WHY NIGERIA STINKS

Amaechi Josakweker argues there is still a lot to worry about corruption

The propensity of every country to not only gain respect but also enjoy influence amongst its peers is determined by its local state of affairs and international bargaining power. Potency of the latter depends on condition of the former. The natural resources of a country empower and sustain her international bargaining power. By natural resources I do not just denote minerals but also geography, landscape, climate of such country and more pertinently, her indigenes and overall citizenry. The nature of mentality and manner of dexterity her citizenry commit to the discovery, allocation, organisation, application and management of her mineral deposits; taking full advantage of the peculiarity of her environment, majorly ascertain her buoyancy. It is this ‘buoyancy’ that informs her bargaining power which in turn feeds her influence.

Zooming in on the Nigerian dimension, an overview of her peculiarity of citizenry comportment and resource administration provides much justification for deep worry. The reality of Nigeria’s wealth of raw materials is a fact locally shared and internationally acknowledged so much that it now makes for nothing more than boring chitchat. Measuring this attribute alongside our accomplishments thus far and comparatively relating it to the achievements of our counterparts who are not near endowed as us arouses gross disappointment, dissatisfaction and begs the question, why? Why does the mathematics of the Nigerian situation of [plenty people + plenty mineral resources = little development]? What could be wrong?

We are wrong. Our attitude and behaviour towards our mineral resources and country at large is in paralysis – stung by corruption leaving Nigeria to stink with its constantly worsening consequences. Nigeria has been variously labelled a corrupt nation because of its several dysfunctionalities and illogical realities. She has undergone an apparently unending series of system fluctuations for ages to the extent that our developmental agenda has remained in unpalatable flux.

There is discontinuity in government policy. The end of tenure of one administration and inception of another always introduces brand new ideology collisions instead of continuity of policy, project and resource allocation fuelled by unity of purpose. This conflict is brought on by clash of interest dictated by greed, nepotism and categorical bias in areas of family, religion, tribe and ethnicity.

The “on and off” fever and “back and forth” movement of decision between governments depicts lack of a sustainable development plan by government front liners. This is evidenced in the manner positions in government are allocated to individuals without appropriate certification, prior or current experience or exposure in the area of society selected. Elections in the first place are not nearly free and fair but a distraction to the unsuspecting public and triumphs are at best a disguise to cover tracks of corrupt predecessors.

Theft of government funds and their illegal transfers to foreign economies translates to destructive corruption that reduces our national wealth while increasing that of developed societies who already exercise unrivalled international bargaining power over us. Unimaginable crimes of embezzlement, forgery and falsification of project contracts by “pen-on-paper” government apologists go unaccounted for, while the law is favourable to the powerful but effective to the powerless. Prisons are overpopulated by petty criminals while the rich are handed perpetual injunctions to prevent their trials.

‘God fatherism’ hampers novelty and suffocates nobility in leadership candidacy within party politics and all units of organised supervision in corporate, social and communal society throughout the nation. Politics is not practiced by intellectual interaction granting power to the hand of superior ability, vision, ambition and proposition. The side you are on is what verifies the kind of attention your ambition attracts. Administrations change but our situation stays the same; bad roads, absence of water supply, dilapidating government infrastructure and epileptic power supply.

Laws have a role to play in the general ambi- ence of a country. Breaking such laws instilled to introduce and maintain order distorts the peace and progress they stand to ensure and protect. In the event that laws are broken, strict and irreversible punishment should be meted out to defaulters no matter their ranking in society. Punishment in question should be commensurate with crime orchestrated. In Nigeria, laws are only effective on paper; only acknowledged by pen and only applied in chamber cabinets. People commit crime with impunity since nothing will happen and when justice ‘threatens’ to happen, it is reversible by bribery since law enforcement officials are easily bought. Law enforcement agents are even those driving one way, beating traffic lights, and driving recklessly. How then can development truly be ours for the making? Do we even have a developmental agenda? Current trends continue to teach just as history has taught us that almost every facet of Nigerian society can be bought over. Once you have money to spare you do not have to play by the rules because those who enforce the rules can be manipulated by it. Some N200 is enough to skip queues at airports and familiarity is enough to jump lines in banking halls. Add some more and you can get the promotion another merits.

Learning and recurrently ascertaining level of knowledge imparted is a vital aspect of human development, continuance, improvement and accomplishment. Letting a child think cheating at school to pass exams is okay or even encouraging him to - is corruption. When good grades are false, how does one truly measure the quality of a child’s mind?

Undergraduates at our tertiary institutions are repetitively subjected to the same academic curricula their ancestors endured without update of lecture materials and renewal of academic equipment. Theory lacking modern discovery and contemporary trend is rendered without consideration to empirical evidence, and then we term them unemployable upon graduation. Sexual harassment and bribery in our universities in order to derive deserving or desired scores or to graduate entirely has overly deteriorated. That desired confidence in locally produced graduates is shaky and lacking. How does one ascertain the originality of degrees got given our present decline in education standards?

Getting employed is nonsensically tedious and to worsen matters, who you know is what authenticates your qualification for employment instead of valid certification, skills and experience. There is no wonder national output in volume and quality mismatches expectation.

There is uniform system failure. Mediocrity thrives over professionalism and result orientation in Nigerian corporate service where servicemen and women linger stagnantly in the practice of offering empty apologies as solutions to service failure that are otherwise needless if commitment to duty and stringency to professionalism were priority. People want applause for doing their jobs while others want ‘tips’ to do their jobs. Service failure proves inevitable for individuals who resist this mediocrity.

Greed laced by poverty of the mind overshadows attention to detail and respect for bureaucracy. We perform our work shabbily yet when termination of job opportunity is imminent we blame someone else. There is always an excuse for indiscipline or poor performance – feigned poor health, sick relative, sick child, private life tragedies, traffic jam in my area, boss is unnecessarily difficult, senior colleague hates me, rainy day, car broke down, not being paid enough, no transport money… the list stacks on. General maintenance culture is poor even when funds are periodically allocated for the maintenance of infrastructure, upgrade of service and welfare of staff.

Corruption is not a tangible entity that can be summoned by name or identified by form. It is a psychological impediment in the philosophy of man visibly represented in his actions and output. We credit our disunity and stagnancy to tribalism and religiosity whereas corruption has proven to be the big brother of all. amah.josa@gmail.com