenance; its leadership uses force and coercion to secure allegiance and obedience from citizens instead of followership, obligation and obedience to constituted authority; leadership abhors opposition and deals decisively with it as 'miscreants and disgruntled elements' instead of seeing criticism as healthy for improvement and advisory in nature; leadership institutionalizes itself in office and does every thing to hang on to power; the society is bereft of knowledge-leadership imbued with critical qualities of listening, accommodation, flexibility, resource power, understanding, uprightness, adherence to rule of law, etc. to address political and socio-economic challenges of the nation.Such a society ends up producing irrationally behaved members whose focus is individualistic rather than altruistic.The leaders have the propensity to primitively accumulate wealth even for their children's children yet unborn.They adopt capitalism as a way of life to justify their craze for excessive profit, a cardinal focus of capitalism and which drives the proponents to inordinate and abrasive behaviours, of which corruption is a pillar.Inordinate ambition and behaviours for primitive accumulation of wealth drive people to excessive profit to keep afloat.Pervasive acts on institutionalized and legal structures are adopted as acceptable means of achieving success through gift-giving, courtesy calls, praise-singing, sycophancy, bag carrying, god-fatherism, etc.These acts facilitate corruption as there is lawlessness especially in the midst of plenty.The perverted situation creates opportunities for the impressionable, aggrieved and the perceived marginalized, especially to adopt corruption as a way of life to access 'public' material wealth (Iheriohanma, 2009) as they feel their ways are blocked by the corrupt political leadership and their policies.

2.2
The Anomie Theory adopted here is the strand proposed by Merton (1970) in the tradition of Durkheim's concept of anomie -a situation of normlessness -where the roles governing behaviour and social life have become unclear.Merton's version of anomie is often referred to as structural stain theory as it looks at the socio-structural perspective on deviance and criminality.Merton's theory disagrees that deviance is as a result of pathological personality.His position is that 'the social and cultural structure of the society generates pressure for socially deviant behaviour upon people variously located in that structure'.He argues that as long as individuals are variously located in the social structure of the society, they cannot have equal opportunity to access and realize the commonly shared values.This alone can generate strain and deviance.According to Merton, every society has culturally defined goals and institutionalized means of accessing the goals.Only in societies regarded as stable and balanced would great and equal emphases be placed on both the cultural goals and institutionalized means.In so many instances, this is not to be.Human beings have a natural inclination and tendency to observe norms because they have a part of personality called conscience.The assumption is that people break norms because of the pressures or terrible stains on norms that challenge existing structures and situations.In a situation of rapid social change and in an era of globalization in which we are, the probability of an imbalance between people's institutional goals' arrangement and the available opportunities to achieve these goals exist.Thus, people are bottled up in a strained situation.The need to survive, achieve goals and success coerce a greater majority whose access to means of success are blocked to innovate other ways of accessing goals and success.Five adaptive responses that Merton identified as available to individuals, especially in unstable and unbalanced society include: (a) Conformity, where members conform to the accepted success goals and institutional means.It appears there is consensus in this society that is regarded as utopia.
(b) Innovative, where members accept the cultural goals and shared values but reject the institutional and normative means of achieving success.This is evident in competitive societies where the ill-socialized, impressionistic, depressed and marginalized turn to deviant means, and crime is most commonly used to achieve success.The innovative process might involve the use of unapproved means and structures thus leading to corrupt practices.Public office holders and civil servants are most especially in this innovative class as evidenced in the type of electoral malpractices, fraud, litigations, uprisings, political instability, economic sabotage, etc. in Third World.
(c) Ritualism, here the adaptive response involves a group of individuals who abandon or scale down the lofty cultural goals to the extent their aspirations can be accommodated and satisfied.These individuals have a cliché of internalizing and abiding by the stated rules of achieving success.Essentially, they ritualize the institutional means while scaling down the success goals.They do not however, present serious threat to the society.Those who realize their 'natural' disadvantaged status in the society as evidenced in their qualifications, handicaps and abilities such as office clerks, messengers, porters, grave diggers, etc. are examples.
