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Obasanjo's Anti-corruption Crusade: Six Years After |
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Wednesday, 25 May 2005 |
Okonkwo Churchill
It began as a hobby
Now it is an obsession
Evil and anarchy has taken root
The air very still and threatening
The gloom has given way
To an almost complete darkness
The timber burnt and wasting
The buses bumped along the dirty roads
The streets blocked and lonely
The trees black and shading there leaves
The birds sick and too weak to fly
- Okonkwo Churchill
In his book, From The Third World to First- The Singapore Story: 1965 -2000, Lee Kuan Yew said, "there are books to teach you how to build a house, how to repair engines, how to write a book. But, I have not seen a book on how to build a nation out of a disparate collection of immigrants form China, British India.." Lee Kuan Yew went ahead to add that Singapore "inherited the island without the hinterland, a heart without a body".
Today, however, the story of Singapore is different. Singapore can now boast of a body and a heart - even a soul. They have gone it all alone, building from scratch, surviving without hinterland, creating a financial centre, nurturing and attracting talents, with many tongues but one language and most importantly, keeping the government clean from celebrated corruption and corrupt practices.
Lessons from Singapore
Talking about keeping the government clean, I learned from the Singapore experience that it is easy to start off with moral standards, strong conviction and determination to bid down corruption. But it is difficult to live to these good intentions unless the leaders are strong and determined enough to deal with all transgressors and without exception. Obasanjo may be strong but has clearly demonstrated lack of commitment and determination in seeing this current fight to a successful conclusion unlike Lee Kuan Yew.
While Singapore inherited an island without the hinterland, Nigeria inherited the hinterland, the island and even the "cursed black-gold underground". While Singapore is nurturing and attracting talents, we are nurturing talents and "forcing" them to abandon the motherland, just like the pendulum bob is forced to vibrate in an experiment to determine the gravitational constant g. while Singapore has many tongues but one language, we have many beautiful tongues and cultures, as well as many ugly languages that are unfortunately vibrating out of resonance, emitting artificial signals. With our body and heart, we have still failed to keep our hands clean even with the "due process" nomenclature.
In Nigeria today, there are more than three thousands "schools" that can teach you how to do "everything" from obtaining an international passport without going to the immigration office, obtaining a driving licence without a driving test, producing sachets of "pure" water without the necessary machinery nor NAFDAC certification. However, there is no single school that will teach us how to be any better than a mediocre (as we currently are) unless we develop the right mental attitude.
The recent drama in the fight against corruption with Balogu and Osuji has clearly demonstrated the present administrations lack the right mental attitude in approaching the endemic corruption and corrupt practices in the government circle. The dramatized dismissal from office is not the end of corruption in Nigeria. It is not even the beginning of the end.
I once wrote a girl I hope will one day be my dove that "If the only possible way we can be together is in a dream, then, I will sleep forever". I have slept for three years until I came to the point I have to walk up to the girl and said "will you or will you not marry me?" The fight against corruption from inception (May 29, 1999) has been like dreaming and sleeping. The Obasanjo administration, ICCP, Economic and Financial Crime Commission, or whatever name(s) they wish to give themselves should wake up and note that there is no thrill in almost doing anything in the game of life. They should be reminded that the thrill comes from accomplishment, and many times the difference between accomplishment and failure is having the right mental attitude. Absolutely nothing has been achieved in the current fight against corruption.
The Way Forward
If there is any formula for the success in the fight against corruption, it has to be the ability to constantly learn how to make things work, how to learn on the job and learning quickly. Elbert Hubbard once said that nothing great has ever been achieved without much enthusiasm. The enthusiasm in our current fight against corruption should and must be demonstrated through the trial and sentencing of corrupt government officials and their collaborators, no matter how highly placed they are. We are all sick of the TV drama that comes to total nonsense.
When the present administration came to office, they made a great play of their total honesty and dedication. Six years today, everything remains the same (or did I hear you say worse?). Favouritism, nepotism, covert and overt corruption has infected high places. The whole society has degraded as opportunists masqueraded as democrats and achieved "helicopter" wealth by embezzling public fund.
We need a government that will establish a climate of option that looks upon corruption in public office as a threat to the society. We need a generation of leaders with honesty as a habit. A generating of leaders that will put their lives in jeopardy to achieve power, not to enrich themselves (as our current leaders are doing) but, to change the Nigerian society. We need to establish the feeling that we are one people sharing a common destiny. We need an economy with sustainable growth which will ensure stability, encourage investments and create wealth. These we have not done in the last six years. These we will not do with the current crop of leaders.
Finally, the fight against corruption has been hit by an earthquake; it has been judged and found wanting. It is time for re-organization and re-engineering, a change in the mental and moral diet of our leaders, by applying the right mental attitude towards putting corrupt individuals behind bars. That will mark the beginning of the beginning in the fight against corruption. Until then, we will continue to dance naked in the sun.
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Last Updated (
Thursday, 24 April 2008 ) |
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Authors 
Posted by Robot| 29.04.2008 10:22