As far as I can recall, of all the problems confronting us as a nation at the moment, none has been with us from independence except corruption. So it is either the measures put in place to tackle it have been inadequate, or we have approached the solutions without enough sincerity of purpose. Either way, the damage to our psyche and image has been unwholesome. Regrettably, rather than face the issue with all the seriousness it deserves, we have done very little to weed ourselves out of its debilitating effect.
Corruption means abuse or misuse of power for personal gain. You are corrupt only if you have the power to abuse/misuse. It may sound a bit extreme, but I have this belief that the best way to avoid corruption is to avoid power. A cashier, a storekeeper, a cleaner or house help, or the security man, could misuse the little power under his/her care by stealing, extorting and deceiving others in order to gain something for personal use.
I site the above example to show that those at the lower level of the social ladder can be corrupt. For those at the middle and upper level, their misuse/abuse of power for personal gains is everyday occurrence and attracting daily discourse in the media. So, the cashier who steals money through larceny or skimming scheme or the storekeeper who steals inventory under his/her storage, are fraudulent or corrupt, just like the government functionary who steals billions of dollars entrusted in his/her care, thereby abusing the power he/she enjoys!
But as I’ve argued elsewhere, lamentations alone cannot solve our problems. Events of the last week, as clearly highlighted by anti-corruption protests led by some activists in Abuja, have given some of us renewed hope that the docility associated with our people when it comes to social issues may be a thing of the past. Thanks to the renewed voice given to the people by social media platforms, Nigerians are now easily mobilised to march to the streets to lend their voices anytime there is the need to do so. I am sure this new power will make our leaders more accountable and will ultimately expand the democratic space by making it more participatory at all levels.
The realization of the new civic powers the people had led Nigerians across board to condemn former President Goodluck Jonathan when he made that infamous remark that ‘stealing is not corruption.’ What became apparent during the last administration was that government’s ambiguous stand on corruption helped its spread and limited the ability of anti-corruption agencies to do an effective job of curtailing it. That was why few days after the presidential remark, ICPC chairman, Mr Ekpo Nta, in a stunning revelation, said “stealing is not the same as corruption.”
President Muhammadu Buhari sold himself to Nigerians during his campaigns as a fearless anti-corruption crusader who would not tolerate financial malfeasance from any quarter. His records, during his time in office as a military Head of State, supported by his Spartan life style, convinced the whole world he was for real. Now back in power as a democratically elected President, the expectation on him has quadrupled. From Nigerians to friends of Nigeria, there’s almost unanimity of voices that corruption has to be fought to standstill. The president himself acknowledged this fact when he said we must kill corruption before corruption kills us.
The menace of corruption in both public and private organization is corrosive to the extent that the legendary author, Chinua Achebe, in his book ‘The Trouble With Nigeria’, warned that ‘corruption in Nigeria has passed the alarming and entered the fatal stage and Nigeria will die if we keep pretending that she is only slightly indisposed.’ Three decades after Achebe’s warning, rather than reducing, the menace has evidently increased.
The determination to kill corruption must be supported with every power at our disposal. It must come from all strata of the society, and corrupt persons must be made to feel ashame of their past misdeeds and when necessary, made to face the full wrath of the law. This new vigour got a boost from an unlikely quarter early in the week when the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, came out swinging against a corrupt political, business and bureaucratic class. He asked the president to be unsparing in his fight against corruption, and all those who are found culpable should suffer for their explosion of the people’s trust and violation of our patrimony.
The Sultan’s intervention was as strong as it was emphatic; and it echoed the sentiment of many Nigerians who took to the social media to vent their anger at reports that some influential and respected Nigerians had pleaded with Buhari to spare some people in the corruption fight. I fully support the idea of due process and the rule of law, and I’m confident Buhari and his advisers will not engage in extra constitutional procedures in the battle to tame corruption.
When you fight corruption, corruption will fight back with impunity, so Buhari, in addition to promoting the virtues of honesty, uprightness, diligence and hard work, should create enough awareness to show that he’s neither witch hunting, nor doing it for self-glorification or seeking to be applauded. His motive should be to make Nigeria a better place for all its citizens.
No comments:
Post a Comment