FEATURE ARTICLE

Prof. Adekunle AkinyemiTuesday, October 6, 2015
[email protected]
Pikesville, Maryland, USA

ANNOUNCE THIS ARTICLE
TO YOUR FRIENDS

BYE BYE TO CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA

advertisement

t will make my day, if it were possible, to wake up and read in the papers, hear it on radio, or watch the Breaking News on TV, that Corruption is dead in Nigeria and funeral arrangements and schedules fill the billboards. I will sing Hosanna to Christ. All Churches will organize hilarious Thanksgiving Services. All Mosques will hold Friday 'Jumat' sessions like never before. All Nigerian cities will be agog with celebrations and the entire Nigerian environments will bubble for joy. We will celebrate with all night parties in all major cities in Nigeria but we will not spray one another with currencies but with hugs and kisses as we dance in celebration of the timely departure of our common enemy called Corruption. Then would we have RIP placed on Corruption everywhere it appears in our entire system!

I was alarmed when I saw the title of an article last week which reads 'Nobody in Nigeria is Corrupt'. I almost collapsed! If nobody in Nigeria is corrupt, as the caption reads, then we all have to sing Halleluiah to God in appreciation and congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari for a job well done. This means either that corruption is truly dead, burnt to ashes and buried in the pit of abyss or somebody is disillusioned and deceiving only him/herself. Let me allay your fears and not leave your mind wondering what is going on. The writer of that article, whose ingenuity I salute, just wanted to catch readers' attention and get them to read, may be, he can get you to join the Anti-Corruption Volunteer Warriors of Nigeria, an NGO. One would have wished it were possible for corruption to be assassinated, killed and buried in Nigeria!

While one should be aware that corruption is a worldwide malady or phenomenon, there is, however, some sort of hierarchy in corruption. In Nigeria, sitting at the top of the hierarchy are Exploitation/Extortion and Lootocracy. While corruption can be described as extortion and dishonest exploitation of power for personal gains, Lootocracy, which is the fountainhead of corruption is legal, constitutionally approved and protected looting of the treasury by the officials in charge. It is legal and cannot be prosecuted in Nigeria because of the constitutional immunity. It is unfortunate that the law has been made unkind to the poor and impoverished people of Nigeria. For example, the juniour civil servants, Customs officers, Policemen on road blocks who take bribes are the Law-Breakers who lack immunity of any kind. The Law-Makers, the Governors and President who empty the Treasury into their personal Bank accounts are not breaking any law because of their constitutional immunity, a license to do so! Immunity plus impunity equals lootocracy!

Favouritism is Corruption

Quite apart from the Nigerian brand of corruption which can be described as hierarchical, the lower levels will be described to serve in enlightening readers about the worldwide malady attribute of this malaise. In this section I will endeavor to cautiously substantiate and explain the reason why everybody may indeed be called corrupt. Let me quickly say that the "everybody" context goes beyond Nigeria to the rest of the world, including the developed and the less developed parts of the world. It starts from the family units. Mothers and fathers have been known to have some soft spots for some children often at the expense of the other children. Reasons are many, being the first child, being the last child, a child born at particular turbulent periods of family life, a sickly child, only son or daughter, special child, the list of what may endear a particular child to parents is endless. For whatever reason, the practice of having a 'favoured' child had been an age-long practice in families all over the world and this is Corruption.

Coming closer, there had been the age-long ties and practice of sororities, fraternities, alumni, tribal, religious, political, national, color and other biases which had led to special considerations in different spheres of life. Many of these are more often than not, used as covert, discrete, subjective yardsticks and criteria, apart from laid down official policies and criteria, at the expense of truth and transparency in selections. Favouritism had been in existence since the beginning of man and this is corruption, at best. So one can cautiously and conveniently say that most human beings are corrupt by nature. Literature is also replete with information on corruption, as being in existence since the beginning of man. In my work experiences, there is only one nation in Africa where things are allowed to work out themselves without influences from 'above or below'. When citizens of Botswana, Southern Africa, apply for scholarships, admissions, loans, jobs, etc. all they have to do is sit around and hope for the best. Selections are often based on absolute merits. No wonder, Botswana rates high on the corruption Index as least corrupt in Africa! In fact it is written clearly on the billboard which visitors see upon entry into that country - Botswana has Zero tolerance for corruption. Favouritism is why many people and societies will not be able to completely absolve themselves from corruption.

