A beleaguered woman on my discussion forum was recently very generous with her diatribes and invectives on Nigerian politicians and their disciples-in-crime: “How can a human being steal that much money and bury it in a grave? Oh, my God. They want to kill us in this country. Money that will build roads, schools, and give us light and water all over this country… God will fight for us. We can’t fight for ourselves. I am tired of this country…”
Opinions such as this flood the discussion dais daily from all around the world. You probably have heard worse. You are likely to have expressed fiercer. I have also in recent past drawn and brandished sharper sword of words about Nigeria’s malignant malaise, CORRUPTION. But before you stand still in a continuum of ravishing opprobrium, heed this warning. Any time you strive to analyse the country and appropriately fight on her behalf, switch your mind to the “Safe” mode to avert a heart attack. Thinking and talking about Nigeria’s many problems can kill. And the country will live on with her battalion of bandits who will continue in their banditry without a hinder.
Circulating contumelies about what stolen funds could have done and undone in Nigeria are poems we often hear. Corruption predates the existence of the country. The idea of Nigeria as fashioned by the British overlords was predicated on corruption. British ogres sought a profitable business venture; they forcibly amalgamated a people incompatible into one vast land; carted away the spoils of war from the sweat of a people in labour; and 103 years after, we have not even begun to unravel. If that brutish British move was not corruption, what else is? Corruption is cocooned in a web of uncanny cohort of powerful, mean, menacing and cryptic men and vicious viragos of venality. Their souls are sold out to the god of gold and Lucifer of lewdness and lasciviousness. I opined last week that the rich and powerful are bountiful beneficiaries and facilitators of corruption in Nigeria. Defeating corruption is defeating the rich and powerful. And defeating the rich man in Nigeria is defeating the invisible and invincible.
Let us peruse a low-lung summary of the noxious absurdity and fetid excrescence called Stealing by our big men and women. Once upon a time, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission traced a whopping sum of N34bn to a former Petroleum Minister. Her hidden $37.5m mansion was also uncovered. Last year, $9.8m and 74,000 Pounds were recovered from one Andrew Yakubu, ex-NNPC GMD, and a man we learnt was warming up to becoming Governor of Kaduna State. A former governor of Adamawa State, Bala Ngilari, was sent to five years in jail for procurement fraud totalling N167m. A former Director-General of NIMASA, Temisan Omatseye, was sent to five years in prison for N1.5bn contract fraud. A former local government chairman in Kogi State, Gabriel Daudu, was jailed five years for 1.4bn fraud. Seventeen exotic vehicles were recovered from an ex- Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko. N50 million on former Enugu CJ’s bank accounts was forfeited. N49million in five large black 150kg bags were uncovered at the Kaduna Airport. Owner/owners unknown. $50m found in a Lagos house: Owner/owners unknown. We are hearing many different versions of stories; all still tangled up within the wired fence of the National Intelligence Agency. The characters I just mentioned are not from just one political party. They all belong to a network of deception.Oh, poor Nigerians! Where is your messiah of milk-and-honey who will deliver you from these corruption troubles in the hands of big men? Corruption is sickening. But for at least three generations to come, the vice will remain the nation’s pre-existing condition.
Debating corruption in Nigeria has become so ridiculously redundant. But any expected abundance for the country may be locked up in the redundant talk that must bring an end to the cruelty. Is leadership only about fighting corruption and the corrupt? Far from it! It is about fighting against factors that encourage men to be corrupt. Why are men corrupt? Poverty, hunger, fear of tomorrow, greed, and deliberate wickedness, are a few reasons.
If corruption attracts the death penalty like in China, Nigeria will become shrivelled in population from almost 180 million people to about one million in one week. One million? I am just been fulsome. How many Nigerians will be standing? Know I not. How many businessmen and women became billionaires in Nigeria without passing through the baptistry of corruption? How many of them dodge paying taxes and skip levies? How many duck the requisite duties on imports and offer and take big bribes? Many of them qualify to be called Chairman/CEO of cumshaw! How do Nigerian civil servants easily become billionaires? By working 9-5? Corruption is Nigeria’s pre-existing condition, my friend.
A former Nigerian youth international, Emmanuel Sarki, once alleged that members of the Nigerian coaching staff demanded a bribe from him to make the national team. Sarki, out of frustration, left the country. He now plays for the nation of Haiti. A former Super Eagles player, Daniel Amokachi, a few years ago, also reportedly narrated the ordeals of young talents in the hands of Nigerian youth coaches who demanded as much as N250,000 from players before they were invited into the team. Many years ago, Obafemi Martins reportedly got in the same jam when he was asked to pay N100,000 as a bribe before call-up to represent his country’s under-16 team. He did not have the money. He later became a big name in world football. You find corruption in sports and you find in the Senate. It is in the House; and it is also in the Big House. Corruption is Nigeria’s pre-existing condition.
This pre-existing condition is now been treated with an existing whistle-blowing policy. The whistles have not gone wet yet. They are still blowing hot! Please, don’t stop the blow; so we don’t stop the flow of culprits into the dragnet of justice. The Treasury Single Account, an essential reform for fiscal sustainability and prudent management of government resources, has also helped. But truly, the fight against corruption is the duty of every Nigerian.
I heard the story of an anthropologist who proposed a game to a group of South African tribal children. He placed a basket of candies near a tree, and made the children stand 100 feet away from the tree. Then, he announced that, whoever became the first person to reach where the candies were would get all the goodies in the basket. When he said: “On your mark, get set, go”, these children all held each other’s hands and ran together towards the tree. They arrived at the tree together and shared the candies equally among themselves. When the anthropologist asked them why they did what they did; they all answered: “Ubuntu; Ubuntu! Which means: How can one be happy when the others are sad? How can one make it happen without the help of others? Nigerians will succeed when we help the government succeed in all its fights. It is the tracking down of stolen funds that will help the government do more in building and rebuilding of what has broken down. Money tracked down through the TSA is ploughed back into the economy and reshapes our present going into the future. Doing it together will get rid of the nation’s pre-existing condition. Nigeria’s finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, is now going after tax evaders into the comfy harbour of Nigeria’s stolen wealth in the UK. Good for her. And good for Nigeria. When everybody pays their fair share, that is not asking for too much.
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