RHAPSODY OF CORRUPTION: EIGHT YEARS OF ‘CHANGE’ AND IMPOVERISHMENT
*And We made them leaders, guiding (men) by Our Command, and We sent them inspiration to do good deeds, to establish regular prayers, and to practice regular charity; and they constantly served Us (and Us only). (Quran 21: 73)*
By Babatunde Jose
After eight years of supposedly relentless war against corruption and waste in government, one is saddened to come to the realization that nothing has changed. What will be bequeathed to the incoming administration is anybody’s guess, especially bearing in mind that it will be peopled by the same party and dramatis personae of the current administration. Woe betides the man who thinks that change would come easy to this forsaken neo-colonial state.
Taking stock of our situation in the last eight years, facts are clear to us that our ‘great’ expectations and anticipation turned out to be a ‘hopeless hope’ and our rising expectations at the inception of the regime becoming a revolution of rising frustration, now turning to despondency. We waited in vain for the promised change, but it never came. We were forced to sit by the river of Babylon singing the Lord’s song in a strange land.
Looking at the whole matter of corruption and unfulfilled promises in retrospect, one is bound to come to the inescapable conclusion that there is no hope for the most populous Black nation on mother earth.
It is neither for lack of intention, nor of laws, and policies. The regime inherited a country mired in what The Economist of London described as *“industrial scale corruption”*, which others describe as *‘corruption of Biblical proportion’.*
Yet, despite the intentions to do good and the needful, _‘water pass gari’_ as the saying goes and the people have been worse of for it. Traumatized and pauperized, many have been reduced to begging for their daily bread. Even the rich have been crying. It has been 8 years of roads going nowhere. It has never been so bad for an economy that promised great things at independence, reduced to rubble.
Our patrimony continues to be stolen by those we elected and appointed as custodian. Monies are now brazenly stolen in the denominations which not so long ago were unbelievable. I never contemplated the day a man will be accused of stealing 100 billion. Yet, it has happened without remorse. Women too have invoked gender equality and joined the fray, embezzling with careless abandon.
Everything the administration has done in terms of infrastructure has been at hyperbolic costs. Our roads are the most expensive per kilometer anywhere in the world.
Our economy is in tatters while the stealing of our single resource by oil thieves has constituted the greatest drain on our revenue.
Now we are hearing that they are thinking of dolling out humongous severance pay to the architects of our predicament and misfortune. It is hoped they realize that they would be collecting ‘blood money’. Not only has our economic welfare suffered a battering, our security has also never been so bad. We have literally been sentenced to Thomas Hobbes ‘state of nature’, a condition which he describes with the Latin phrase *‘bellum omnium contra omnes’*. Meaning, _‘war of all against all’_, in which _life is ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’__
The administration claims to have spent over N2 trillion on Social Investment Programs, SIP, yet the state of the poor Nigerian has become worse. According to the World Bank, in its ‘Poverty and Prosperity Report’ 2022, it stated that Nigeria contributed three million people to global extreme poverty, and that every minute, over six Nigerians enter the extreme poverty bracket.
After eight years, the government has been unable to deliver on its promises to provide basic electricity; in fact, it is incapable of even distributing 4000MW, which was what the last administration was delivering eight years ago. Consequently, we are still in the ‘dark ages’.
It is ironic that in its eight years this Administration did not build a single new refinery nor fully repaired any of the existing ones. Rather it continued the ruinous subsidy regime brought about by the odious policy of fuel importation by the largest oil producer in Africa. A country without shame!
An examination of other unkept promises of the administration is tantamount to a litany of betrayal: Air Nigeria did not materialize, Abuja Light Rail missed its way, Kaduna/ Abuja Road, failed, Abuja/Kaduna/Kano Gas pipeline too was a failed promise, including the promise to decimate and crush insurgency. Kidnapping on an industrial scale continued and there has been no regression to the menace of Fulani herdsmen.
