“Power does not
corrupt men; Fools however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt
power”…George Benard Shaw
Movies &
Realities
I don’t know how much you love movies, but I do hope you
won’t be judgmental if I said I easily fall into the ‘movie goers’ category.
Somewhat justifiably though, I have got my alibis and one of them is that movies
provide vast ideas on what and how one writes. Anyway, there’s this classic
movie “The Rock” which starred veteran actors Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage.
Basically, the movie is about a bunch of soldiers that went rogue, and then
went ahead to hold tourists captive in an abandoned, high profile correctional
facility known as the ‘Alcatraz’ for a large sum of money.
The punch line for me in the movie is a major intellectual highlight when the commander of the bad soldiers changed the coordinates of a launched chemical warhead targeted at a concentrated crowd in the city, causing the missile to head for the sea. This sparked aggression among the other soldiers turned mercenaries, and as one of them asked their commander what went wrong and discovered there was a possible mission compromise. He simply asked what he expected the government that they asked for a substantial ransom to think, was it that they were incompetent or whether they were cowards that backed away from their words?
“Corruption is the
enemy of development, and of good governance. It must be got rid of. Both the
government and the people at large must come together to achieve this national
objective”…Pratibha patil
Principles
Corruption is probably the most used word on the internet
due to its constant appearance in the news, it’s imperative reference, vague
stubbornness and everyday consequential emphasis. Well, maybe I should at this
point just say “Without prejudice” and then follow it up with an apology in
advance, in case this write-up, which seeks to create an awareness and engineer
a possible constructive criticism of the negative trend, that in as much as we
seek to by principles describe things as they are and as we see and perceive
them, they may actually as truth does, hurt, embarrass and expose condescending
aspects of our very selves.
Perhaps due to maturity, experiences and some level of exposure, I have humbly come to terms with the fact that it probably makes a lot of sense to be a huge fan of principles, in other words life becomes a lot easier when we appreciate and familiarize ourselves with the laws that govern the earth, laws such as gravity, leverage and systems.
As the saying goes “A House with a sandy foundation will
surely fall” so it is when institutions are being built on lies, deceit and
distrust.
From time immemorial, manipulative politics, propagandas,
poverty and conspiracies have greatly plagued our lands, degenerating the value
of human integrity and lives to an abysmal state.
We live in a society where despite our learned egos,
pride and insecurities, we unwittingly edge towards the perfect God model such
as systems approach and thinking, where we seek such perfection as how things
could run automatically just like our digestive, endocrine, circulatory and
respiratory systems, exclusively without our control or influence. The other
aspect of the systems approach richly emphasizes on multiple cause and effect
and how to be objective in perhaps realistic ways, fairly embracing logic and
emotional intelligence and in giving second chances or as much as may apply in peculiar
situations. As minute as the process might be, it is relatively subject to the
eco-system and how altering it can go a long way in causing ripple effects
which reverberate wrongly perhaps eternally.
“If a country is to
be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel
there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the
father, the mother and the teachers…A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
Corruption
Scholars have creatively come up with various definitions
and descriptions of the word which virtually everybody fears to associate with,
causing multiple schools of thought to infiltrate our striking minds.
One of which simply illustrates corruption as dishonest
or illegal behavior, especially by powerful people (such as government
officials or police officers). Other portrayals are: of something that has been
changed from its original form, : Impairment of integrity, virtue or moral
principle (depravity), : Inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as
bribery).
Nigeria has over several decades gained the reputation of
appearing on the list of most corrupt nations, ranking 81 in 1998, 90 in 2001
and 132 in 2003. (Corruption Perception Index)
These statistics are however as usual, overtly
controversial with the level of entrenchment of corruption in Nigeria, any
internally generated statistics have self inflicted questionable status. The
implications of corruption obviously reflect in the lives and international
perception of Nigerians all over the world. The level of distrust that is both
physically and psychologically communicated to Nigerians in Diaspora is utterly
embarrassing, but cannot be blamed on the international community because of
the crooked brand which has long stained the average Nigerian integrity.
“If you look at
great human civilizations, from the Roman Empire to the Soviet Union, you will
see that most do not fail simply due to external threats but because of
internal weakness, corruption, or a failure to manifest the values and ideals
they espouse”…Cory Booker
We need a Doctor
If corruption was a dude and he didn't have a strong mind or a leveling attitude, perhaps he should be dead by now due to the constant mentioning of his name in negative lights. Well, dude or not, apparently corruption is here to stay, crazy to say right? I’d say.
I get somehow confused with a smirk on my face whenever
politicians enthusiastically claim that they will eradicate corruption.
Seriously, it just further emphasizes to the world that something doesn’t quite
add up.
In Nigeria, corruption is like second nature, not because
the citizens want to or choose to be crooked, but unfortunately, the system and
structure of the country largely accommodates it to the extent that it is
practically impossible not to be corrupt to survive.
