CORRUPTION HAS BECOME TRADITION
Corruption
Editorial
At the turn of Africa’s independence, the expectation of citizens was to have a continent free of the inadequacies of the colonial administration. The colonial masters exploited Africa, and dehumanized its citizens. In all his strength and reason, the Europeans saw the African man as “a monkey that has developed the ability to reason.” Able bodied men were cart away into Europe for labour exploitation. In all their domination in Africa, the relation between the colonial masters and the Africans was that of master and slave. Denigration, disillusionment and despair defined the chaos that characterized the colonial atmosphere.
Many decades after independence, a bad situation has been made worse, no thanks to African leaders who assumed the mantle of leadership at one time or the other since independence. In Nigeria for instance, democracy was truncated severally by military involvement at the different times in the nation’s history. The military intrusion in Nigeria between 1960 and 1999 was as a result of coups and counter coups. One of the consequences of the coups was the bloody civil war which lasted for thirty months between 1967 and 1970. Every citizen is now hungry for power because of the immunity for wealth and other material gains. People now acquire power not for the benefit of the society, but for their selfish ends.
This sort of situation has necessitated the wave of corruption currently witnessed in the country. Nigeria, in the words of former British Prime Minister David Cameron is second only to Afghanistan, in terms of corruption. He said Nigeria is “fantastically corrupt” while introducing President Muhammadu Buhari to the Queen of England in 2015 (Source: CNN and Aljazeera). Corruption has eaten deep into every fabric of the society including the religious institutions. This has resulted to abject poverty in the land; a capitalist situation in which the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
Morris Wanton says corruption is “the dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery. It is the illegitimate use of power to benefit a private interest.” Corruption is the exchange of money, goods and services in place of due process. It involves the embezzlement of public fund for personal use and any act which is considered to be criminal act according to the law of a particular society. Nwangwu, P. U says “corruption is [a] potent cancer that has mercilessly eaten Nigeria to a state of stupor.”
Causes of corruption include greed, unemployment, poverty and deprivation. Greed has caused a lot of crises in the world, including Nigeria. It is because of greed that political leaders embezzle from the funds they are supposed to use for national development.
Poor moral youth empowerment is a contributor to corruption. Internet fraud, sexual harassment by Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), and other bad acts are Nigerians ignorance on the importance of youth empowerment. When parents and governments empower youths both financially and morally, the level of corruption among them will diminish.
According to international standards of poverty, a person is said to be poor when he lives under $1.25 (₦457.50 though it varies) per day. Very many people live below that bench mark. According to World Bank Group, in 2004, 63.1% of Nigerians were rated poor. In 2010, 68% of the Nigerian population was estimated to be poor. A person can take bribes to commit crime because he is poor. It is one of the reasons why the poor youths in the country collect bribes to work as thugs for Nigerian politicians.
Unemployment is one of the major challenges in Nigeria and does not need much explanation because it has broken the hearts of many citizens. People are pushed into corrupt practices because of high unemployment. An unemployed citizen can indulge in corruption to make money and live better. Nigerians are lamenting the negative impact of unemployment in their lives. When the heads of public service are busy laundering the money that is supposed to be used to create employment for the masses and reduce poverty, there is continuous rise in the poverty level of the country.
Any country with high corruption is likely to experience developmental bankruptcy. A situation where some CEOs indulge in corrupt practices to make their money translates to poor economic development; when Nigerians keep on shifting the country’s currency to foreign countries, there will be less economic development in Nigeria.
Social crisis in Nigeria today is direct or indirectly the result of corruption. The insecurity in Nigeria brought about by Boko Haram, farmer/herders crisis and others are consequences of corruption. Corrupt politicians are fighting using different methods because it benefits them when the land is in chaos. The attacks by Boko Haram, Niger Delta Avengers, herdsmen/ farmers and Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) have caused disorderliness in Nigeria and seriously affected the economy.
The way out is a holistic approach; total attitudinal change and government will to punish people who engage in corrupt practice at all levels. Every Nigerian must lookout for due process in government, organizational or individual transactions. For once, the government should make politics unattractive for actors who use every opportunity to experiment their well planed corruption. We must do this to avoid what has become a popular say that- “corruption will kill us if we do not kill corruption.”
