By Muyiwa Adetiba of Vanguard Newspaper:

I found an older friend watching African
Magic when I called at his place. I joined
him out of sheer respect and civility,
although the channel is nowhere near one
of my preferred channels. But as always,
there is some good and some lesson in
everything.
The film was essentially about two young
men who left the village to try and make
good in the city. In the course of their
wanderings, they met Sugar Mummies
who took care of them. They soon grew a
large appetite and gradually began to dupe
these women — the fingers that were
feeding and clothing them. Then they
wanted one big haul that would set them
up for life and didn’t care if that could
cripple their Sugar Mummies. They
succeeded in fleecing these women and
headed for the village.
They probably would have gotten away
with it if they had not taken so much
from their benefactors or if they had lived
wisely and invested the money in some
slow yielding but long lasting venture. No.
They envied the fast, flamboyant lifestyle
and wanted it all. They threw parties and
caroused young girls.
As it now happens everywhere in our
society, the village elders saw money and
threw principles and traditions to the
wind. They made these young men chiefs
and elders and accorded undeserved
respect to them. Those who protested were
loudly shouted down.
Meanwhile, the Sugar Mummies felt
embittered by the money they had lost and
the manner they lost it and vowed to
pursue their toy boys. Unfortunately, the
lavish lifestyle of the two young men gave
them away easily and they were caught.
The story ended when they were being led
disgraced and in handcuffs, into a waiting
Police vehicle.
For me, the story depicts so much of
what is happening in our society today.
From the morally depraved Sugar
Mummies – one of whom was in her
husband’s house – to the morally
depraved village elders who now had eggs
thrown on their faces, to the thieving,
greedy young men who would now spend
time behind bars.
Except of course there probably would be a
twist in real life if they still have some
money left. With money in our society,
they probably would settle the Police who
would declare shamelessly, that they had
escaped along the way, or failing that, the
Magistrate who would find a technical
ground to free them. Some society.
A society where those who were supposed
to investigate NEPA and fuel subsidy
allocations turned out to also need
investigators because they had soiled their
hands; where those to administer pension
funds became daylight robbers; where
justice is becoming cash and carry; and
where people of low character have
ascended high judicial offices preferring
to support rather than admonish
criminals( the likes of Dr T. Elias must
be turning in their graves); where high
profile thieves are given Presidential
pardon; where our word is no longer our
bond.
A society where oil, which is supposed to
be a blessing either in its crude or refined
form, seems to stain everybody it touches
in Nigeria. And it has touched a lot
people including ministers we thought
would make some difference on account of
age, education and exposure but have
turned out to be as bad, if not worse than
their predecessors.
The conclusion seems to be inescapable
that what we have as leaders – in politics,
business and the civil service – are
common thieves in high places.
The rot is so deep that it is now in the
family system, in the religious system;
even in friendly, social clubs. Everybody is
looking for somebody else to steal from.
And we wonder why PHCN can not give
light; why the rail way is still in
planning stages several years after; why
contracts award is the most interesting
duty of our executives( both in public and
private); why partnerships don’t work;
why businesses don’t outlive their
founders; why brothers fight brothers
over properties they didn’t work for. Its
all for this thing called money. And what
do we do with the money we maim and kill
for?
Someone I know came for holidays after a
long stay in Canada and was feted by his
close friend. When he saw me after the
outing, he exclaimed ‘you people are mad
in this country. Imagine a bottle of
champagne costing 150,000 naira. You
people are mad’. He repeated. I didn’t
have the heart to tell him there are more
expensive bottles at some clubs. I just
smiled and said ‘that is part of where the
stolen money goes’
Yes. We steal so we can buy exotic cars and
liquor; so we can buy houses we don’t need
and keep some for grandchildren who are
yet to be born.
We steal, so we can celebrate anniversaries
with millions of naira and give our sons
and daughters away with more millions,
throwing parties that don’t make sense to
any rational person in a rational country.
We don’t steal to impact lives or set up
industries. Oh no. Instead, we steal to
indulge. Sometimes, I think we steal just
because its there to be stolen.
The day our leaders decide they don’t need
James Ibori’s kind of wealth or Cecilia
Ibru’s kind of property acquisition, that a
good name is better than material
acquisition; and that leadership at the end
of the day, is about people and leaving a
place better than you met it, is the day
Nigeria will begin a positive walk into
sanity and propriety.
Until then, we are just a nation of
common thieves.

www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/thieves-everywhere/