Photo credit: mccoy.lib.siu.edu
Corruption
|kəˈrəpSHən|:
- dishonesty,
unscrupulousness, double-dealing, fraud, fraudulence, misconduct, crime,
criminality, wrongdoing; bribery, venality, extortion, profiteering, payola; informal
graft, grift, crookedness, sleaze.
- fall into corruption: immorality, depravity, vice, degeneracy,
perversion, debauchery, dissoluteness, decadence, wickedness, evil, sin,
sinfulness, ungodliness. (dictionary definition)
It appears that corruption has become a
Nigerian character and culture. About a month ago, my sister’s kindle was
stolen from a padlocked bag at the Lagos airport. The thief left the case and
plug of the kindle in the though. Funnier thing is, in that bag were 2
sealed letters. The thief opened the letters and seeing it was just letters
with no money squeezed and tossed them back in the box. Last Sunday, Simon
Kolawole wrote this article
on the level of corruption in Nigeria and I could not agree more.
We are quick to rile against
the government, elite and bureaucrats who are corrupt yet, we fail to recognize
that the rice seller who uses false weights is corrupt, the driver who cheats
his boss is corrupt, the mechanic who charges for parts not bought is corrupt. Also,
the banker who is involved in sharp practices is corrupt, the steward who
inflate the prices of food items for her madam is corrupt, the parents who buy
answers for their kids to pass WASSCE is corrupt. Not forgetting, 419, yahoo
yahoo and quack doctors. Collectively,
we blame the government and elite for being corrupt and also name them as the
cause of the corruption in our everyday lives. I wonder if it is President Jonathan
that inspired the Kindle thief. We forget that those who are in government-
bureaucracy and political- are a reflection of values and attitudes are a
society. The airport staff that stole the Kindle would definitely steal if
he/she holds a government position someday and he/she would be worse than the
current thief in government. Thus, it is not the “government position” that
turns one into a thief overnight. We also blame “the system” for the decadence
in our society as if “the system” is comprised of spirits.
Corruption is not just the
failure of the leadership but also the loss of our values and ethics as a
people. Until we begin to address dishonesty and immorality in our personal
lives, there would be no change at the governmental or societal level.
Corruption
pays in Nigeria and has sadly taken ethnic and religious dimensions. Case in
point- The “church donation to President Jonathan’s town. That was one instance
I was sure that everyone would agree was wrong- I was proved wrong. Now, my townsman and church member is being
witch-hunted if he is accused of corruption.
Apart from the economic costs
of corruption for example the $6.8 billion lost in fuel subsidy scam, there are
other costs such as relationships that are destroyed, images that are battered
and lives that are lost, and the loss of our value system.
I imagine that our ethos and
values was not always like this and this raises some questions
1)
I
thought that our culture and values promoted honesty and contentment. If it did
when did what changed? Is it poverty or just greed? I refuse to believe that poverty
and Nigeria’s economic situation is the significant cause of a general change
in values
2)
If
our culture and values promotes materialism, hence the get-rich-syndrome, how
do we address that? How do we reboot and rework our value system? The desire
for wealth and comfortable living is not bad in itself, however, there is a
problem if the means of achieving our desires does occurs to the detriment of
others.
Signing off, this semblance of
the loss of our values and ethics is worrisome. I am interested in sharing
ideas on how we can reverse this trend because this current trend is not
sustainable.
