Why Doesn’t Corruption Bother Us Anymore?

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The recent disclosure by the Nigerian Extractive Transparency Initiative, NEITI, of massive corruption in the oil sector under the government of Muhammadu Buhari has gone down the drain without causing the required stir. Neither the Federal Government nor the people whose money was allegedly looted has moved a nerve.

Nigeria has become a desensitised society. It is now akin to a sick person who no longer feels pain in his body. When you get to that level, you are almost dead. Just imagine! NEITI, the Nigerian chapter of a worldwide initiative to monitor corruption and promote transparency and accountability in the oil sector, recently addressed the media and made damning allegations.

NEITI was established by an Act of the National Assembly in 2007. Therefore, it is a semi-independent organ of the Federal Government, much like the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, but operating with global models of oil industry monitoring. This means that even before coming public with its findings, NEITI must have made its report known to President Bola Tinubu. Also, the Senator Godswill Akpabio-led National Assembly has not responded to this earth-shaking news.

Now, the enraged Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has decided to kick the Tinubu government awake by giving it a seven-day ultimatum starting on Monday, September  25, 2023, to take action on these findings or face legal action. The importance of this ultimatum is that the Tinubu government will be forced to send its lawyers to defend it in court and explain why it failed to do its job of probing the alleged looting, recovering taxpayers’ funds, and punishing the culprits.

NEITI had revealed that the total sum of $15 billion was not remitted to the Federation Account by key oil industry operators like the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Ltd. NEITI also disclosed that the N200 billion committed to the revival of the refineries in 2020, which was supposed to be completed in 2021, vanished into thin air while the refineries remain comatose, two years after the deadline.

An interesting aspect of this sad saga is that “Mr. Truth”, Buhari, was the self-appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources for eight years. The pillaging of the oil industry, including massive oil theft, took place under his watch. More interesting is the fact that his successor and partner in power mongering, Tinubu, has not only taken over as president, he has also installed himself as Petroleum Minister. 

Tinubu’s unperturbed attitude toward NEITI’s trumpet-blowing speaks volumes. Nigerians have every reason to be worried and alert.

This  Emi l’okan (it is my turn) syndrome is not just an idle political sound bite, it is an unfolding ideology. The configuration of his government is a replica of the Buhari regime’s structure in terms of brazen ethnic, regional, and personal capture of the commanding heights of the Federal Government. It is a structure of corruption and brigandage after years of intricate plotting and spending to attain the presidency.

The way the Tinubu government is structured and its opening moves do not inspire any renewed hope in me. I expect only a slightly improved version of  Buharism. But if Tinubu responds patriotically and effectively and does justice to this crime against the nation, the old saying not to judge a book by its cover or not to use the morning to judge the day will be happily remembered.

*Nnanna is a commentator on public issues