Guardian Nigeria
There is no regulatory force on the planet earth that can control the human nature. In this clime, we find it difficult confronting the origin of our problems brutally and thus the menace of yahoo boys and Ponzi-schemes of different coloration will keep emerging and repeating with intensive frequency and expanding scope.
Every year, we harvest mass production of graduates in their thousands from the nation’s tertiary institutions coupled with the population of scholars from Diaspora without a systematic employment provision programme except the one-year mandatory NYSC scheme.
The burden of the EFCC as an organisation dedicated to anti-corruption crusade would have been made easy if mass employment provision scheme were put in place to complement the efforts of the commission.
The opposite is the case. About 85 per cent of the present challenge of insecurity, armed robbery, rapping, kidnapping and internet fraudster are traceable to the cumulative pressure of unemployment. The pool and large numbers of unemployed work-force are subjected to the cruel fate of life and misfortunes destiny can throw at them without remediation or bailout from the government.
A mind, body, spirit, and soul devoid of noble purpose and higher aspirations in the midst of fear and uncertain environment is not only a potential devils workshop but breeding ground for all criminalities. A nation where this planning gap is allowed to take root, out of error of omission or commission, is certainly sitting on a time bomb. Nigeria is seemingly approaching the edge of precipice. It is time for all-right-thinking citizens to rise from the dark room of ignorance and reserve bench of indifference to champion the current wind of change and transformation under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Refusal to learn from experience, blindness and unbridled pride to learn from the mistakes of the fallen heroes and those whose garment of honour were not soiled out of discipline, probity, accountability and transparency in spite of holding the lever of power for several years in the service of fatherland and of course inadequate knowledge of the strategic chess-game of power, is to learn the hard way.
It is easy for people to cut corners and point accusing fingers to what is naught, without looking inward to the root cause of their problems. When the ‘white-lion’ was at the helm of affairs in Kogi State, one of the poorest states in Nigeria, His Excellency Alhaji Yaya Bello assumed a god-like position, answerable to no one except unto himself.
Today, Bello is living a cow-boy-like life resurrecting from one corner of Kogi State to another in Abuja with different toga and attire, crying of persecution and witch-hunt. No one is after the white-lion except the shadow of his footprints while in the saddle.
Well-meaning Nigerians must advice the ex-governor to stop orchestrating the current ‘macaba dance in the open market’ by surrendering himself to the EFCC. It is incomprehensible why some Nigerians are riddled with pretense and irrationality. Most of us are bereft of conscience, and for many, our conscience carries a price tag. Wherever you place your card, no sane-minded Nigerian is expected to protest against the EFCC in view of its nation-building roles in the realm of anti-corruption. It is patiently a miscarriage of democratic rights.
The EFCC saddled with the anti-corruption war machine is seemingly over-taxed and over-tasked in the mix of the spider’s-net and systemic chain of corruption in Nigeria. In essence, corruption is an all-pervading menace that has eaten deeply to the socio-economic and political fabric of the nation. From generation to generation and time to time, it is business as usual. The EFCC is at a breaking point, suffocating and bleeding profusely as a result of the mounting pressure of its overloaded tasks, life threatening operations and multi-edge temptations in the mix of exploding cases of corruption. The EFCC is in dire need of life support, not of oxygen but active support and commendation of Nigerians.
The crème-la-crème of the society, frontline politicians and top government functionaries with direct access to government funds, consultancies and contracts are the incubating agents of corruption. They are stone-hearted and blinded with desperation to accumulate wealth through foul means through different administrations and successive governments from 1960 to date. Petroleum oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1954.
The sales and revenue accruals in billions of Dollars and trillions of naira cannot be accounted for in terms of development except in the pockets of our leaders either in ‘Khaki or Agbada’. It is the same story, lamentation upon lamentation about corruption being the greatest impediment to the growth and development of Nigeria. In real life, when an organisation fails to react or respond to the dictates of its environment by way of changing its initial assumption, strategy or methodology, the result is often failure. This is the exactitude of Nigeria. Therefore, there is an urgent need for radical judicial reforms that seek to address corruption as a malicious assault on the state and principal headwinds to the growth and development of the country. This must be vehemently resisted or eliminated in the overall interest of the nation through creative exploitation of the penal system.
In my very candid opinion, the anti-corruption war in Nigeria is yet to begin not until and unless there is a radical judicial reforms where the penal system is creatively exploited with appropriate capital punishment. In a constitutional democracy, the judiciary is a separate and indispensable organ of government charged with the responsibility of dispensing justice.
However, the justice system so far in Nigeria has proven to be an ineffective solution or deterrence to the monster of corruption because the judiciary itself cannot claim exemption from the fangs of corruption. But, through sweeping judicial reforms and recriminalisation of corruption as offences within the threshold of treason with attendant capital price, anew game-changer might have been found in the anti-corruption war in Nigeria. Kudos to the present chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede.
What a lone-voice in the wilderness? The outer space is not for the faint-hearted. Keep up the tempo. Many fertile grounds remain uncultivated, many secret haven yet undiscovered and many free-floating assets with hidden identity in our space. The chairman of the EFCC, Olukoyede deserves the support and commendation of Nigerians.
Prince Osebayowa can be reached via:
oluosebayowa@gmail.com
