A diseased Nation

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(Edited)

A diseased Nation

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I live in a country called the giant of Africa, yeah a sleeping giant suffering from a disease called Bribery and Corruption (B&C). This disease has eaten deep into the very flesh of the nation producing an ulcerous wound that has failed to heal. The ulcerous wound, now cancerous, keeps spreading like wildfire in the harmattan, dropping its cancerous seed at any given opportunity in every part of the Nigerian sector, affecting and disrupting cells and tissue, making an abnormality of all normal functioning system.

It’s becoming more malignant, the metastasis, uncontrolled it is being fed like petrol to fire , no one, absolutely no one is left out. You are either the perpetrator or the victim. Sooner or later the country itself will die of this disease (I sincerely hope not)

Just like an unmanaged cancerous growth, the disease grows bigger and larger with each passing day spreading it wings like a bird in an enclosed space branching out and covering nook and crannies, infecting the pure and making the already impure more of an abomination

The nation is more like a walking corpse, a zombie infecting more and more people. The corruption is unending, the bribery, an endemic, just like the number 5 & 6 they follow each other dancing to each other’s tunes no penalty. It’s everywhere, the more you try to stay away, the more you get your hands dirty, sticking to you like glue on sandpaper.

Reporting the occurrence of this disease ravaging the country is often time futile and detrimental. The situation is obviously dire and the gravity of the situation has not been fully understood, to give you a feel of the gravity of the situation, look at this;

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  • More than 40% of Nigerians who have refused to get their hands dirty with bribery and corruption suffered dire consequences ("It’s like trying to be pure in a world where the watchword and motto of operation is: “waywardness, insubordination, indiscipline, disobedience and high disregard for laid down rules and regulations”). We need salvation fast.

  • More than 30% of Nigerians dipped their filthy hands into their pocket and pay bribe to none other than public officials. Isn’t it ironic, the same public officials who are meant to maintain order and discipline have decided without remorse or retribution to publicize and normalize bribery, officiating corruption to the highest degree imaginable.

  • Now bribery alongside its elder brother, corruption somehow, somewhere increased with education attachment in Nigeria, that is more educated people are likely to pay bribes; look like we are all going to school only to later master the undiluted art of bribery and corruption rather than becoming uncorrupt and well-meaning citizens of the country.

  • Back to public officials: 60% of all bribery were directly requested with 20% indirectly requested by pubic officials as at 2019. As at writing this post, we are currently in the year 2022 and from my stand point the number in favour of bribery and corruption has done nothing but increased over a span of 3 years. The private sector account for about 5.7% of bribery in the year 2019. Right now Nigeria sounds like an unrepentant country with everyone being a sinner or a potential sinner who have broken or will certainly one day break the holy commandment “thou shall not give bribe or commit to corruption (it’s a matter of time).

The harder you try, the more difficult it becomes, well in most cases, it gets really worse before it gets better (this is me trying to be optimistic and hopeful).

  • A total of 675 million worth of Nigerian Naira was paid as bribe to public officials by Nigerians themselves in 2019 (Wow, sounds like corruption has been engraved in the DNA) and as a matter of fact, 0.52% of Nigerians gross domestic product came from cash bribe, this corresponds to 6% of the average annual income of Nigerians (Frankly we wine and dine in corruption)

There is more;

  • According to Transparency international, Nigeria is in fact as corrupt has it has ever being or even more corrupt (this means one thing to me, all anti-corruption agendas were just mere propaganda, propagated with nothing fruitful to write home about). Actually in the year 2019, Nigeria was ranked as the 146th most corrupt country globally (frankly, I don’t believe this, the country I live in is corrupt to its very core, I know because I live in Nigeria and I have as a matter of fact experience bribery and corruption firsthand, and I can say one thing, it is everywhere and it happen every hour of every day). In my country things are hardly based on merit, you have to know someone that knows someone that knows someone. If you know nobody and you are a nobody, you will most likely suffer my dear. Know someone that knows someone, that how things roll in Nigeria which frankly its so sad and unfortunate. Selection based on merit is long gone. Hopefully, it will one day return