(d) Retreatism, here members reject and abandon both the goals and means as a success way of resolving the conflict of their situation.This conflict is as a result of interiorized moral obligation for adopting institutional means and the societal pressure of resorting to illicit means of attaining success.The individual stands helpless, defeated and resigns to fate and failure.This group however, might pose threat to the society if strong opportunity consistently presents itself for him to react.Drug addicts, pimps, vagrants, petition writers, 'political apathetic', etc. are examples.At times they do not find any reason to appraise any government, especially when it is seen as corrupt.
(e) Rebellion, here involves a type of response that leads individuals outside the environing social structure to envisage, seek and rebel against the existing structure and try to bring a new accommodating and modified social structure.Individuals in this category feel rejected and obviously alienated by the existing goals and standards.They not only reject the cultural values, goals and institutional means but attempt to replace them with different goals and means according to their own dictates.They form movements and solidarities to achieve their aims of introducing new values and means.They locate the source of frustrations and blockage to national cake in the social structure while replacing it with alternative structure devoid of frustration and corruption for those who deserve it.Examples include terrorists, kidnappers, assassins, cult members, militia men, and gangsters etc. who are ready armies for the rising class who organize them for revolutionizing the society and to bring about corrupt-free society.The use of youth soldiers in Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia, etc. and militants in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria explicate the revolutionary intentions.

2.3
The External Locus of Control examines situation where the depressed and marginalized in the society attribute their situation to external influences beyond their control (Galtung, 1996;Iheriohanma, 2009).This expresses people's perception that their failure in life are not because they failed to plan and or lack personal efforts, but because, in our own case, those in authority failed to provide them opportunities to actualize their dreams.They see themselves as marginalized and deprived and can take up arms against a perceived enemy.
This perception develops an attitude of hatred, deviation and a "we-feeling", the psyching of which may culminate into violence, crime, kidnapping, corruption and sabotage.
Culture of materialism theory appears to better explain the issues, generation and perpetration of corruption in Third World and especially Africa.This paradigm is an offshoot of External Locus of Control and Merton's Anomie theories.
In explicating the genesis of and pre-disposing factors to corruption, Culture of Materialism, as a paradigm, postulates that a people deprived of their identity, source of livelihood, marginalized and depraved, not of their own making but as a result of political restructuring against a perceived volatile dominating ethnic group or geo-political group, as is the case in Nigeria and Darfur region in Sudan, attempt to innovate and at best devise inordinate means of survival to eke out a living.The Niger Delta region, Middle Belt and the South East geo-political zones in Nigeria, Darfur in Sudan, Rwandan genocide and other suppressed and marginalized groups in Africa stand out in this political and economic restructuring through the instrumentality of economic blockage, civil wars, abandoned or confiscated property saga, federal character principle, policy of educationally disadvantaged, economic restructuring, political zoning, etc.These processes instigate inappropriate and aberrant behaviours from those involved.They also dampen the spirit of self assertion, industry, entrepreneurship, followership, and hard work and drive them into craze for alternative wealth creation, having been displaced and dispossessed in their countries' political and economic systems.This is more devastating where the displaced groups were pillars of economic and political processes before the restructuring.The situation engenders corruption, in the sense that most people try, however means, through indulgence in mediocrity, frivolity, praise singing, sycophancy, etc. to surreptitiously bring themselves back into tract.They break norms as a result of societal pressures for excellence, material and wealth acquisition to survive and achieve success in the midst of abundance; after all, the nations' wealth belongs to all and they wish to also be adored for their 'success story'.
