Corruption loot,shouldn't go back to where it was looted.
We must understand the reality of today. That a war against corruption is a lost war. It has never been won by any nation. Even in China, where death is penalty for culprits, corruptions still strives, though not flourish.
Going by definition, corruption is defined as a dishonest or illegal behavior, especially of people in authority. However, I see it more as the bad habit of every individual. For example, if a political office holder deceitfully inflates the award of a contract, or he or she gives undue privileges to his or her friends and family to secure government contracts, that is corruption. If a market woman systematically reduced the congo of garri to make more gains at the detriment of her customers, or a fraudulent banker deduct funds from customers account without their consent, that is another corruption. Or may be a motor mechanic deceives his clients to take money for a vehicle spare part he claimed to have bought, without actually buying it, all of them are corruption and we must first understand it from that perspective.
‘’Corruption is not just about the actions of leaders or those in government, it is those bad habits exhibited by people of different strata in their everyday life activities.’’ And if law had been the strongest method of curbing evil practices such as corruption and other heinous crimes, they would have been eradicated long ago.
In the case of corruption, it is a self inflicted vice and bad human traits are the causes. This cannot be rectified by mere pressure or punishment, positive appeal and diplomacy must play critical role. In the case of pressure or punishment, one offender may be caught while the other may not, then the evil practice goes on. Provided one offender may escape justice, no judgment body can ever eradicate this evil practice entirely. However, corruption doesn’t just occur, many factors aid its root. Every now and then, there is a rise in prices of commodities, but the question is how many times in a year have salaries increased? There is a huge gap between income and living index. It should be at par. Life has become miserable with the current inflation. Due to the need of money, many people fall prey to the cheap means of earning such as bribe. Government lacks the basic compassionate understanding towards its own people. The government does not control the fee hike of the private schools which is enormous. Same is with the private hospitals. Treatment is very expensive and government is not bothered to put a control over it. They simply travel abroad for medication. It seems life and quality educations are only meant for the rich. Even state owned institutions are not affordable for state workers. This happens in a country which struggle to pay its workers N18, 000 minimum wages. And now, many states government cannot even pay salaries at all. If state workers can’t afford to send their children to state owned University due to fee hike, where can such children acquire their education? It is tough to afford, but people strive for it by indulging in corruption. Who is mainly responsible?
From Wikipedia, it is said that, corruption is in philosophical, theological, or moral perversion. Governmental corruption of judiciary is broadly acknowledged in many transitional and developing countries because the budget is almost completely controlled by the executive. The latter undermines the separation of powers, as it creates a critical financial dependence of the judiciary. But irrespective of judicial independence, judiciary is corrupt. Judges sell judgment to the powerful. How million of dollars got to the homes of judges become a misery. A mere registrar in Supreme Court was caught with billions of naira. The proper national wealth distribution including government spending on the judiciary is subject of the constitutional economics. By the above submissions, it is crystal clear to every individual that corruption is not healthy or desirable in a progressive or aspiring progressive society. However, despite this clarity, many across the world are today corrupt in one way or the other due to the above submission. And if we truly want to prevent corruption as it is being widely said, we must take necessary steps to correct all identifiable anomalies. Limiting our discussion to political corruption which has been described as the abuse of public power, office, or resources by elected government officials for personal gains, e.g. by extortion, soliciting or offering bribes, etc.
Corruption they say destroys a nation, but I say if properly understood, can be used for transformation, at least as a temporal measure. Evidences had shown that, government’s effort to arrest the menace of corruption in our society have proven not functional, especially in a world were democracy is regarded as the most acceptable form of government. The same democracy has proven in most cases, as being responsible for the increasing corrupt practices across the world, because the more the politicians, the more the corruption. Corruption and democracy are said to be inseparable. Unlike in military government, where the head have power to order certain and immediate actions against any culprit and to a larger extent hinder his juniors officers from massive corruption, a democratic head have no such power.
Additionally, democracy by itself cannot be blamed for the increasing act of corruption, as it had clearly defined mode of engagement which when applied properly will prevent any act of corruption, but failure to abide by those rules and principles such as separation of power, rule of law and many others have been a major source of concern. Again, corruption has always been there before the advent of democratic governance.
Thank God the current administration is recovering some corrupt loot.
So, what should we do with our recovered loot?
1. Keep the loot in the country: Never allow looters launder our resources out of the economy
2. Heavily tax unoccupied properties: The numerous unoccupied mansions owned by people will suddenly be filled up by those needing decent accommodation
3. Keep the money circulating: People with certain account balance should be encouraged to own physical businesses that employ workers. The money should be productive
4. Support entrepreneur: Recovered loot shouldn’t go back to where it was looted, it can be re-looted. it should be used for funding growing SME’s