A heist at hajj commission

SIR: According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the sum of N90 billion allocated as subsidy for the 2024 hajj, has vanished from the coffers of the Nigerian Hajj Commission (NAHCON). The head of the commission when the money disappeared has been fired by President Bola Tinubu and investigations are ongoing. But in a country where corruption in public office is an heirloom with investigations always running into impregnable stonewalls, what hope is there that Nigerians, stolen blind by the rampaging greed of a few will find any sort of justice?

Nigeria remains a secular state and salutarily so. The greater number of Nigerians prefer it this way and have no aspirations to live under a religious state and its fanatical and hypocritical hordes. Pilgrimages are private matters of personal faith that should be left to individual choices. The Nigerian state has no business getting involved.

Resources are scarce in Nigeria. What is left after public officers steal to their satisfaction is hardly enough to service the other sectors of the economy like health and education not to talk of the luxury of expensive pilgrimages to other countries. The Nigerian factor also ensures the slots for state-sponsored pilgrimages only falls to privileged citizens who can otherwise sponsor themselves to the pilgrimages but prefer to deprive others of the opportunity.
 
The Nigerian state continues to tragically assume the role of a meddlesome interloper, dabbling into issues it has no business with. Now that one of those issues has been exposed for what it is—a front for fraud—it must be scrapped.

Nigeria should wash its hands off it. Having overstayed its welcome, the welcome mat must now be forced to wriggle away from it. Having proven to be an unconscionable and questionable drainpipe on Nigeria’s scarce resources, it is time to bin it.

Nigeria’s much heralded return to democracy continues to overshadow the fact that successive governments have been insensitively expensive. While Nigerians have become poorer, government officials have continued to increase the cost of maintaining themselves and their offices. The result is a government disconnected from the people, and mind-boggling corruption.
 
The fight against corruption in the country has also served to distract Nigerians from other pressing issues. Nigerians have been roundly and repeatedly deceived by deceitful politicians who tout dubious anti-corruption wars to divert attention from their incompetence and ineptitude. Nigerians need to confront the systems and structures that enable corruption in the country. The mentality and culture of corruption embarrassingly embedded into every aspect of life in Nigeria must now be dislodged. This is easier said than done as corruption permeates every aspect of Nigerian life.  As gleaned from chilling revelations concerning the Hajj Commission in Nigeria, even the dictates of religion do little to discourage the corrupt mind. If religion was a strong factor, those who embezzled the money would have refrained given that the funds were appropriated for a spiritual exercise.
 
Nigerians know why the leaks in their country have defied plugging to leave them in such a mess. The battle against insidious corruption cannot be won by the state alone acting through suspect agencies. It would require a seismic shift in mentality and culture. With the way things are going, that shift is a bridge too far for Nigerians.
Ike Willie-Nwobu, [email protected]