"The biggest Boko Haram in Nigeria today is corruption", says a well-known Catholic archbishop. The man of God is not just correct in his analysis, his contention that the evil of corruption may precipitate the disintegration of the country much faster than the extremist Boko Haram sect is, in my considered opinion, quite insightful.
Nigeria is number 143 on Transparency International's corruption perception index. Scaled on a maximum score of 10, Nigeria is adjudged to have scored 2.4, meaning that the country scored 20 percent. That is the kind of score that made a lecturer in the University of Ife of old to personally confront one of his students with the admonition, "don't ever attempt this course again!"
There is a direct link between the level of corruption in a country and its level of poverty and underdevelopment. If you ever wondered why our professionals in various fields emigrate at the slightest opportunity, here is the answer: Nigeria is slowly but steadily grinding to a halt on account of the stranglehold of corruption. Our people are shipping off to places where they can at least breathe easily under the rule of law.
Ghana is ranked number 69 with a score of 3.9; South Africa is No. 64 with a score of 4.1; Niger, 134 with a score of 2.5; war-torn Liberia scored 3.2 to place 91st and equally war-ravaged Sierra-Leone garnered 2.5 points to place 134th. Considering their circumstances, both Liberia and Sierra-Leone did remarkably better than Nigeria.
Comparing Nigeria with countries outside the continent is predictably more depressing. China is ranked 75th; United Arab Emirates 28th; Japan 14th; and Saudi Arabia 57th. The problem has nothing to do with the form of government practiced in each country. A monarchy could be less corrupt than a socialist country. We borrowed the fairly used ideology of capitalism from former colonialist Britain and their big brother, the United States of America; but the USA placed 24th (despite all the Halliburton scandals of this world) and the UK is ranked 16th.
Hardly one day passes without a fresh report of corruption surfacing in the public sphere. From the presidency and the National Assembly through the 36 states and the FCT to the local governments and community development areas, it is a tale of corruption bazaars all around. The judiciary itself has not been insulated from the evil, to the extent that Nigerians see a contest in the courts as a game of the highest bidder. Religious and traditional institutions which used to be the custodians of the values of the people have joined the corruption train. No institution of consequence is immune. We are swimming in a big cesspool of evil.
Yet we choose to live in denial. Hypocrites that we are, we like the world to think that we are religious people! We use God's name in vain to cast a false halo over our sinful heads. We have lied so much about our circumstances that we are beginning to believe our own lies.
The US State Department in its 2011 report on global human rights said the three tiers of the Nigerian government were ridden with "massive, widespread and pervasive corruption". It noted that "the law provides criminal penalties for official corruption; however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity." Each time we are told how ugly we are, our leaders resort to fake patriotism, even blackmail. Truth be told, there is corruption in every nation under the sun; it is the level of the vice that we are talking about here.
Corruption uses a walking stick called graft to amble along the corridors of power as we have seen in several cases including that of Farouk Lawan, the former Mr. Integrity who allegedly tried to use his position as chairman of the fuel subsidy probe committee of the House of Representatives to enrich himself. What rankles is not just the act of treachery, but the bare-faced gra-gra that follows detection of the crime. It makes one wonder if these fellows were not at home on the day God was distributing shame to humanity. It is only in this country that a thief looks you straight in the eye and bellows, "So what!"
The Farouk Lawan saga reminds me of an incident which happened some 28 years ago. At Iddo Motor Park in Lagos, a rogue tried to steal my sunglasses from my car as I pretended to be asleep. I grabbed the fellow's hand with my sunglasses still clutched in his right palm. But wonder of wonders, the fellow belted out a loud scream, calling on fellow ruffians to "come and see this useless baba olowo" making false allegations against him. A barrel-chested motor park 'judge' promptly showed up and asked me if the fellow had actually taken away my sunglasses. "He would have taken them if I hadn't caught him", I said. The 'judge' ordered me to apologise to the would-be thief for wrongful accusation.
He lectured me that a person was not a thief until he made away with the stolen item. I took one look at his green teeth and the horde of layabouts surrounding my car and - apologized! (Yes!) I counselled myself that discretion was the better part of valour.
But in the Farouk Lawan case, he collected the money and kept it for several weeks. We probably wouldn't have heard anything if there were no 'comebacks'. If yesterday is an indication of what to expect today, then the Otedola/Lawan case will go the way of all others before it. NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!
I have often said the greatest challenge facing the Jonathan presidency is corruption. Yes, there are several security challenges but corruption is my number one Nigerian challenge. You can't even begin to fight terrorism if you condone corruption. If every officer in sensitive position is more interested in the bribe his office can dribble into his pockets than in doing the job for which he is paid, isn't it clear that terrorists and other vicious elements would easily buy their way out of trouble?
To be fair, corruption did not start with the Jonathan administration. But he is the one in the saddle now. Nigerians want him to be seen vigorously fighting corruption and making highly placed thieves face justice.
The long-suffering people of this country get the wrong vibes when a politician convicted of fraud pays a courtesy visit to the president.
The war against corruption also requires the president not to be seen in the company of fraud convicts and people of questionable integrity.
This is Nigeria, not Briberia! I hope and pray that Providence grants President Jonathan the courage to change the things he can, the serenity to accept the things he cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.
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