Sin and Lying are Corruption

Apart from the favouritism aspect of corruption, there are other general areas which are inseparable from corruption such as sin and lying. It is easy to dismiss sins and lies as simple, ordinary and inconsequential! The ordinary Nigerian has the tendency to say that afterwards we are all sinners and many do tell lies. True as this may be, we all should not tell the kind of lies and commit the kind of sins which can put our fellow Nigerians into starvation, hunger, economic discomforts and slavery in all humanly possible areas of life. These aspects of corruption are what distinguish the looters, thieves, immoral, exploiters, and those who engage in unethical practices from all others who are not corrupt. All acts of corruption are at the risk of the dire consequences. However, except under oath, most liars may get away with it without serious consequences, only temporarily.

Professor Femi Ajayi, the Nigeriaworld Columnist, has stated the real meaning as follows "corruption is not only by stealing from the public treasury; it encompasses every immoral, unethical practices by everyone, either in the pulpit, the professionals in work places, and in our daily life; regardless the name you give it, unknown to everyone, young or old, student or teacher, male or female, clergy or follower, governance or governed, that fabric is in everyone's blood." There is therefore need to re-echo the real meaning of corruption for the purpose of sharpening our focus in the consideration of the malaise in Nigeria. If we have to do a self-check on corruption, let everybody put a check on any of the following words on the table below that he/she is not guilty of (if any). This will confirm and convince us that the fabric of corruption is in everyone's blood.

Confidential Check on Corruption

The following corruption related words are arranged in the alphabetical order and not in their order of importance or in any type hierarchy. From this list, please circle in your mind and see which you can relate to, either in the past or presently guilty of. Please do not lie to yourself on this self-check. Be your own true Judge on this. If you lie to yourself you are being corrupt and you need deliverance! You will need to meet your Pastor or Imam and confess your sin. God will forgive you, as long as you desist from sin immediately.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bribery, Burglary, Break-in, Bag-snatching

Cheating, Corruption, Crookedness, Cruelty, Contract inflation, Compromising

Deceitfulness, Depravity, Dishonesty

Exploitation, Extortion

Falsehood, Fabrication, Favouritism, Fowl-play, Fraud,

Illegal Gratification, Illegal enrichment, Illegal rewards (of public officials)

Insincerity, Inaccuracy, Impersonation, Immorality, Inequality

Kickback, Kleptocracy

Lying, Lurking around, Looting of Treasury

Malpractice, Mendacity, Mischief, Monkeyshine, Monkey business, Mugging

Pranks, Pilfering, Purse-Snatching

Robbery, Raiding, Rape

Skullduggery, Shadiness, Shenanigan, Stealing, Sleaze, Sin, Scandal. Shoplifting

Taking advantage of others, Trickery, Tomfoolery, Theft

Unethical practice, Unreliability

Venality, Vice

Wickedness

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you Scored Zero, then you are a champion! Its bye bye to corruption!

Is there anyone in the world who can clear him/herself from ALL of these above list? I think you might be wrong on at least one, of the items on the list and that is SIN. The Bible says that "we are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God." Besides, some refer to lying in the diplomatic parlance as an official language dictated by expediencies to avoid actions which might lead to conflicts and unpleasantness of serious dimensions including war between nations. Any public office holders or anyone paid with the tax-payers' money is deemed corrupt if he/she loots, steals, inflates contracts, illegally enriches him/herself, receives illegal gratifications/bribery, extorts, exploits, cheats, defrauds or lives above his/her means and does anything unethical.

The CLEEN Foundation, published a corruption Index Report in October 2013 which indicated the shocking levels of corruption in different agencies in Nigeria. Unfortunately when public officers are caught in the act, the only escape route is to attribute it to 'witch hunt' and other untenable reasons such as tribalism, religion, political affiliation, or hatred. Often the bailout is likely to come from 'above', the powers that be! No wonder corruption has assumed the monstrous dimension it presently has. Nyako once said, "If you are wanted by a rogue system, it means you are a good person……….. They only run after the good people and allow the bad people to roam around them, live happily and enjoy whatever loots they got." Bad, is the best name we can give to corruption. No matter what name we give to Corruption in Nigeria, the horrible and crippling effects of the malaise call for its death to end starvation, hunger, economic stagnation and discomforts to the vulnerable poor majority in our dear country.

Nigerian public office holders will not readily agree to be called corrupt, even when caught in the act. That is when the sweet game turns sour and the drowning man will be clutching at any straw attributing it to witch hunt, tribal, religious, North South, political affiliations, or other weird reasons. It is common to find every one caught to pose as a victim of one witch hunt or another. One only hopes that the corruption campaign and calls for probity, integrity, transparency and accountability continue until the deaf can hear and the greedy knows that the consequences are dire and that the shame and disgrace are not only to him/herself alone but also others, relatives and friends.

