Elite infidelity and political corruption. It is no exaggeration to assert that the root cause of corruption in Nigeria lies in the willingness of many members of the elite to go to any length to find the means with which to satisfy the inordinate material ambition of their lovers. These women used what is known as their ‘bottom power’ to make the powerful do the most irrational thing.
Nigeria is a multicultural nation of diverse people, multiple identities and colourful outlook. It has a population of about 210 million, 400 ethnic groups; two major religion and 36 federating states. However, poor management of corrupt practices coupled with the complex platforms of diversity had violently rocked the basis of the country.
Corruption in Nigeria is often misunderstood and restricted to only financial misappropriation but is far beyond that. Former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, described Nigeria along-side Afghanistan as fantastically corrupt country. Nigeria was for several years ranked the second most corrupt country in the world by transparency international. Some of the corruption cases were so brazen that one begin to doubt the mental stability of the perpetrators because of the magnitude of the theft.
I wonder how could a few individual would easily embezzled amounts that could be used to budget expenditure of a whole fiscal year with no conscious. Recently, a pilot survey by ICPC indicates that between 2018 and 2020, about 9.5 billion was corruptly demanded, offered and paid as bribe in Nigeria.
This has made a lot of people to start questioning the sincerity of the anti corruption crusade. Some segment of population are of the opinion that the anti corruption agency are nothing but a toothless bulldog; they are more of an instrument used to witch-hunt and subdue political opponents. However, some of the basic reasons why solving corruption practices in Nigeria remained in a myth include but not limited to the following:
Elite infidelity and political corruption. It is no exaggeration to assert that the root cause of corruption in Nigeria lies in the willingness of many members of the elite to go to any length to find the means with which to satisfy the inordinate material ambition of their lovers. These women used what is known as their ‘bottom power’ to make the powerful do the most irrational thing. There is a saying amongst my people that “behind every armed robber, there is a lover.” Many of the men whose official authority are not convertible to means for meeting the exorbitant needs of their lovers, are force to resort to either white collar crime such as embezzlement, fraud and other mechanism of getting other people’s money.
Social obligations and official corruption is another reason Nigeria is still battling hard to remove the badge of corruption in its fore head. The tradition of obligatory gift and counter gift giving have made many public office holders to deep their hands into the public treasury. In Nigeria, a government official is oblige to provide employment for job seeking relations, pay school fees for poorer relatives, give gift to kinsfolk when he/she visits their home area and provide elaborate feast at ceremonies. These imposes a lot of binding financial obligations far beyond what can be defrayed from legitimate income of especially those who are in the junior and intermediate position in the bureaucratic hierarchy. This attitude has made a lot graduates to remain unemployed because they don’t know anybody and many retirees penniless.
Also, lack of accountabilty and transparency in governance is another reason that keeps corruption well and alive in Nigeria. The 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended noted that the country’s leaders must be accountable to the people they govern. In practice however, upholding the practice of this principle remain a serious problem that Nigerian political system continuously confronts. Even election which supposed to be a means of fostering accountability have become a ridiculous means of giving false legitimacy and approval to the inordinate ambitious and self-perpeatuation of pretty tyrants and autocrats in office. It it sad, that transparency in the performance of current administration has been a total disappointment as people’s representative at the Federal, state and local government levels have resorted to looting public treasury in an unprecedented manner. Corruption is not only prevalent and all pervasive but is perpetrated with impunity.
The growing lack of patriotism among citizens is another reason corruption continue to flourish and eating deep into the fabric of the nation. The level of patriotism among Nigerians is highly disappointing compared to our neighbouring African countries. For whatever reason, that is not a good omen for it portends a great danger to nation building and security. Allegiance of an average Nigerian is never to the country but to their region and ethnic groups. Some prefer to be addressed by their respective ethnic groups and regions than to be called Nigerians. They keep flags of their political parties and other foreign countries in their car in place of Nigerian flag. The question is, how many Nigerians hoist the flag of their country in their houses as a symbol of patriotism? All that is happening the younger generation are watching and learning and they would grow up believing that there is nothing worth fighting about this country. Unless something is done, the future of this country is bleak.
Finally, Prebandalism is another factor to be added to lists for it has equally contributed in deepening the roots of corruption in Nigeria. Prebandalism is a style of leadership characterized by plundering and expropriation of public good for private and personal use, as a result, Nigeria and Nigerians are negatively affected. The effect of these lead to electrification project abandon, half-baked graduates are produce, pipe borne water not available. These situation further pauperises the masses to continue to sink deep and deep in to abject poverty.
Hence, Nigerians must wake up before is too late. It is only the day we wake up that we would be able to send a clear message that this country can not continue to be misgoverned. We should start voting men and women who wish us well. Until corruption is treated as crime against humanity for which punishment should be ultimated we would never see peace. This could only be possible when the Nigerian population accept that corruption is a bad thing, that would mark the beginning of the success in the fight against corruption in the country.
Mubarak Ibrahim
Faculty of Communication
Department of Communication
Bayero University, Kano.
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