Read this

Further, public officials requested for most bribes directly, 60% of the time. Indirect request for bribes was 20% and spontaneous payments to accelerate processes was 8%. About 5% of the time, people paid bribes as appreciation for services, following its execution. Yet, 67% of bribe-payers greased the wheels prior to execution. In 2019, most bribes were in cash (93%), with the average summing to ₦5,754 ($52).
While the rationale behind bribe payments are quite diverse, 45% of bribes were paid to speed up or formalize an administrative procedure. Thirty-eight per cent of the time, people paid off officials to speed up a procedure. And 21% sweetened the pot to avoid fines. With a 39.3% bribe payment rate, men in urban areas had the highest bribe payment rate in the country. Women in rural areas had the least bribe payment rate (21.6%). Further, refusing to pay bribes had negative consequences, 48% of Nigerian adults show.

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Voting

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As regards voting (the Nigerian electoral process is in shambles). Nigerian politicians offered 1 in 5 comfortably corrupt Nigerian money, gift or a favor in exchange for vote during the last general election and they gladly accepted it (I don’t know who is more corrupt, the giver or the taker). As a matter of fact, the last poll saw 21% instance of this occurrence and from all indications, it will rise and keep rising if nothing is done.

Nigerian citizens including myself confirm and affirm the propagation of electoral fraud in Nigerians politics. 86% of the citizens surveys admitted to the frequent occurrence or at least fairly frequent occurrence of electoral fraud. Obviously, electoral fraud was prevalent in the 2019 general election , even a blind man could smell it. In fact this was confirmed by news, organizations and observers.

My personal opinion: Nigeria is just as corrupt as it ever was , if not more , call me cynical even Transparency International confirmed this.

Of course there is a way(s) out , the question is what is the way out?
Answer:
If corruption is going to be dealt with successfully, it should start from the most basic of basic levels, the home. This is where parents comes in. Children from tender age should be made to see bribery and corruption as a grievous offence against the country and the citizens of the country. Children becoming adult find it difficult to stray away from child-hood principles and standard which are imbibed and laid down by their parent. The more children we have growing up to be incorruptible adult, the more the country will be on a path to healing and purification

The role of Government in all this

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Their role cant be overemphasized as it come into play at the local, state and national level; The Government of Nigeria which is of the people, for the people and by the people should implement effective policies (emphasis on effective as we have series of ineffective anti-corruption policies, they are toothless dogs that can bark but never bite, it high times we got dogs that bark loud and bite hard and strong) that address this impunity and gross misconduct

  • The Government should scrutinize and investigate public office officials and further penalize defaulting officers adequately to serve as a clear example

  • Protection should be provided for reporters of corruption, likewise incorruptible and and unswayable Nigerians who com rain, storm,fire and brimstone would stillrefuse to pay bribe and succumb to corruption

  • Institution weakness should be addressed even in schools to reinforce report against corruption

  • The Government and the citizen need to be proactive in the fight against the menace and at this point we all know the menace (if you don’t )

  • Anti-corruption agencies should be put on their toes to deliver their mandate and produce result where necessary

Additional information

If you wondering why I keep using 2019 survey, well I couldn’t get my hands on more recent survey, I don’t think there is one actually , if there is , you can do well to let me know, would really appreciate that.

Perhaps you are wondering the authenticity of the above statistical claims in my post, all were revealed by the 2019 corruption survey (Nigeria) which was conducted by The United Nation office on drugs and crime in collaboration with National Bureau of statistics

Hopefully we would one day live in a better and prosperous Nigeria, look at our past someday and smile realizing that one of the best thing that we did for our was country was deciding to kick bribery and corruption out for good, till that day comes, Sayonara and thanks for reading

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4 comments
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(Edited)

As long as the government is populated with corrupt officials, then it would almost impossible to fight that corruption. That would be the first place to start.
Thank you for sharing this with us.

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