he most common questions asked to Nigerians, especially those in diaspora by people from other continents are: Why are most Nigerian leaders corrupt? Why are electricity and public water supply irregular and non existent in most areas? Why are there too many religious riots in Nigeria, especially in the northern region on a yearly basis? Why are scams popularly known as advanced fee fraud (4-1-9) rampant in Nigeria? Why are natural resources such as crude oil a curse to ordinary Nigerians and a blessing to a few privileged ones? Such questions are too many to comprehend and to answer.

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It is no exaggeration that the effect of corruption in Nigeria is more deadly than HIV/AIDS, terrorism, wars, and natural disasters combined. To be specific, it is the stupendous wealth acquired while in office by most politicians and past military leaders that plunged Nigeria into a deplorable condition economically, socially and physically. These privileged individuals accumulate wealth for themselves to the detriment of the progress and unity of our country. There are unimaginable sufferings in Nigeria today more than ever in form of insecurity, unemployment, hunger, poverty, and diseases caused by the accumulation of resources and mismanagement by past leaders.

It is because of poverty and a bleak future for the majority of Nigerian youths and mismanaged economies they indulge in criminal activities - handling guns as armed robbers, militants and kidnappers as currently experienced today in the country, in order to survive, thereby rendering the society volatile and perpetually insecure. The majority of Nigerian leaders have chosen corruption and poor management of state resources to exploit the masses to the point of hopelessness. “A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan,” says Martin Luther King Jr.

The World Bank identified corruption as among the greatest obstacles to economic and social development. It undermines development by distorting the rule of law and weakening the institutional foundations on which economic growth depends. Bribery around the world, as quoted by the BBC News in 2007, is estimated at about $1 trillion (£494 billion), and the burden of corruption falls disproportionately on the bottom billion people living in extreme poverty.

For the sake of truth, how many leaders or politicians in Nigeria have been tried at national or state levels, convicted or jailed due to corruption? It was only during the Muhammadu Buhari's military regime that a semblance of discipline was instilled in Nigeria. There is no secret whatsoever that these politicians and government officials enjoy their loot openly in the public with impunity. The massive corruption witnessed during the IBB, Abacha, Abdulsalami and Obasanjo administrations to mention just a few, seems not to be remembered or mentioned by many Nigerians today. Becoming stupendously rich for being a former leader or elected official in Nigeria from local to federal levels encourage those in the same position today to loot without fear. Our corrupt officials are sacred cows, never convicted or sentenced to jail. If it were in an equitable society where justice prevails with transparent governance, the likes of IBB, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, other corrupt politicians, including their cohorts would have been tried in a court of law, convicted and jailed accordingly. Is Nigeria a normal society?

Bernard Madoff, a Wall Street financier was convicted of running the biggest financial fraud in the U.S.A. also the biggest swindle by one man in history. Madoff got a maximum 150-year sentence for fraud in June 2009 for creating a stupendous $65 billion financial empire, Ponzi Scheme, based on fraud. Madoff started the firm as a penny stock trader, which grew rapidly and was quoted on the New York Stock Exchange.

Residents of the State of Illinois, a Mid-Western region in the United States, were awakened by news of more than fifty state employees who were indicted in June 2002 for demanding bribes in exchange for commercial driver's licenses, kickbacks on leases, contracts and the diversion of state funds to political activities. Investigators claimed that the "licenses for sale" scheme gulped $150,000 into the campaign trail of the state governor, George Ryan. Ryan, who was in power from 1999-2003, was later convicted and sentenced to six and half years in prison at the age of 72, and $4.5 million fines for racketeering, conspiracy, mail fraud, tax evasion and making false statements. To many Nigerians, Governor Ryan's case is nothing compared to the degree of looting going on in many states within the country as I write this article, yet Ryan was convicted and jailed accordingly as a former state executive. Can this happen in Nigeria in our time? Wall Street billionaire and financier, Bernard Madoff and former Illinois governor, George Ryan must be grinding their teeth in jail, blaming God for being created as Americans instead as Nigerians, or to have committed the crime in the U.S.A. and not in Nigeria.

Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief temporarily by EFCC's marathon sterling discoveries of shoddy deals perpetrated by the outgone politicians during the Obasanjo's bridge to no where civilian administration. Speculations reached a boiling point when politicians who were perceived to be tainted with corrupt practices, especially the outgone state governors, ministers and others in Obasanjo's administration were hiding from EFCC's officials. To these politicians and civil servants at that time, the fear of EFCC was the beginning of wisdom. Unfortunately, EFCC's larger-than-life image evaporated into the thin air with highest ignominy when Yar'Adua's administration came on board. It is a known fact that no state governor, no assembly man and woman, no contractor, no corrupt individual connected to the corridors of power or party leader during Obasanjo's administration were ever convicted in the court of law or currently serving a jail term in Nigeria today. Instead, some of these corrupt politicians during Obasanjo's epileptic administration are now honorable senators and members of House of Representatives, or are compensated with juicy political posts within and outside the country. Why Nigeria?

To those corrupt leaders in Nigeria at various levels and different times, history will be unkind to them, since people are remembered for good by what they are able to achieve in the development of their communities, states or countries, and not by the size of the loot they amassed. No wonder Nelson Mandela is highly revered around the world today. Mandela unarguably is one of the greatest statesmen of our time. His greatness is not achieved by looting the treasury of South Africa with numerous fictitious names stashed in foreign banks. Mandela is not eulogized by world leaders due to the number of coups he staged or planned against the state or by initiating a civil unrest and influencing the constitution to remain a life-long president, as most other African leaders do. Mandela enjoys a towering image world-wide, presently, because he understood during his administration that a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. Is Nigeria allergic to or cursed from producing leaders in the caliber of Nelson Mandela on local, state and national levels?

Modern world is viewed in three categories, those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who do not know what is happening. Where does Nigeria belong? Is Nigeria a nation inhabited by those who make things happen, watch things happen, or those who do not know what is happening? There are varieties of choices available to Nigeria to place herself as equal pedestrian, or below the standard of the rest of the countries in the world. No one directly chooses circumstances, but decisions chosen always help to shape circumstances indirectly. If Nigeria do not want to remain in the bottomless pit in the comity of nations our leaders should stop digging immediately.