Nigeria Union Boss protests over SA officials comments on Nigerians

The article below (follow the link) had me rolling with laughter after I read it. The story goes... A local newspaper, ``Polokwane Observer,'' on Wednesday quoted the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Mr Rudolph Rhala, as referring to Nigerians as ``corrupt people''. http://odili.net/news/source/2007/sep/8/551.html

Apparently this statement made by a South African Civil Servant in which he warned South Africans to be wary of the evil of corruption and rightly pointed out that if they failed to heed the warning, they risked pulling their economy down the same way Nigerian leaders of the past had.

As expected, 2 top Nigerian leaders in South Africa have now reacted fiercely to these remarks and are demanding an immediate apology from Rudolph Rhala. In the interest of truth and freedom of speech and as a patriotic Nigerian, I pray Rudolph sticks by his guns and refuses to retract his statement. His speech not only epitomises what the whole international community think of Nigerians in general but also says what psychophants in the Nigerian political elite have failed to say all these years. Maybe it is because 99% of them are involved in some form or the other in the looting of Nigeria by its so called leaders.

Unfortunately, Nigerians as a people have been afflicted with this disorder for at least 4 decades now. It permeates every single aspect of everyday life. A country where nothing can be done without 'egunje'. In government parastatals and establishments, bribery has become a way of life; take for example the Ikeja passport office where you go and there are 2 rates to obtain a Nigerian International passport. One is the official standard rate and the other is the unofficial rate rate imposed by civil servants (usually 10 times the official charge).

If you go through the official route, you risk waiting for months to have your passport made whereas by paying the illegal rate you could walk out with an International passport in hours regardless of whether you qualify to hold one or not (As CBS 60 minutes proved a few years ago).

Another good example is the issuing of driving license; Nigeria may be the only country where the government of the day plays dice with peoples life. In Nigeria you can obtain a full driving license without taking a single theory or practical test. In essence people who have not completed or bothered to read the Highway code and have not met the prescribed requirements are allowed to drive on our roads and maim innocent lives on a daily basis.

What is even more ironic about this collective decay of the system is that every Nigerian in one way or the other contributes to the ongoing system of corruption either by being/or supporting corruption in any of its forms. Also, the press and media have just sat still (with the exception of a few) while the looting of public funds by government officials continues unchecked.

Another good example is the state of NTA today or NEPA (Power Holding Company of Nigeria as it is now known). My view is that for this terrible disease of the polity and its people to be eradicated, some drastic steps have to be taken. Note that I am not calling for a repeat of what happened in Ghana 3 decades ago as that would be so crude today and would not solve the problem. What Nigeria needs is an exercise of public cleansing. A full national audit of the Nigerian Civil Service and its parastatals over the last 47 years by an independent body of competent forensic accountants (we have many). All major governments (elected officials, appointed officials and retired Military officials) alive and dead be investigated.

This process should be modelled in the same vein as the Oputa Panel on the Truth and Reconcillation Panel (South Africa) where all findings are made public. Indicted officials may be given suspended custodial sentences and their ill gotten wealth confiscated by the government.

A new bill be passed by both the lower and upper house that allows for the death penalty in clearcut cases of corruption, economic crime and advanced fee fraud. The reasoning being that for every blemish on the name Nigeria or Nigerians, a Nigerian dies (indirectly due to a lack of facilities or public services) from loss of revenue as a result of lost direct foreign investment or inadequate or non-existent of social infrastructure for the citizens of Nigeria as a result of the looting of public funds.

Until then, am afraid that Nigerians and Nigeria in general would always be seen in the same light; as corrupt and dishonest individuals with criminality inbred in their veins.

I am not holding my breadth, as you look at the corridors of power in Nigeria today, alot of people in high office or politics are the same people who have orchestrated the looting and dismemberment of a once proud and rich nation.