AREN'T WE ALL CORRUPT?

“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

You’ll never understand the word relativity better than the crooner himself. Even the dictionary defines it as ‘a description of matter, energy, space, and time according to Albert Einstein’s theories.

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

IS NIGERIA READY?

“The work of Nigeria is not complete for as long as there is anyone Nigerian who goes to bed on empty stomach”…Ibrahim Babangida

A Promise?

I remember myself as a kid when our teachers coined songs and poems that constantly reminded us that we were the leaders of tomorrow. This is a very common saying in Nigeria which generations pass down to younger ones with a tone of voice which resembles that of regret, feeling of betrayal and darkness at the end of the tunnel.

Apparently, this scenario is not only familiar; it also isn’t peculiar to Nigerians either, if you observe around you’ll see that the entire world looks like it needs fixing and the older folks still believe that the saddle is meant for them to handle, not embracing the imperative principle of succession plan.

How possibly pessimistic can one get? As life is perhaps perfect as they say, despite the self inflicted wars, terrorism, corruption, conspiracies, propagandas and seeming bleak future being forced upon the subconscious mind of the upcoming generations, giving nothing of worth to look up to.

“Democracy, religion, education and terrorism have all become practicable norms all over the world, thanks to globalization”…Tony Osborg.

A Discovery?

Very evidently, the world has evolved into a more intelligent, adaptable and perhaps more receptive lot, growing through experiences, new found passion and purpose to live, replicating the jungle, only in urban perspective.

We have awoken to the reality that numbers are infinite and so is the space which harbours the heavenly bodies so much that our vague insecurities spur us to find alibis to summarize human lives with figured forecast, trajectories and statistics through charts and projections.

Companies now pay more attention to the bottom line at the expense of human lives which of course degenerates further, and naturally creates a ripple effect which comes around to haunt and deplete the protagonists that will rather let their pride swallow them than admit their thoughtlessness.

Nigeria is the most populous nation of the dark skinned race, independent to make decisions and define their own future; apparently we do not understand or appreciate the magnitude of this fact. The opportunities that abound are limitless and are actually for the taking, but despite the world criticism and the consistent highlighting of Nigeria’s potentials, it just appears that the spirit is willing but the body is weak.

“An economy funded by subsidy is no economy in an ideal sense”…Tony Osborg

The Truth

What is the reality really? The facts and figures that the Nigerian media presents to the rest of the world have always been controversial. For instance, the number of casualties that the Nigerian media report during accidents and terrorist attacks is always denied by those directly involved as largely inaccurate. The recent Boko Haram strike in Baga in the northern part of Nigeria was said by Amnesty International to have claimed over 2,000 lives, but the Nigerian Government denied the claims and said only 150 victims passed away.

 

“Terrorism will never cease in a country where the so called leaders are criminals and terrorists in disguise.”…Michael Bassey Johnson

If the citizens of a nation cannot take the words of their Government officials to the bank, then there is a great vacuum in the communication and trust department.

It is actually very difficult to be dishonest these days with the advent of internet which is capable of providing the minutest of information at the speed of light. So, the information that you do not have is the one you are not yet ready to get.

  

“Without doubt, our inability to design and implement a sustainable economic framework has resulted to our precious market to the productive countries”…Tony Osborg

Principles

Ever heard of karma? I’d call it “Badass”, well… more like vengeance which strikes without consideration. Can you believe that there are actually a bunch of jokers within high circles that mindlessly siphon monies belonging to the government, impoverishing the economy and pauperizing the citizenry? Apparently they forget that ill gotten wealth alters the human self concept, changing their psychological dynamics specialized on a mission to destroy the loot, thus the saying “Some people are so poor that all they have is money”.

They squander the money on being relevant by buying certificates, titles and all other ways to boost their egos and justify their purported legitimacy, oh what burden.

“It is the duty of youths to war against indiscipline and corruption because they are the leaders of tomorrow.”…Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

Hope

No other word brings more optimism than hope itself. Yes corruption wines and dines with us as often as we breathe. Look around you, corruption is probably here to stay, and no doubt it has been around for as long as we sure can remember.

Why? Well, a school of thought greatly criticizes the system; the national structure which has a higher population of poor citizens actually encourages corruption in every sense of it, especially in a situation where there is no equilibrium of thought, actions, cause and effect.

 

For instance, the lack of infrastructures such as power, roads, health care, education, security etc have drained away the value of the our national currency, leaving the citizenry with no choice but to naturally let their survival instincts clamour alternatives for other sources of income, and by implication they become open to suggestions, and the odds are that a very tasty and tempting corruption act due to deprivation will always be one of them.

“Ready or not, here I come, you can’t hide, I’m going find you and make you want me!”…The Fugees

Are we ready?

 

Ready for what you might ask? I’d say are we ready for the future?

From the prevailing realities of the circumstances that presently surround us, it does appear that we hardly have a direction which we ourselves have channeled as a chosen path to succeed. 

There is no magic involved, when you’re ready, even you will know and the entire world would move aside.

The impending National elections have really shed light on the abundance of hearts and what we are probably capable of doing.

The major players in the political terrain have displayed their prowess in digging up archives to make other parties look bad, but the real issues have not been tackled. There have not been clear-cut objectives laid out as a show of respect and courtesy to the Nigerian populace to at least acknowledge or accord them the sense of belonging, pride or notion that they are intelligent, educated or whether their opinions actually count nonetheless their votes.

The new generation are now bustling with renewed energy and enthusiasm for life as they have found out something new, they have come to the realization that anything is possible, we are taking initiatives, well...emulating the creative and productive ideas from the international scene through the multi-billion Dollar entertainment industry, the multi-faceted Information Technology cyber world, the designing, engineering and even business strategy world at a phenomenal rate and style, racking up chunks of money for their establishments.

So in essence, anyone who attempts to stop their shine as the modern days artistes say it, or  those who try to slow down this moving train would have a much garnered momentum to contend with.

So in summary, from my honest view, it doesn't really matter who wins the forthcoming general presidential elections holding in Nigeria on the controversial March 28th 2015 as against the previously scheduled love date February 14, what really matters is whether Nigeria is ready to confront her longstanding issues and also summon the rare courage to surmount them. 

So, is Nigeria ready?

Thank you.

Akin Abimbola. akinzogee@gmail.com

Source:   Google

               Can Nigeria bake her own bread?

               Wikipedia

               Goodreads

               Johnathan Lockwood

               Multiple Streams of income

               The Fugees