NIGERIA& CORRUPTION: TIME FOR DECISIVE ACTION!

The magnificent edifice housing the Federal Secretariat, Abuja.

That Nigeria is under the jack boot of corruption is no longer in doubt. The mystery now is that it has continued unabated. This deadly scourge has eaten so deep into our national physique that only a decisive action can pull the nation from what a bystander called a “burning fiery furnace”! While one leader after the other has continued to treat the monster with almost laughable measures, the brains behind the orgies are not relenting, instead dealing Nigeria a crushing blow. No small opportunity passes without a scandal or someone, most often a trusted leader—turning an ‘official position” into a cash cow—if for nothing else but for the fun of it. You wouldn’t want to draw a similarity with the biblical “Sodom and Gomorra”, but that is exactly what we may be having on our hands. The figures keep escalating and the sheer scale of the theft recorded is unbelievable. No sector is spared and if you are wondering why the nation is sinking, you better not look further.

Take the Niger Delta as an example. Because of the need to confront the infrastructural problems bedeviling that region, the Federal Government had come up with various panaceas designed to meet that purpose. The NDDC was created, followed by the Niger-Delta Ministry. Others like the Amnesty Programme, increased Derivation formula and such other perks followed. But rather surprisingly, greed and avarice crept in. Within years, a once laudable objective was hijacked by so-called leaders of thought, Pressure Groups; Elders using numerous acronyms emerged and cornered “all the allocations”. With nothing to show on ground, it was only a matter of time for militancy to rear its head. For example, from 2010-2015, NDDC received N1.68 trillion; N-Delta Ministry, N431 billion, Amnesty Programme, N348 billion, totaling N2.4 trillion! This is a region where you commonly hear such craps like “this is  our son”, “this is our oil”, “ our God given inheritance”; yet, despite  presiding over affairs themselves, the region is a sorry site in environmental degradation, oil spills, hunger, strife and hotbed for militancy. “There are no good schools, hospitals, recreational center not to mention motorable roads’, said David Umogha, a wielder in Effurun , Warri, a bustling city in the oil ravaged region.

At the Federal level, details emerging are heart rending with trusted Government officials abusing their positions by stealing outrightly or misappropriating scarce public funds meant for life saving projects. Where else in the world can $15 billion vanish and be tolerated if not Nigeria? The money was budgeted at a critical time for a genuine case-to fight insurgency- yet, mindless officials had different ideas:  they pocketed the money! Today, no conviction has been recorded; instead the case has become one of witch hunting! An informed technocrat joked the other day that had the former President Jonathan not been voted out, he may have sold the country! Current President Buhari is a known hardliner, but hired lawyers are using the Judiciary to frustrate his daring efforts. But opposition critiques say his efforts are feeble—if not cosmetic. “Buhari knows what he is doing; the Nigerian situation demands no less a draconian action than his gallery attempts”, said Ibrahim Musa.  They point to the fact that some corrupt officials who helped him to power and amongst those who raped the nation are being shielded leaving his hands tied.

Now panic has set in with dwindling oil, high foreign exchange and prices sky rocking daily; Nigerians are now faced with the grim reality of famine.”This ugly trend won’t stop politicians from fumbling because no one is ever punished and so they believe that they are tin-gods”, said Ibrahim Musa, an Abuja based Economic consultant. He told the Expose News that had there been deterrents such as obtainable in other climes, the menace would have been curtailed. “But now it is free for all and winner takes all”, he said, adding that without the death penalty being implemented, the nation may well be chasing shadows. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if President Buhari would muster up enough political will to introduce drastic measures and rescue the country from the abyss.