MANY times I have hinted at
what I call the ambivalence
of Nigerians about
corruption. Indeed, what I
mean is that we are all
hypocritical about our
concern over corruption.
Otherwise how is it that
very often those who are
ostensibly in pursuit of
transparency or those
fighting corruption are
invariably caught in the
very act of corruption?
What I see most times are
people who are incensed
that someone else is doing
the stealing, and not them.
Given half a chance, they
out-steal the people they
were criticising yesterday.
Oh; the smart phrase
nowadays is “the hunter
becomes the hunted”! In
other words, the thief and
the “catcher” easily trade
places!
The common axiom is that
while you are pointing a
finger at someone, three
other fingers are pointed
directly at you while one,
the thumb points upwards
in obvious non-
commitment! Another way
to put it is to call attention
to the man in the mirror.
He may, in fact, be the very
thief you are looking for. In
one of my articles in the
eighties I propounded a
theory that the decibel of
the noise of a Nigerian is
directly proportional to his
distance from an
opportunity to steal. The
nearer he gets to the
opportunity, the less his
noise.
When he finally arrives at
the opportunity, he is dead
silent! Until a man has been
“politically
exposed” (apologies to Mrs.
Farida Waziri, ex-EFCC boss)
and comes out clean, I can
never take him serious.
Assets declaration and
the law
That brings me to the noise
from the opposition since
Sunday 24 June 2012 when
President Jonathan insisted
during the Presidential
Media Chat, that there was
nothing in the law that
compelled him to declare his
assets publicly.
First, how could we
Nigerians have forgotten so
soon that this matter was
always hotly debated in
various constitutional
conferences and we were
given cultural reasons why
we would not allow it,
including the ridiculous
excuse that relations would
prey on you if they know
what you have? It was our
choice that public
declaration of assets was
not necessary. And we have
not changed the law.
Although during the media
chat, the President kept
saying that it was “a matter
of principle”, I believe that
he meant it was a matter of
choice. Many people had run
away with the wrong
notion that the President
refused to declare his assets.
I believe that, as President,
he had declared his assets as
required by law. Declaration
of assets is compulsorily
done by a public officer
latest within three weeks of
taking office and after
leaving office. In some cases
even before you take the
oath of the office. If a
public officer wants to
make his declaration public,
that is his choice. Not
making it public does not
detract or conceal anything
because the declarations are
VERIFIED!
Making a declaration public
should no longer be an issue
to be politicised today given
the Freedom of Information
Act. Under the Act, anyone
interested in assets declared
by a public officer can apply
to have them. It serves no
useful purpose, even as
mere symbolism, in our anti-
corruption war except to
satiate the pallet of a
society with a huge
pornographic appetite for
salacious stories.
In my view a better way to
fight corruption is through
tightening the loopholes
within the system, tighter
and more open budgeting
system, strict enforcement
of laws, effective tax
system that retrieves what
is stolen and jails the culprit
for tax evasion if we can’t
nail him on graft and our
society being more
courageous in shunning
unexplained sudden wealth,
on the one hand. We can all
see that the present catch
am, catch am method of
anti-corruption crusade is
not working and can never
work, no matter how many
people symbolically declare
their assets publicly.
Hypocritical opposition
On the other hand, I think
the opposition that is railing
at Jonathan is annoyingly
hypocritical. The leaders of
the opposition have held
public offices. Some just left
office.
I think a better way to
pressure Jonathan to
publicly declare his assets
should have been for the
opposition leaders to cast
the first stone by declaring
their own assets publicly.
Some of the hypocritical
opposition leaders are linked
with assets they could
never have acquired even if
they were to earn a million
Naira a month all their days
in public office!
And why do Nigerians still
think that it is only the
President, Governors and
Ministers that can be
corrupt? Until recently, who
would have believed that a
director in the civil service
could keep N2 billion cash in
his house? Some of those
civil servants with torn T-
shirts and worn shoes have
estates all over Abuja and
mansions in their villages!
The so-called private sector
may even be more corrupt
than the public sector. After
all, apart from direct filching
of public funds, many
instances of bribing are
masterminded by the
private sector. If we are
going to be serious about
the war against corruption
in Nigeria we must first of
all appreciate how pervasive
it is and stop playing politics
with its eradication.
NYSC and Boko Haram
AFTER the 2011 post
presidential election
violence, the Director
General of the NYSC
promised that youth corps
members would no longer
be posted to states where
they would be exposed to
danger.
The killing of corpers has
continued with the
terrorism in some Northern
states. Many parents are
now worried that their
wards are being posted to
violence-prone states in the
North where these corpers
cannot go to church, market
or even to their place of
primary assignment without
being killed, and at a time
some state governments
have sent buses to evacuate
their students from those
states! The NYSC should not
expose graduates to