Corruption in High Places

It’s been forty-months since I last visited my birth place, Benin in Edo state located in the south-south region of Nigeria. The sand is still dark red; the mud as thick as ever; the roads still full of gullies and the flood after every rain at as notorious as I can remember. The flood on Uselu road such a nuisance that it is now referred to as Uselu-river. I’m nostalgic when I am served soup in a clay pot and even more so when I taste the roadside crunchy bean cake locally called Akara; but on the flipside, I am saddened when I see my people at the bus stops and realize that they are still as poor as I left them. I recall the spate of development in the Middle East also world producers of oil and deep within me I wonder why we cannot have rapid development. The question is why? After all, we are an oil-rich nation. The answer I get: corrupt leaders!

I heard about Transparency International on the radio and its rating of countries in relation to corruption and so decided to run a Google search on it. According to Wikipedia, since 1995, Transparency International has published an annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ordering the countries of the world according to "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians". The organization defines corruption as "the abuse of entrusted power for private gain". Nigeria is rated one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and it was interesting to discover that the corruption perception index has been criticized because the definition of what constitutes bribery, tipping or corruption vary from one country to another. There’s without a doubt that Transparency International’s definition of corruption points accusing fingers at our leaders. But what struck me in the definition are the words ‘abuse, power and gain’ and here’s my thinking.

It goes without saying that Nigerians are after what they can get from their neighbours each person using the other as a stepping stone to achieve his own goals. As my colleague puts it, our appetite for evil is huge. We all use our power to the detriment of others. My friend’s experience captures it vividly. He had reason to see someone somewhere in Surulere, Lagos. The particular street was unfamiliar to him so at a point he decided to stop and ask for directions. He beckoned on a young man along the sidewalk and asked him for the needed direction. He was lucky, the man was familiar with the vicinity and so he turned out to be helpful. As courtesy demands, he said “thank you” but guess the reply he received in return, “Oga na thank you I go chop”. My friend said he was absolutely short of words and taken aback. The summary of his experience, nothing goes for nothing in Naija.

In our higher institutions, bribery, cheating and extortion are the order of the day. This is disheartening considering that the academias next to parents are responsible for character formation and instilling knowledge. You know what they say, “education goes beyond reading and writing”. And on the other hand, our students, the future of tomorrow; our hope for a better Nigeria are jointly guilty of corruption. You may wish to take me on but so many examples come to mind.

For instance, the Faculty officer who insists on a tip, before registering a student’s courses for an academic session and the hard-headed student who on the other hand, refuses to bribe the faculty officer but decides to forge the necessary signatures to facilitate the submission of his course forms failure of which would mean he cannot sit for his semester exams. Both faculty officer and student have ‘abused power’. If the student, the future of tomorrow, has already begun to imbibe this practice of forgery; how can we then adduce corruption only to our government?

Still in our higher institutions, we have the lecturer who decides that lecture notes otherwise known as hand-outs will be imposed on students (even if he/she already acquired one from a senior course mate) and as a matter of fact conducts continuous assessment test for only those who purchase his lecture notes, or even decides to score his patrons arbitrarily, while leaving the grades of others to their fate all in a bid to make money. Isn’t he guilty of abusing power for a personal gain? Yet, he is quick to blame the government under the camouflage of ASUU. I listened on the radio recently as an undergraduate student narrated her ordeal of how she had to bribe her lecturer with $1,000 for a single course in order to pass; her other option of course would have been to sleep with him, so she choose the ‘lesser evil‘ in her opinion.

I have also learnt of a school’s principal who when approached by a corporate body that wanted to provide some infrastructural support under its corporate social responsibility initiative was more interested in her personal gains instead of the welfare of the students.

The policeman who harasses drivers at check points under the guise of doing his job by requesting for particulars and the driver too who fails to renew his license because he believes he can get away with the expired document with the aid of a few Naira notes; is another example that comes to mind. Wouldn’t you agree with me that both policeman and driver are corrupt?

During the military regime, I’m told that a lot of agile young men decided to join the army simply because they hoped to become a military state administrator some day and amass wealth. That is obviously corruption pre-meditated.

You would agree with me also that are we all jointly responsible for fast tracking applications for passports, driving licenses and jumping queues because we have the power to pay a premium.

These are the sorts of scenarios we are faced with in Nigeria today and they convict YOU & ME. We can go on and on but the common excuse given is that people are corrupt because they are poor.

You would also agree that all scenarios (forgery, exploitation, extortion, bribery etc.) involve some form of abuse of power for a personal gain. My point is “corruption in high places”, is not a thing of today in our society and involves the high and mighty just as it involves the common man on the streets. The truth is that the high and mighty, already had engaged in one form of corruption or the other before attaining their high and mighty positions. Things are no longer done on merit in Nigeria because each one seeks to favour his accomplice who aides him in perpetuating corruption. Even those who strive to steer clear of corruption find themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea. Corruption has become inherent in every one of us!