Leaders who, in most cases, swim in wealth and abundance in the land, and who incidentally lack vision, knowledge, flexibility, critical capacity for leadership fall prey to corruption.They are blinded by their inadequacies, vissionlessness and uncritical mindsets.Their defensive mechanism to fortify themselves in power includes vindictiveness, imprisonment of opposition and favoritism in appointive positions.Their enthusiasm in amassing wealth and enrichment however, makes them arrogant, insensitive, and uncommitted, etc. to economic development and particularly to the poverty plight of the citizens.They have propensity to frivolity, consumerism and luxury.Their stock would therefore, be craze for materialism, however made.Public offices, state structures, institutions and governance are converted to personal property and benefits.The consequence of this lifestyle is corruption while the ruled become apathetic, depressed and alienated.Inordinate and aberrant behaviours would pervade the land.This situation is prevalent in Africa.

Leadership, Corruption, Capacity Building and Development
Globalization not only marks a new phase in the development of capitalism, it has accelerated the pace of social change.Accordingly, globalization is considered the triumph of capitalist world economy that is tied together by the logic of capital accumulation.It has infested the desire of individuals and groups to amass wealth.What it has not done, among the developing nations, is the attitude -building for the desire for capacity building, entrepreneurship, enterprise, productivity, critical knowledge-leadership qualities, hard work, competitiveness, introspection with regard to developing indigenous knowledge and technology.It has robbed the developing nations the traditional culture of independence in productivity, communal efforts at development, crafts and guild production, disorganized the traditional agricultural and production systems that hitherto ensured food on the table of every African and has rather diverted attention of the people to importation of finished goods, service industry and established the culture of consumerism, dependence and luxury (Iheriohanma, 2009).
Globalization cannot only be seen as a process that is promoted by the openness of economies to international trade, international investment, international finance, information and communication technology and universal knowledge management.This is because corruption rather stands as a colossus that bridges the penetration and access to the benefits of globalization to "corruption -devastated" economies.Most economies have been reformed into consumerism and dependence by globalization programmes and forces rather than reforming the economy to productivity.In an instance where there is polarization between countries and economic blocs, then those economies whose access to the positive effects of globalization are blocked as a result of poor leadership and governance, poor policies, absence of structural foundation for knowledge economic development, inordinate and passionate crave for wealth and structural strain innovate systems for survival.Some of these innovations which people engage in include espionage, corruption, international fraud, terrorism, kidnapping, money rituals, etc.This argument is not to justify aberrant behaviours and perversion of the nation's laws, but to explain certain emergent consequences resulting from rapid socio-political and economic changes and the crisis inflicted by corruption and poor leadership on economic development.It underscores the notion that where corruption flourishes luxuriantly like bush and weeds, it takes the nutrients from the soil and suffocates the growth of nutritious plants.In like manner, those structural foundations that support and promote knowledge economy for global integrated market economy are relegated because of non -visionary and non-critical knowledge leadership.This leadership affects the development of capacity building, entrepreneurship, youth empowerment, good governance, effective resources management, service delivery, etc. Structurally, it cannot lay sustainable foundation for micro -economic stability and improved informal sector economy let alone institute structures and programmes to effectively fight corruption, especially where it is deeply involved.These are manifested in the poverty status of the Third World, the living standard of the people and the human development index.
The argument here is that corruption -infested society scares foreign direct investment (fdi), attraction of development assistance, demobilizes the speed of democratic processes and progress, institutes fear, tension, brain drain and insecurity of lives and property, creates systems of selective application of justice in the society and creates a state of anomie in the Durkheimian tradition.It further deepens corruption and devastates the socio-psychological being of the people, especially where critical efforts are not made to arrest the cancer.These entail negatively on the economy.

Strategies to Strengthen Leadership and Stem the Drains of Corruption
The demands of global integrated market economy are simple.What is required is the ability of those at the helm of affairs, particularly in the Third World to critically reappraise the situation and observe those impediments that have strangulated their economy and which should be repositioned to access the benefits of globalization.Globalization has come to stay and strongly rooted to whip every economy into line.Leaders in Third World countries should realize that though capitalism has become an intrinsic ingredient in knowledge economy, they should not allow the excessive quest for profit and material acquisition to blind fold their vision towards building bridges and structures for sustainable knowledge economic development as demanded in this millennium.In that regard the following are regarded as expedient.