It is a paradox that every public official in Nigeria says the same thing "I am only a victim. I served Nigeria to the best of my ability and I do not deserve this". One then wonders, if they all served Nigeria as they claimed, and their hands were not soiled at any point, how has the country become so dysfunctional and almost left impoverished after the wanton loots? They must have an anti-Midas touch! Everyone wants the bar lowered to the ground to accommodate their decadent morals. This trend, if not contained now, may signal the impossibility of winning the war against corruption and posterity will not forgive this generation.

False Affluence Everywhere

Historically, the last four decades have transformed Nigeria so drastically that our taste has not remained the same, it has come from bad to worse. Our lust and covetousness have grown astronomically. Our unflinching love for affluence and greed have blinded us from normalcy or modesty, when many of these kleptocrats can least afford what they do. Our love for money, arrogance, self-indulgence and worldliness have made us to become so selfish and self-centered that we no longer care for our fellow compatriots. Both the old and the young will cut corners to achieve undeserved success to taunt the hardworking majority. This is why many would go any length to get rich quick, even if they have to suppress or kill innocent souls to get there! No wonder many are wallowing in poverty and hunger while just a few are thriving on the loots of the majority. Our orientation has been so much distorted that corruption has become the norm because of our instinctive desire to live above our incomes. We have become impostors wanting to be seen in flashy borrowed robes of life. What a fake life?

Discontentment with incomes has filled the entire environments and no legitimate salary is ever enough to live a normal and decent life. We are far from a decorous style of living, even when it is possible within our income and resources. We want to wear the best of attires and jewelries to occasions and parties, when such are above our means. We want to drive the best of cars, even when we know they are beyond our means. Some go to the extent of spraying the band and dancers like they have the currency mints in their homes. They spray with Naira, Dollars, and Euros like money means nothing! Some even go to the extent of throwing bundles (packets) of these foreign currencies at their benefactors (Band and Celebrant) rather than letting the currencies 'drop like rain from above' on their benefactors, the celebrants! It is worse than ridiculous. It is sickening!

We have become champions at cutting corners. Impersonations have become the order of the day, to defraud the system. Some Nigerians, instead of helping their children with their school works or employing effective home school teachers for the after-school, weekends and holidays studies, desperate parents have resorted to helping children to pass examinations at all cost. We have heard and read of parents paying 'examination contractors' to take examinations for their children. There are even cases of parents buying examination papers or paying to falsify results for their children so that they can meet admission cutoff points. In many other cases we have heard of smart children taking examinations for their parents.

The worst scenario is for fathers and mothers to take on the task of actually sitting for the examinations for their children! What a transformation from parent to an Examination-Day-Candidate (Teenager-Impersonator)? Lord have mercy!

It will be good for Nigerians look back and see corruption and Kleptocracy as the practice which belonged to the past. Babs Ajayi in his writing in the Nigeriaworld (January 19, 2015) referred to corruption as having assumed the coveted super level deserving the award of GCFR meaning Grand Crook of the Fraud Republic or just CFR meaning Crook of the Fraud Republic! Nigeria cannot afford it anymore. It is killing us as a nation. Being one of the most corrupt nations of the world is not a good credential or a good legacy to be left behind for our children, or to posterity.

The bizarre state has caused some people to say, as cynics, that "there is no winning this game". This portrays a deep feeling of pessimism, seeming apathy and discouragement towards the war against corruption. The war is not Buhari's war. It is our war and we must all fight to win. Remember a quitter never wins and a winner never quits. Let us all renew our strength and network on the war to chase the cankerworm away. It exists in homes, schools, offices, churches, mosques, organisations and the society at large. The battle must start somewhere and someplace, and this is from our homes. Big and small lies and dishonesty which are in homes and families must be jettisoned. We must regard ourselves as principal actors and Commanders-In-Chief in the war, in our different sectors. Nigerians cannot afford to be dispirited over the war. We cannot afford to be nonchalant about the seriousness of corruption in our nation. We need to wave bye bye to corruption in all its forms. If we all decide to sit on the fence instead of joining the crusade against it, then we will allow corruption to kill Nigeria. Together we can combat corruption and we shall overcome. Nigeria will survive and be great.

advertisement

IMAGES IN THE NEWS