The most talked about issue in Nigeria since post-civil war era has been corruption, corruption, and more corruption. It has become endemic, enterprising and embarrassingly effused into public life and lifestyle.
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Forget what is being said on the pages of the newspaper or on television by most politicians brandishing words and making promises they never really meant to keep or such that never conveys their deep rooted ideology. Most (and when I say most I mean about 90%) people going into public offices either in elected or selected positions have one thing in mind; It is my time to CHOP! That is their true ideology!
And even when they don't personally feel like 'chopping', certain factors, both human and societal engravings the need to 'chop' into their heart before they even receive their certificate to serve. It is so bad now that people like; parents of the minister, friends of the appointee, brother-in-law to the governor or committee of friends of the commissioner are ever blasting the cacophony of madness into their ears and subtly warning them that if s/he doesn't steal now (and help them), s/he might never get the chance to do that again. It looks like corruption is the new cool. Or what would one say about the Oga Dele Momodu saga? Where friends and 'well wishers' keep beg-forcing him to lobby to become a minister. Do you think it's because they love him or want him to serve his father land?
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NO! They don't love him as much as they love themselves. In fact, they don't love him at all. They love themselves. They want to put him in a position where they can say "We helped you to become a minister", "We nudged you when you were not even thinking about it so it is time to repay ME". Some have even gone farther to meet with some of the 'godfathers' they proposed he should go and meet if he was interested in becoming minister and planned how to use him get what they want should he become a minister. That is how politics works. That is how corruption thrives in Nigeria.
Someone once said that the last administration in Nigeria, especially from 2010 to 2015, that most of the major players and public office administrators acted as though they had suffered from some form of material deformation and lack so much that they wanted to take as much as they couldn't even carry. The ministers wanted to out-steal each other, permanent secretaries awarded contracts with reckless abandonment, Head of Service, everyone just mention it, wanted to have so much because they all felt it was their time; like Dr Reuben Abati aptly placed it "My Ownerisation of Power" and stealing.
So if this cancerous issue of corruption is so bad and needs to be expunged from our public life before it kills us, as Buhari said, how then is it that since 1979 till date, the juicy details of how politicians, civil servants, military ex-leaders and now yahoo yahoo boys are making big bucks from graft, mismanagement and outright theft is alarmingly ironic especially since they seem to get away with it. Recently it had also become norm that you steal so much so that when you are caught, chunk of the money can be used to hire SAN's to represent you in court, delay the process with injunctions and deliberate poking at the imperfections in the Nigerian constitution.
The reason why corruption will persist in Nigeria is not far fetched. The meaning and concept of corruption has been twisted. The last President before Buhari did a bad job trying to explain that corruption is not stealing. He was crucified by us lot, yet if you look deep at that statement, you can perceive that the enormous and daunting task of catering to the needs of impoverished community where you hail from and might retire to after public life may have caused many to steal as much as they can so that they can (1) never be as poor as they were before public life and (2) maybe assist some of these indigent citizens that may seek for their help since they are the 'big men' in the area.
As dumb as it sounds, this, amongst many other reasons are reasons why some politicians steal, sorry, I meant to say enrich themselves with public funds. Or how do you explain the case of the 'great' late Lamidi Adedibu, popularly known for his "Amala Politics" in Oyo State. The 'elder statesman' before his inevitable demise paraded himself as the god of Oyo State politics and for anyone interested in becoming a governor of the state, or senator or house of assembly member or commissioner at the time must pay obeisance to him. That was converted to paying back in cash when he helps you attain public office. The "Ekarun of Ibadan" ran the state defacto and every governor that ruled gave him monthly allocation rumored around N65 million from the security vote for the state governor. That's how powerful he was. In fact ex President Obasanjo once hailed him as the strong man of Ibadan politics.
What was the money used for? To cook 'amala and abula' of course for the people of Oyo who come in droves every friday to his 'mecca' to prostrate and seek for help. The help he allegedly renders to people and the food he gives to the poor is inadvertently provided for from graft and illegal funds forced out of the state government's purse. He is the robin hood of the state and since government usually seem far away from the people, he is the good robber who steals from the state to feed the poor. How convenient!
This is the reason we need to forgive Jonathan for that statement when he said "Stealing is not Corruption". What he meant was that most of the people who 'take' money meant for the people via the government purse to help others are not stealing. They are just trying to help. The corrupt ones are the ones that 'take' the money and don't help the citizens. How sad! After all, the monies taken 'wrongfully' from state coffers by retired and serving political and public office holders will be used to set up companies and build refineries and create jobs for the POOR masses. What they deliberately overlook is the fact that those companies and refineries and jobs will carry the insignia of the crooked public office holder and not that of the state. The bulk of the profit therefore goes to the owner and not the worker nor the state. So, corruption will never go away because people practicing the act don't even see themselves as doing same. Deep in their heart, they know they are wrong but two things spur them on.
But they lie to themselves by applying this principles; 1) Everyone is doing it so if I do it that can't be so wrong. After all, I am also going to help others close to me so the money will be useful. 2) It is my turn to 'own' these resources since others who successfully occupied this position before me helped themselves to huge wealth through it.
So corruption will persist in Nigeria until we change the primary school syllabus to include "Patriotism, Entrepreneurial Studies and Corruption Stigmatization". I am sure some people are surprised with this solution. It is the only solution as it stands. No one, and I absolutely mean no one that has served in any government position, and I mean ANY government position since 1979 till date that hasn't been involved in corrupt practices either as the prime or an accomplice. Even Fashola, who is arguably the best governor in Nigeria right now has a tarnished image he is desperately fighting to launder. Did he actually dig a borehole for N300 million or build a website for few Nairas below N80 million? We would never know. So if they haven't stolen, then they have aided someone who did. Period.
The older generation of politician and people, private or public personalities are DONE! Finished! Nothing can be done to redeem us. We are raw, uncouth and casted. Few years ago, bank owners like Cecilia Ibru, former pastor Erastus Akingbola and a host of other private business owners were caught pants down involved in reckless financial activities. That is how bad corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of our society. We can pontificate as much as we want but a typical young or old man, Nigerian who is aspiring for any political public position might tell you things you want to hear but once s/he attains office s/he does something else entirely. Are we all corrupt minded? I can very well tell you that is true. Does it mean we don't have anybody who in the face of graft can stand his or her ground and say "No, I won't corruptly enrich myself"? I am sure we have such people but like they say, societal decay is inevitable when good people take the back seat in governance and public administration. Show me where they are.
So the only solution is to begin to train the little ones who are our future the importance of loving their country with a stubborn resilience, not relying on government to provide all the solutions to life issues and making really stringent laws to militate against corruption and penalize perpetuators. Our values as a people has come under serious attack from nefarious people who glorify wealth above wisdom, money above morals and riches above resourcefulness. Until we understand that the older generation (from 16 years and above) have lost the battle of self discipline and are more likely to misuse and mismanage power and resources if given the opportunity, then we can begin to make provision for the once whose tabular rasa's are empty and can be shaped for good.
Our homes aren't even doing enough to train our children. Some parents don't see their ward daily because of the chase of financial freedom. In fact most parents are doing a bad job at it and in my little experience, most kids from 2 - 5 would rather listen to their 'aunts' and 'uncles' in school than listen to their parents. They adore them. So, if we seriously want to end corruption in Nigeria, we need to introduce it as a subject into the Nigerian curricula system and train our children to hate it. Capish!
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