Mr Christian Tom For some time now the Nigerian society have appeared to have come to terms with the truism that for the country to ...
Mr Christian Tom
For some time now the Nigerian society have appeared to have come to terms with the truism that for the country to transcend into the league of developed nations, be taken seriously in the committee of states, the cancer of corruption must not be treated with levity but be decisively dealt with.
Today our population is fixed at over 120 million and the youths make 80 percent of that figure but sadly statistics of youths that are gainfully employed appears undoubtedly shameful at about 25 percent.
The question as to what have kept the nation on its knees, splash feces on its face, stripped it of her pride and expose it to insecurity, violence, bigotry, anger, ethnic rivalry, restlessness, distrust and contempt is not farfetched from corruption.
Corruption manifests itself in many forms and dimension. The government appears to be paying lip service to the fight against corruption. I recalled that one of the manifestos of the present administration that cajoled many Nigerians, including my humble self to voting the present administration into power was her promise to loosen its armory’s loins and employ all the machineries and arsenals in her kitty to annihilate the giant monster called corruption if voted into power.
They got us wooed; they knew our weakness which is nothing but a sincere wish and desire to see a new Nigeria, devoid of corruption. They capitalized on our collective weakness to trickily score the winning goal-victory.
After about two years of stirring the ship of the Nigerian state, it has appeared that the attainment and achievement of this lofty goal of a new Nigeria devoid of corruption is astronomical. The peoples’ hope no doubt have been dashed, trust and confidence sacrificed leaving them bare handed like a cause of action that have been vitiated by statute of limitation.
The government acclaim fight of corruption have been maimed and saturated with personal, parochial and cabal interest thereby making mockery of the essence of the fight in the first place.
More disturbing and worrisome is the fact that till date the government has failed to present her diary of corrupt people who they claim looted funds have been recovered from. This very act itself is a particular instance of corruption. The position of the law in Min. for Environment, Housing and Urban Development V C.C.B.D. Co Ltd (2012) ALL FWLR Pt 644 pg 74-75 for Salawa JCA illuminates it all:
“Public office can equally be abused for personal gains, or even where no bribery occurs, vide patronage, nepotism, misappropriation or THEFT of public properties or inordinate diversion of public resources. Paradoxically, the hydra dreaded monster known as corruption, has affected the entire fabric of the Nigerian society. …Thus, the solution to corruption must be aggressively pervasive to encompass every segment of the Nigerian society”.
The government owes its citizenry the sacred responsibility of carrying them along in her course and when the citizens are left behind and uninformed, they become prone as preys to the manipulative whims of actors whose action may be inimical to the collective interest of the state.
A dear friend of mine yesterday left Nigeria to Mali and when I inquired as to his rationale of doing so, he swiftly recounted his ordeal of roaming the street for five years after graduating from the university without a job. He argued strenuously that the government claimed to have recovered huge sums from looters of the treasury but questioned the sense of it not being put in projects or used in building industries that will in turn provide jobs for teeming unemployed youths? He frowned at being reminded of the decay and deteriorating site of the Nigeria refineries which the government’s promise will be fixed in her one year in office.
It was at this point that I recalled the notable advice of Ikyegh JCA in Enahoro V O’cerons Limited (2015) All FWLR Pt 776 pg 46 when HIS Lordship emphasized on the essence of the need for a man’s word to be his bond.
‘’…a man shall not be allowed to blow hot and cold-to affirm at one time and deny at another making a claim on those whom he has deluded to their disadvantage ...’’
The above quote pronouncement therefore nailed the present administration both in honour, conscience and Justice.
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