Are The People In Government The Only Ones Corrupt?

The Insight

By Lateef Adewole

There was this stanza in an album released in 1994 by the late Dr. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, titled, “The Truth”. The message in that album was so deep, evergreen and still as relevant today as it was 27 years ago. The only difference is that Nigeria was under a vicious military rule then under the grip of Late General Sani Abacha, as against its mirrored civilian administration of today. The stanza goes thus:

“Iboosi o, omo naijiriya e sun mo bi,
“Lend me your ears” e teti gbo,
Petepete ti mo ba na ni papa o,
Eni y’owu to ta ba to ba fe o,
Ko wo ni toun yen ko fi binu,
B’osi wo ni toun yen ko ro nu si,
A b’ile aye t’awa yi ko,
Afowoba file asan bansa,
Eru kan o tun ba mi rara o,
Mo ti tawakalitu gedengbe,
Se b’iku na ni o gbeyin eda o,
K’ama j’aye awon omo wa m’omo nigbeyin o,
K’ama ma s’epe fun wa n’ikoto,
Eyin ola lo ye ka wo”

(O! Nigerian people come near,
Lend me your and listen,
Everything I have to say,
Whoever is affected, if they like,
Let them get angry,
Or they can ruminate over it,
Isn’t this world that we are?
Something that is ephemeral and vain,
I’m no longer afraid at all,
I’ve put my trust in God completely,
Isn’t death the end of every man?
Let’s not live the lives of our children with ours,
So that they we not curse us in our graves,
It’s the posterity we should worry about)

One thing I have accepted as reality in the course my writings is that, each person will always defend their “constituency” whenever they come under criticism for wrong doing. I have been criticised by affected persons, everytime I have written about the wrongs in any particular sector or among a group of people. When I wrote about the police brutality last two weeks, some police friends disagreed with me in spite of preponderance of evidence in the public domain to back my assertions.

In the past months and years, I have written about different sectors or groups in our society, for which I received the similar reactions. I wrote about religions and the ills that have bedevilled them. Academics and the corrupt practices in there, including sex for marks and sexual harassment of female students by male lecturers. And many more. Every single time, some people who belong to each of these sectors or groups must complain that I was wrong or not fair to them or too critical of them. Ironically, most of them would agree with me when the issues are focused on others but not them. That’s the hypocritical nature of man. That was exactly what happened about my article last week.

I was rather challenged for focusing on the civil servants and political office holders, who we called “government people”, while I kept mum about the private sector. Some even felt it was because I belong to that sector as a private business owner. Well, I can’t deny that corruption and stealing of organisation’s funds by executives and workers in private sector, exist. They happen a lot.

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We can all recall the sleaze that was going on in the banking sector for many years before Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), bursted most of them. The kind of dirty, filty and unwholesome revelations exposed were incredible. Top bank executives and directors were involved in insider lending without due process. Many bank owners used shareholders’ funds and savings deposits from the public to acquired numerous assets like mansions and properties in Nigeria and abroad, jets, yachts, cars, jewelries, precious stones, etc, in similar manner to what Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke was accused of doing, while in office as a public servant.

Many bank executives gave uncollaterised loans that run into billions of naira to themselves, their family members, friends and cronies. One even gave to their househelp and dog. All were done as fronts through which they stole from the banks, as they never paid back. Many of these were owners or founders of these banks. What about many so-called “big men” in Nigeria? A lot of them are corporate fraudsters. Their only difference from yahoo boys is that they steal in billions of naira while no one harasses them as security agents do to yahoo boys. In fact, the security agents guard them.

Many business men and women are fond of collecting huge loans from different banks with no intention to pay back. When they owe in one bank and refuse to pay, they abandon it and start dealing with other bank(s), unknown to their creditor bank, while such bank has little power to do anything to them. This continued for decades until the introduction of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) registration of all accounts that belong to any individual. This links them together.

So, any debtor’s accounts in other banks can be seen by CBN using their BVN that links all the accounts. The new CBN’s rule that allows cash in all other bank accounts of any person owing a bank to be used to offset their debts to that bank, even without their consent, through the authorisation of the CBN, had pulled rugs under such person’s feet. There is no longer any hiding place for them. Why would anyone even borrow money from the bank and would not want to pay? That’s wickedness and evil. These monies are not printed by the banks. They are depositors’ funds.