For instance, Nigeria has a very poor standard of living,
so economically that translates to a high cost of living which the nation
cannot actually afford, as it reflects on the low minimum wage, the pitiable
and poor budget implementation, lack of accountability of the national revenue
generation and poor infrastructural policies and project development.
A school of thought which provides new insight says that
corruption cannot be defeated, directly at least. Rather, the factors which
allow corruption to thrive are the terrorists which should be gunned down with
a well planned and researched strategy.
It is unclear if the salaries paid workers in Nigeria are
extremely poor or whether the influenced economic policies, lack of initiative,
dipped industrialization, poor motivation of the skilled work-force and
improper priorities have grossly reduced the value of the Naira, as the Pounds
Sterling and the Dollar tower over the Naira like a sky scraper.
It’s just like the “Law of buy-in”, the experiences of
people when they interact with someone gives them an idea of what they are proficient
in, almost accurately predicting their future capabilities, determining the
level one is willing to risk to involve themselves with them.
A few years ago at a petroleum subsidy seminar in Nigeria, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria who is the incumbent Emir of Kano in person of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, gave an impressive presentation on the state of the Nigerian economy, with facts and figures of mistakes made and imperative measures for projected growth and cushion effects and possible shock absorbers for the possibilities of the future.
He bravely confessed the silent truth before our very
eyes, the fact that Nigerians are corrupt, fingering the government officials,
but also indicting the members of the private sector as accomplices that
encourage it
“Corruption thrives
on the opportunity you give for people to be corrupt”...Sanusi Lamido
I remember growing up as a very inquisitive child, and I
also have the privilege of imagination, letting my mind freely wonder away like
a bird possessing the freedom to conquer the infinite skies.
I subconsciously sought to make sense of the world and what
it had to offer, and in the course of that accidentally let my passion and
enthusiasm for life becloud my judgment, thus stepping on toes in the process.
Older folks who found me guilty after chastising me always constructed a
sentence which stayed with me, ‘Put yourself in their shoes’ they’d simply say.
There is no better way to simulate an act than
imagining that you are in the exact situation under the same circumstance in
which you judge someone who was actually in it.
We constantly judge players during a football match, we
criticize politicians in political offices, we accuse doctors that performed a
failed operation, we blame lawyers that lose a case, we spite a poor beggar on
the street and the list is endless. Imagine you were in their shoes, would you
do things differently?
Relativity
Relative goes further in being considered in relation or
in proportion to something else, and existing or possessing a quality only in
comparison to something else.
Albert Einstein himself simplified relativity in a scenario
by explaining that if one stayed with his loved one for a long time, it would
seem as if time didn’t pass at all. Also if one observed an airplane fly past,
the speed can be noticed, but to the people that are inside the airplane it
would appear as if it barely moved.
When people do things from afar or their activity makes
them appear under the spotlight, it does appear easy, but the truth is that
there are some hidden pressures and other obscure forms of prevailing
influences that prevent the achievement of the desired objectives.
Some years ago, I was on the passenger’s seat in an
official car on an official assignment in Victoria Island in Lagos. Apparently
the driver wasn’t very familiar with the roads labeled ‘one way’, even I wasn’t
sure as the signs weren’t conspicuous. When we got to a specific junction, we
paused to ask a traffic official if we were approaching a ‘one way’, he simply
ushered us into a street and we even thanked him. To our shock and surprise,
some other traffic officials stopped us, accusing us of entering a ‘one way’.
When we looked for the previous traffic official to create an alibi, alas he
was nowhere to be found, it was a set-up. It was unbelievable, to cut the long
story short, we parted with an un-receipted, substantial amount of money before
we were released, does that make me corrupt? I’d say it’s relative.
Believe it or not, this is the real world in which we
live in, it is a world of cause and effect, people being creative in evil ways
to make money, and it gets even better in higher places, where it is rumoured
that high placed people in societies sponsor terrorism in order to benefit from
the weakness and vulnerability of the already failing system.It is probably immature for us to judge people hastily for we also judge ourselves indirectly, thereby unleashing the ugly sides of us, creating so much hate that makes reconciliation very difficult, and also making us liable to a more destructive criticism, as the saying goes ‘we don’t see things as they are, rather we see things as we are’. We view circumstances in direct proportion to our temperaments, which includes our knowledge, capabilities, fears, insecurities, pride, and courage.
Nigerians have never been as aware as they are now,
perhaps due to the availability of the internet, they are however now tasked
with the challenge on how they can creatively and bravely face their solvable
challenges of which corruption with our support arrogantly stares us in the
eye.
With the incessant sabotage of the forward movement of a
sleeping giant who slumbers for as long as I can remember, it may be good to ask
‘Is it that we are incompetent or whether we are cowards that back away from
our words?'
Thank you.
Akin Abimbola (akinzogee@gmail.com)
Sources:
Google
Wikipedia
Goodreads
Brainy Quote
The Rock (Movie)
Oxford Dictionary
The Transparency International Corruption Index
21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
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