Poverty has a role to play too, but I dare say it’s not a justification for doing wrong. For as long as we (the masses) continue to see poverty as a justification for corruption rather than seeing corruption as the reason for poverty, we are not significantly different from those we accuse so gravely; and we will all continue in this vicious circle, corruption beginning in the lower places and graduating unto higher places and poverty would continue to thrive!

Five Things I Hate About Living Single.

A few weeks ago after a hard day’s job, I got caught up in Lagos traffic and just as the traffic eased-off and I released my car brake in order to move,to my surprise the car began to jerk and gradually came to a halt. I watched as everyone else progressed while I was at a standstill. I sat in the car for a few minutes wondering the next step to take. It was 8p.m on a Wednesday night, there was no telling that the Kia service centre would have closed for business for the day. In the midst of my thoughts, I realised that I was soon to receive the outburst of Lagosians who had been enraged by the traffic, so the wise thing to do was give to an indication that there was a problem with my car.

As is customary, I turned on my hazard lights and got out of the car, opened the bonnet and looked into the engine in search of what was wrong. Unfortunately, I saw nothing strange. Perhaps, it was so because I hardly knew a thing about cars. For me, driving a brand new car was living the life! I never bothered with the daily top-up of engine oils or water. In my opinion, that was the burden of the driver of a fairly-used car. I would normally wake up every morning, get dressed and hit the road. It was my firm belief that as long as I was faithful with my quarterly car service I had nothing to worry about.

In my pandemonium, I looked up but there was no superman to rescue me so it occurred to me that the next best thing to do was call for help. So I reached for my Blackberry and as I scrolled through my address book, I came across the number of a friend that lived very close to the point I had found myself stranded. I called him and yippee, I was in luck! He was home. Being a reliable gentleman, he answered my call for help. I no time, he got my car back on the road and I continued home.

When I got home, I heaved a sigh of relief. It was good to be home. All I wanted was a quick dinner, a hot bath and some beauty sleep. I got into my bedroom, switched on the bulb and it failed to come on. Subconsciously, I switched it off and on again and it still didn’t come on. It was then that I realized that the bulb was burnt. I headed for the kitchen to light a candle and as I got into the kitchen before I switched on the bulb, I felt something smooth and swift run over my leg. I hastened and switched on the bulb, thank heavens, it wasn’t burnt; I saw a rat starring right into my eyes. How many troubles could a single lady handle in one night, I thought? I was in no mood to chase a rat let alone attempting to kill one. I had my mind set so I lit a candle, went back to my bedroom, took off my work clothes and slipped into something more comfortable. Thereafter, I went across the street, bought a new bulb and replaced the one in my bedroom. After changing the bulb, I decided to do a quick check on my pink halter neck dress which I was to wear to a Gala Nite at the weekend, and behold it had a golden-brown patch right in the middle. I had no clue where had the stain had come from? I had to get it to the drycleaners fast. It was a pink ball and since I wasn’t a fan of pink, I didn’t have any alternative so I had to get that dress dry cleaned before the event. It was Wednesday night; my itinerary for the next day was tight how then would I get my dress dry-cleaned before Friday evening, I thought to myself?

In the midst of it all, I was famished and I had to make a snappy dinner. I got a clean pot and I placed the pot on my gas cooker, struck a match to light the fire and alas! I was out of cooking gas. Could it get worse than that in one night?

Instantly, I had a quick recap in my head; first, it was my car, secondly; I had to change a bulb, then; I would have had to chase and kill a rat but for my decision to co-habit with one. Next, I saw a stain on my dress. And to crown it all, I tried to cook against all odds only to discover I had run-out of cooking gas. How I hated this life, having to remember and do all these myself and not having any help or shoulders to cry on. At that point I was very tired, more tired than hungry. I could have gone to bed without food, but my stomach rumbled badly so I decided to settle for cereal as my dinner.

As I had my lean dinner in misery, I wondered how the Beijing Conference or the agitation for ‘Women Liberation’ came about. So much for ‘what a man can do a woman can do better’; so much for women being great at multi-tasking; so much for not needing men. It was all a bit too much for me to handle. That night I had relied on a man to get my car back on the road. If there was one around, he certainly would have sorted-out the bulb and dealt with the rat. I came to the conclusion that despite how much we try to deny it, every woman needs a man. “It truly is a man’s world”.

I had always been very excited about living single. I bragged to my friends about how I enjoyed absolute serenity and had discovered myself even more after I took the bold step of paying for my own apartment. I guess that night was just a reminder that there are always two sides to the coin. Or like artiste Desree put it, "Life indeed can be fun if you really want it to…sometimes living out your dreams ain’t as easy as it seems”.