The foregoing has indicated the effects of corruption on Third World socio-political and economic development.
African leaders should, as urgency, develop and put in place structures that will fight corruption to a standstill.In Nigeria for example, such institutions as EFCC, ICPC, and SERVICOM should be strengthened and government should stop paying lip service to the fight on corruption.They should not be protective of politicians and cohorts and selective in their operations.In their summits, African leaders should resolve to be proactive in this fight while approaching it holistically.They should be fearless in telling themselves the truth about their inadequacies, inefficiencies, ineffectiveness in governance, etc. rather than use state and international structures such as the police, army, Ecomil, international peace-keeping operations' outfits, etc. to protect erring African leaders.
Organizations such as African Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and other regional economic bodies should provide structures for this rejuvenation and introspection.Structures such as African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), etc. should not be used as another conduit to siphon the nations' economy.Rather, it is important that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) be linked with these on-going initiatives and processes in order to build forces for sustainable knowledge economy, mitigate the effects of the psychic challenges of corruption in the society and on the citizens.African leaders are under mandate to ensure that their plans for financing the programmes and projects aimed at achieving the MDGs are linked with their nations' annual budgetary allocation to the relevant sectors to eradicate hunger and poverty.These should be in tandem with the institutionalization of structures for capacity building, skills acquisition and development, and knowledge leadership training.Education in Africa should be functional.
The fight against corruption must be redefined as an attack on the evils of development which include hunger, disease, malnutrition, illiteracy, inequality, unemployment and brain drain.These are perpetuated by corrupt practices.It must be inferred that measuring development in terms of job creation, justice, equity, elimination of hunger and poverty, Third World countries have abysmally failed.African societies generally should therefore, include a re-appraisal, modification and modernization of the cultural system of material and wealth acquisition in their economic reform agenda.This reform is expected to reflect and re-socialize the populace thus exposing the evils of culture of materialism and extolling the starling qualities and virtues of credibility, hard work, industry, justice and fairness, entrepreneurship, knowledge leadership, capacity building and utilization, collective conscience and wealth appreciation.These are required to leapfrog the economy into global integrated market economy.
There is the need for African leadership in particular, to develop critical agenda for micro-economic stability that engenders economic growth with equity, evolve sustainable human capital development and empowerment in line with global demands, and institute policies that will check-mate structural poverty that is assumed to be both an effect and cause of corrupt practices.These critical issues are multidimensional as they are determinants in the pursuit of good governance.They are fundamental in the reorganization and reorientation of entire economic and social systems, good management of resources and economic progress.

Concluding the Introduction
If globalization, in its simplest definition, implies equal entry, buyers and sellers in the world economic market, then Third World countries should present, at least, a simple article of trade for sale in this market instead of being buyers and consumers of goods and technologies of these industrially rich and developed economies.Africans in particular should stop encouraging the economies of the central North to be developing.They should take a cue from the Asian Tigers.In that wise, the identification, articulation and development of African indigenous knowledge and technologies should be vigorously pursued.These rich indigenous knowledge and technologies that constitute our material and non-material culture were once the attraction of the colonialists and which, on modification, stood as foundation and benchmark for European and American economic and political development.
The per capita incomes in the Third World are stagnant or growing in arithmetic progression while those of the industrial nations are in constant geometric progression because African leaders lack the requisite knowledge and flexibility to change gear when acceleration so demands.African governments are urged to be critical with the development assistance, foreign development models and investment overtures from the North.It is obvious that in the midst of plenty, anomie thrives because of people's licentious behaviours.This implies then the need for a forthright and knowledge leadership to manage the abundant resources, human and material.The role of the media in economic development, and good governance must be acknowledged and accommodated if accountability and prudence must be achieved and these countries salvaged as failed states.The time for all these is now if Third World per capita incomes must grow geometrically.