Numerous cases are with Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). Many private companies and organisations have been taken over by AMCON to liquidate debts owed by their owners. Many of these are in public domain.

Let me make something clear, I am not saying that borrowing money is bad. As a business man myself, I have borrowed money many times in the course of my business. I am also not saying that a debtor cannot run into troubles in the course of doing their businesses, which could make it difficult to meet up with their obligations to banks or with their other creditors. Far from it. I have been in the same situation many times too. Not all business owners who owe banks also lavished such funds on frivolities asboftrn insinuated. Many just ran into troubled water in their businesses truly. It has happened to me many times. So, I was not generalising, just as I was not generalising in the cases of civil servants and political office holders. Not all of them are corrupt or theives. It just happened that those whose hands are soiled might be more in number.

Why then was I always more concerned about the conduct of people in public offices, whether civil or political, elected or appointed? It is because they hold the lever of power and the life of the nation. Politics is everything and determines everything.

The direction which any country goes is determined by the management capacity, vision and competence of people at the helms of affairs in the country. They are the people in political offices. They formulate the policies, and set the socio-economic direction of the country. The other group who carry out these programmes, execute the policies and bring the visions to reality, are the civil servants. These two form the core of government. They are the life wires and engine of government. Like Plato said; “one of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”.

Moreover, as a country, constitutionally, the citizens have surrendered their sovereignty to public officials by electing them. They entrust their lives and living to them. That is why the first duty of any government is to ensure the security of lives and property and welfare of the citizens. These, they do, not with their personal money, but with public resources; financial, non-financial, government machineries, coercive forces and all, which are in their control.

Therefore, when they abuse such privileges and power by mismanagement of these resources, consequently putting the people in distraught, they must be reminded of their responsibilities. Hence, the constant focus on them. Every action and inaction of the political leadership of the country or at subnational levels have consequences. So, they cannot afford to be reckless in their ways.

Also, the behaviour in the private sector tend to mirror what happens within the public sector. Where corruption is not tolerated and it is strictly dealt with wherever found, when people are punished for stealing public funds and when they engage in other corrupt acts in the public sector, it will send a strong signal to the private sector practitioners. Afterall, same laws govern all of us. And a crime is a crime, no matter who commits it or where it is committed.

By the way, those people who steal from their public positions as civil servants or political office holders often hide their loots with many private sector business owners. They hardly put their names in many assets they illicitly acquired with the stolen funds so that they could escape from the public scrutiny and law. Many people who flaunt wealth today in Nigeria, disguising as business men and women, are actually living on stolen public wealth hidden with them. They establish businesses to launder such money. That is the only reason some developers will build hundreds of estates, as often seen in Abuja and other cities, and could afford to lock them up. No one would do so with his hard-earned or borrowed bank’s money.

The point I am making is that, there is corruption in the private sector, but, the public sector enables, encourages, aids and shields it. They work hand in hand. A non-corrupt public sector will definitely shape the private sector. Business people have one dealing or another with government. Even if a business person seeks to bribe a public official and the latter rejects, reports such case and such individual is punished according to the law, he will not attempt it again. When such is public, it will serve as deterrent to others.

But what is prevalent is actually “active demand” for grafts by public officials from the citizens, whenever they require one service or another from them. They do not even wait to be voluntarily offered. They “forcefully” collect it. This happens in the private sector as well. However, where graft taking and or embezzlement by any private worker is discovered, such is summarily dealt with. Such culprit could lose their job immediately. This is a form of deterrent, unlike in public sector. The process is cumbersome.

In all, the people who work in both public and private sectors are Nigerians. They come from the society and not aliens or foreigners. They are our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. They come from among us. So, what has gone wrong is actually family and societal values and moral ethos. We have lost them. Truthfully, most of us are corrupt in nature. Most people who complain about others today might do worse if and when they get such opportunity. Many are only waiting for their own turn to dip their hands in the cookie jar. No one is a saint! But we can get better if we take deliberate steps ànd actions to do so. But, do we really want to?

May God continue to protect us and guide us aright.

God Bless Nigeria.

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