However, undaunted by institutional constraints, the EFCC and ICPC struggled bravely to fulfil their mandate. The increasing number of prosecutions and convictions, with associated refunds of large sums of money, is still ongoing.” But that is far as the story goes. Corruption was not forced into hibernation or retreat.
We even hear that the ‘Lady with the diamond bra’ has been saying that she is in the UK for treatment of aggressive breast cancer and not a fugitive from justice. Ogaju!
A close inventory of high-octane corruption cases at the inception of the administration unfortunately returns F9 results. All are still walking free and enjoying their loot. Some, as the case may be, have lavished theirs and are back on the political corridor begging for crumbs.
Many politically exposed men under the radar of the EFCC and sundry agencies were quick to jump ship and cross to the ruling party. Pronto, their cases were swept under the APC rug. With another APC administration, fear is that these cases will forever remain cold. What a country and what a party that rode to power with the promise of change.
According to a Punch Editorial: _“As he leaves office, corruption is ascendant.” And the country is “sinking deeper into the mire of corruption.”_
_“What went wrong? The reasons are varied. One is that corruption will always fight back. But decisively, the regime’s anti-corruption war was defeated by its own internal contradictions, and self-subversion, and by lack of firm leadership.”_
Overwhelmingly, institutional weakness enables most politically exposed persons to walk free. In 2022, Buhari granted pardon to two convicted politically exposed persons, Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame, ex-governors of Plateau and Taraba states respectively.
A suspended Accountant-General of the Federation allegedly was able to steal N109 billion out of which he has returned N30 billion, according to the EFCC. What happened to the huge balance from the heist? And he is not yet in jail! Financial analysis indicated that if 1million naira was being spent every day, it would amount to 365 million naira in a year. It would therefore take 10 years to spend about 3.6 billion. And 100 years to spend 36 billion naira. Haba!
Many of the corruption cases, particularly the high-profile ones, remained pending before the courts due to administrative or procedural delays.
Buhari’s promise to sanitize the budgeting system that facilitates massive looting by public servants and federal legislators did not materialize. Budget padding has continued without any publicly known consequences for the complicit lawmakers and civil servants.
In 2021, an NGO compiled a list of 25 top corruption cases linked with stolen or mismanaged funds worth N900 billion, which the government was investigating but were left dormant.
According to the Punch, in years to come, when the history of failed war against corruption is written, analysts will cite Buhari’s customary inattentiveness, his lack of hands-on supervision, other leadership lapses, cronyism, and failure to rein in members of his inner circle and heads of key agencies, and the influence of the corrupt political elite among others.
The Punch Editorial concluded: _All these and institutional weakness played their part. But perhaps the most decisive is this: Buhari did not realize that in a diverse, polarized polity like Nigeria, sectionalism in appointments and policies, nepotism and exclusionary practices are also enablers of corruption that were bound eventually to weaken and subvert the war. From the start, therefore, the war was doomed._
Let them not forget Quran Chapter 101 promises a reckoning:
*The (Day) of Noise and Clamor: What is the (Day) of Noise and Clamor? And what will explain to thee what the (Day) of Noise and Clamor is? (It is) a Day whereon men will be like moths scattered about, and the mountains will be like carded wool. Then, he whose balance (of good deeds) will be (found) heavy, Will be in a Life of good pleasure and satisfaction. But he whose balance (of good deed) will be (found) light, Will have his home in a (bottomless) Pit. And what will explain to thee what this is? (It is) a Fire blazing fiercely! (Quran 101:1-11)*
Their preoccupation with aggrandizement is condemned in the Quran: See (Quran 102:1-8) (Quran 103:1-3)
In the end nothing counts. The only tragedy is that the rest of us are unwilling collateral damage. But Allah knows best, and He is the best Judge of the matter.
We pray that change will come soon and someone will start restoring this country to its glory.
*Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend.*
*Babatunde Jose*
