Corruption is synonymous with Nigeria, a genre that has been mined to death. I know you're tired of reading about corruption. But forgive me for boring you once more because corruption is one of the things we can't stop talking about because it provides perfect overview of Nigeria as a haul of thieves and the audacity of corruption.
Repetition makes the message stick. Corruption has become our living relic whose image and impact onlookers eagerly try to capture for posterity.
As movers and shakers of corruption from both political parties – All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – change parties and shift stations, the incoming ones sing along to the blaring tunes of “CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGE!” The old journeymen of corruption now serve as welcome mats for the soon-to-be-inducted members into the haul of thieves of the corruption colony. The meaning of change by the APC led federal government is gone – a reminder that time stops for no man. Even President Muhammadu Buhari the change symbol of APC is fast losing the war on corruption.
At the conference on climate change in Marrakech, Morocco, President Buhari bitterly complained to the US Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry that “the anti-corruption crusade of his administration has been made tougher by the vigorous fightback by corrupt people in the country.” As the shadows of Buhari administration shortens and the war on corruption lengthens, taming corruption – the jewel of the ruling native imperialists becomes more and more impossible.
With raw sewage of corruption oozing out from everywhere, Nigeria has become the worst corruption slum on earth. The daily and daring fantasies and the meteoric rise of corruption barons in Nigeria is breathtaking. Consider the neck break speed, the avalanche of looters – cash and carry – the endlessly annoying, record-shattering looting heist of the titans of our corruption industry. It's been a constant self-destructive, kill-or-be-killed race toward supremacy of corruption.
With the wider smorgasbord of corruption, every known democratic structure and institution have now become a shrine to corruption. Even among the throngs of looters and passionate evangelists of corruption, there is mistrust and simmering resentments to outshine and out-corrupt the corrupt. With the sharks-vs.-fish competition among the looters, the extent and the extreme of corruption in our country, there is no way out of a mutually assured destruction by the pimps and godfathers of corruption.
Buhari was elected primarily on his anti-corruption platform that sparked hopes for reform and economic growth. Regrettably, progress on both fronts has been suffocated. Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, derives more than 90 percent of its foreign earnings and two-thirds of its tax revenue from oil exports. But because of haul of thieves birthed and bred by corruption, there is nothing to show for the billions of dollars in oil revenue.
The names and histories of past and present Nigerian rulers support and approve predatory governance. In 2012, one report said corruption had gulped $37 billion worth of Nigeria's oil money over the last decade. That's more than the annual economic output of more than half of the countries in Africa as well as Nigeria's annual federal budget. It leaves Nigerians blighted with extreme poverty and violence. If a movie on the haul of thieves were to be made, the star villains would be Abacha, IBB, OBJ, while the state governors will be best supporting artists.
The northerners had ruled Nigeria for more than 38 years of Nigeria's 56 years of independence. Today, more than half of the people in the north live in poverty. The thieves have engineered the combination of staggering wealth, rampant violence, and abject poverty in Nigeria. No wonder, Nigeria is a paradox of one of the world's richest and the world's poorest. The ability of the ruling thieves to appropriate our commonwealth leads to corruption and oppression. They are not accountable to our people through a social contract based on taxation and representation. They seem to be saying “we don't need the consent of the people to govern.”
The government is deluded. It believes it's still the government of change. The fact is, delusion is a powerful barrier to change. The kleptocratic government will argue that they're working hard behind the scenes, that Nigerians are impatient, and that change is on the way. Seeing is believing – show us! For the aficionados of greed and graft, they have reached the apex of their game. Their personal greed has inflicted painful consequences for the entire economy and millions of poor Nigerians.
The open display of stolen wealth, lack of humility, lack of remorse, shameless audacity and rude pomposity of the thieves to impress and oppress the robbed, will ultimately whip politicians and the legion of the poor into an increasingly hostile alliance. It is never the disasters you see coming that finally come to pass – it is the ones you don't expect at all. That's the fire next time... not at the polls but in the streets!
bjoluwasanmi@gmail.com
BY BAYO OLUWASANMI
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