Sir: A video of Boris Johnson riding his bicycle to a corner shop in London to buy some items has excited Nigerians a lot. No convoy. No police escorts or secret police. The former Prime Minister (PM) appears like every other person in the neighbourhood.

Earlier this year, I have also seen a video of the Dutch prime minister drive himself in his private car to work. No convoy. No SUVs. Only the PM, driving himself.

Now, compare this with the lifestyles and conducts of our political leaders in office, and those who left office recently or some years ago. We have read about former governors who took away government vehicles as they left office, some as many as 57 different vehicles. In and out-of-office, our politicians continue to live in opulence, with a large retinue of policemen and security detail, all at the expense of the people.

Their looted funds are stashed away in foreign banks, laundered through lucrative deals or are buried in pits in their compounds. While the ordinary citizens continue to wallow in rising poverty and are constantly being called upon to tighten their belts and make more sacrifices, public officials and even former ones continue to live in luxury and illicit wealth.

Last Monday, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State flew into Uyo in a chartered jet to attend a state function. It costs N10 million to charter a jet just for an hour’s flight. Who footed the N20 million bill for the return flight in that chartered jet for the former governor?

Corruption permeates every branch of government and every cadre of officials. National Assembly members reconvened last month to discover that flat screen TV sets, computers and other office furniture used by their predecessors in offices at the National Assembly complex have been pilfered. Huge sums are being voted to replace them. What manner of people will steal TV sets from offices and how could not be one single arrest for this?

The culture of a people determines the extent of their economic wellbeing. A culture that celebrates corruption, copious consumption and promotes incompetence and ethnic bigotry over excellence can never create economic development.

Nigerians are impressed to see a former prime minister of a G7 country ride his bicycle for grocery shopping himself but the same Nigerians would celebrate a politician at home who stole billions from the treasury and is living in unexplained opulence. They would deploy ethnic sentiments to defend their kinsman who is arrested for graft. You’d hear such talks like ‘‘Leave him alone; is he the only one who has stolen money in this country?’’

Nigerians are confronted with rising poverty and cost of living crisis not seen in more than a generation, compounded by massive frauds and corruption that go way back. If the citizens, especially the elite, do not form a consensus and rise up against corruption, incompetence and decadence, the country will continue to go around in circles, mired by miserable economic situation.
Etim Etim.