Opinion: Nigeria’s Nationhood: A Project Mired in Graft

On May 14, 2014, at the Conference of the National Committee on the Public Service held in Abuja, the Chairman of the then Nigerian Civil Service Commission, Joan Ayo blamed the Murtala Muhammed 1975 purge of the top echelon of the service for introducing graft, dishonesty and undermining of accountability in government business.
She said, the Murtala/Obasanjo junta, desirous of being dictatorial and unaccountable sacked trained and cultured civil servants, threw away merit, evicted civil servants into a bleak future and brought in the culture of self-preservation.
At the same conference, Prof Yusuf Turaki, one of the delegates blamed the 1976 Dasuki Local Government reform for the massive theft at that level. He stated that by making local governments part of Nigeria’s federating units, giving them unearned money from the federation account, which they saw as nobody’s money, accountability too flight and was replaced with merely sharing money which goes on today between the states and local governments.
But can this be responsible for Nigeria’s current and pervasive culture of near absence of integrity in running government business?
It may appear sweeping to state that Nigeria at 62 is a nation run on a culture of graft and looting of national treasury, resources and opportunity. The Nigerian government admits that it has lost grip of the looting of the nation’s oil resources. The crude oil theft in Nigeria is a call to global vultures for free scavenging
But what does anyone say about so many governors who are on the watch list of the EFCC? What does anyone say about so many legislators who abuse their constituency projects to enrich themselves and their families? what does anyone say about security organizations that undermine their own operations to enrich their officers? what does anyone say of cleric that fleece the congregation to make the list of Forbe’s men of means? Understandably living on the fast lane has become an aspiration of the youth. They want to get their anyhow because political leadership has given them a cue or told them that corruption has no consequence
Nigeria faces the gripping challenge of armed robbery. Just last Monday, the Abia state police arrested ten members of bullion van attacking robbery gang. The makeup was a mini national robbery gang. From Osun, Delta, Abia to Ogun states, the gang which included an ex-DSS operative robbed to get rich quick. From Wadume the Taraba kidnap kingpin to Evans and his accomplice who are now in prison, the driving desire is to be on the fast lane. But is there a difference between these violent criminals including the many in the forests who get huge sums as ransom and the politician who has stolen the hope that Nigeria’s Independence raised for many? Who or what is the cause of this new culture?
Some political watchers say the entry into Nigerian politics of the tribe of 419ers and their culture of the end justifies the means has brought Nigeria to its present past. Having taken over the commanding heights of Nigerian politics, they have planted the culture of dishonest dealing which is running the nation aground.
As social psychologists reason Nigeria’s present predicament, some citizens wonder what will come of Nigeria’s development if the culture of graft both in public and private spaces is not tamed. It may yet be morning to stitch in time to save nine.