President Muhammadu Buhari |
The former President realized
rather too late the need to rally more Nigerians behind his dying
administration, when he made the implementation of the Confab report one of his
campaign promises. The outcome of the election showed that few people had taken
him seriously, hence his party’s loss, even in the South West geopolitical
zone.
It is, therefore, time for
the APC administration to put politics aside and address the burning national
issues confronting Nigeria and Nigerians. The urgent issue of security, whether
as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency, armed robbery or kidnapping for
ransom, all require effective community policing to detect and prevent
criminals before they strike. With the current successes of the military
operations in the North Eastern region, the insurgents are gradually turning to
guerilla warfare of planting IEDs among the civilian populace: we need effective
community policing to counter and neutralise them using this strategy.
The insurgents, armed
robbers, petty burglars, kidnappers all live among us and are known to some
members of the public, who could have exposed them before they strike. But
their lack of confidence in our police, as presently constituted, will not make
many take that risk. Police are also too far removed from many communities as
to distance and by their attitudes, to make such a patriotic effort feasible.
Letting each state and possibly
local government have its own police with a better orientation in working with
the public will solve that problem. It would also ensure that the state
governments, who should be directly responsible for the internal security of
their people, take their responsibilities more seriously. The kind of conflict
in accepting responsibilities witnessed between the Borno State Government and
the Federal Government in the kidnap of Chibok girls, would not have arisen if
Borno State Government that had the final decision on where the Chibok girls
should write their school certificate examination, was also in control of at
least one of the state apparatus to ensure their security: the police.
On Buhari’s anti-corruption
war, the APC government cannot succeed without first dealing with the root
cause of corruption, which is the society’s permissive attitude to corruption
and the celebration of proceeds of corruption. This permissive attitude has its
root in the struggle to corner as much of the national wealth as possible to
members of one’s ethnic group by fair or foul means. This attitude could best
be explained with Donald Cressy’s triad of fraud (or corruption): pressure,
opportunity and rationalization.
There is the constant
pressure in the Nigerian socio-economic environment for people to engage in
corruption, as there’s little or no pride in belonging to the middle class,
where the great majority of the population should belong in a functional
economy. People are either constantly in need because of abject poverty or are
pursuing their greed in the belief that their generations yet unborn would be
shielded from poverty. Whichever way, there is constant pressure to amass as
much wealth as possible with the active support of friends and family, who are
also driven by same motive.
It therefore follows that
anyone having the opportunity of making money illegitimately does not have to
think twice before engaging in corrupt activities. In fact, his/her kith and
kin would see anyone in position to amass wealth in a corrupt way and not
taking the advantage as either a fool or an accursed person, who would never be
able ‘make it’ again in life. Some would actually see such a fellow as unfit to
represent their tribe or ethnic group in the affairs of the federation: a sort
of throwing away a ‘God-given opportunity’ to become wealthy.
The system has become so
corrupt that political appointees or elected representatives are looked upon as
conduits through which certain individuals would be able to appropriate what
‘rightly belong to them’ from the national purse. With little or no effort on
the part of the government of the day to fight corruption, so as to serve as
deterrent to others, those with propensity to engage in corrupt practices are
able to mobilize more disciples.
Then comes the
rationalization of corrupt practices. With virtually everyone having the
tendency to engage in corruption, there would be a growing perception that
everybody is corrupt or corruptible (even if not yet given the opportunity).
Anyone having the opportunity to engage in corrupt practices could therefore
rationalize that it’s the right thing to do. This is why you hear such people
give such excuses that others would steal the money if you (in a better
position to misappropriate it) do not.
Or that the people higher
than you in authority are also helping themselves: are you more catholic than
the Pope? Or that this is the first time or a few occasions, when someone from
that community would be having access to the national, state or local government
treasury; the occupant should make ‘the best use of it’. The rationalization
continues…
With the socio-economic
environment described above, the lack of security and the unbridled corruption
then takes its toil on the economy, making the poor poorer. The confab report
also addresses several burning national questions that would take the present
administration enormous time and costs to properly address within the limited
time and resources at its disposal. It is in the national interest for the government
to implement those recommendations as soon as possible in pursuit of its
three-fold agenda: security, anticorruption and improving the economy.
(guardian)
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