Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts

Monday, April 13, 2015

The 10 Most Corrupt Countries In The World











(pix: Michigan.gov)






By Sam Becker
Corruption and economic turmoil often go hand-in-hand. In western nations like the United States, and in many European countries, we often see corruption come to light as the result of whistleblowers or journalistic efforts. But in many other areas of the world, however, corruption plays a major role in fostering staggering poverty and broken economic systems in a much more blatant way.

Oftentimes, specific power structures and government architectures provide an easier means for corrupt politicians, businessmen, or military officials to exploit the system. Many governments have their roots in constitutions from generations ago, and have outgrown their current systems. Many other countries are ruled by a variety of independent tribal leaders and often lack a centralized power structure with any meaningful sway.

Transparency International developed a comprehensive list of the world’s most corrupt nations last year, and the countries that top the list probably won’t come as much of a surprise to many. The study ranks countries on a scale from 0 to 100, with zero being the most corrupt, and 100 being the least.

Of course, corruption comes in a variety of forms, so getting a precise gauge is difficult. But perception itself is a very strong tool, and can have a big effect on its own. If the study reveals anything, it’s that the world overall has a huge issue in terms of corrupt officials. By looking at the Corruptions Perception Index, along with the existing power structures and economic systems within each country, the picture does become a bit clearer. That’s why we dug a little deeper, examining the rankings for ourselves.

Although not among the top ten, we’ve included the United States on the list to give perspective as to where America ranks internationally in terms of corruption and economic strife. By Transparency International’s calculations and scale, the U.S. is sitting fairly pretty, although it’s common knowledge that there are definitely issues with how things are run in Washington. Other countries you might expect to see like Russia, Mexico, or Venezuela all have their places as well, and the full list of 177 nations can be viewed straight at the source from Transparency International.


Here are the most corrupt nations in the world, as ranked by Transparency International, with additional insight into the issues and factors plaguing each one.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TEN COUNTRIES 

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Why Official Corruption Won't Go Away In Nigeria

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 

The Nigerian state thrives on a very a solid foundation and enduring, pervasive culture of very crude selfishness. Maybe, “selfishness” is not the most appropriate word to convey the exact meaning I have in mind.

But there is this consuming desire and deep craving by the average Nigerian to always have an unfair advantage over his neighbour, to ensure and emphasize the exclusive nature of whatever he does or possesses, and ultimately become the envy of others. 

(pix: online.wsj)

 This should, however, not be confused with healthy striving for excellence and distinction. Rather it is this mindset that makes someone to value whatever he has, only when he has established that no one else has it, or that only a select, privileged few have it.

I have observed that the average Nigerian derives peculiar animation, and in some instance, consolation, from constantly calling to mind some evidences of the advantages he has over his neighours, and some privileges he presently enjoys which his neighbour can only dream of.  
Mind you, this is not an exclusive habit of the affluent and highly-placed in society. Even the very marginal advantage the poor, suffering fellow thinks he has over his neighbour  automatically constitutes the little flame that keeps his heart aglow, and makes him feel like a king in the neighbourhood. He derives profound, refreshing feelings of joy by the fact that he has, and can, at least, flaunt what his neighbour doesn’t have.            

 Many years ago, when heavy traffic on Carter Bridge consisted of several new Raleigh bicycles racing along, some motorcycles and a couple of cars, a man returned to his village from Lagos, with a well tailored new dress, with which he hoped to cause a stir in Church the following Sunday. As his kinsmen converged to welcome him, he brought out the dress and told them he was sure no one had won that dress in the entire community.


















How Much Thought Is Spared For these Labouring
Nigerians?


In fact, only very few people had at that time possessed it in the whole of Lagos! On Saturday, as he basked in the pleasant expectation of how he was going to be the centre of attraction in the small village Church on Sunday, he decided to take a leisurely walk towards the marketplace. Along the way, he saw an old wine-taper on an old rickety bicycle, heading to the market to sell his palm-wine. As the man got close, he discovered, to his utmost shock, that the man was wearing that same cloth he was hoping to flaunt on Sunday; but the difference was that the wine-taper’s own was now well-worn and terribly stained, meaning that he has been wearing it for months, ever before our Lagos man thought of purchasing his own. Indeed, he was thoroughly disappointed and pained. His flag of pride automatically dropped. The cloth instantly lost all its value and glamour, for the simple reason that a wine-taper had won it before him. And, so, he refused to wear it again.

That is the Nigerian!   I don’t know whether it was the British that planted this insidious seed in Nigerians or merely helped to water and tend it, for their own self-serving reasons. The British had created the Government Reserved Areas (GRAs) and several other segregating and divisive facilities, and took some special “natives”, the educated and privileged few, away from their own people, put them in those secluded areas and planted in them a mindset that made them regard themselves as “special” and “different” from the rest.

This may have helped them to perfect their divide-and-rule policy, but also succeeded in engraving in the minds of those lucky natives that they were indeed better than the others. And so, when the British unwillingly granted what they called Independence to Nigeria, they ensured that this iniquitous status quo remained. Through this privileged class which they had created and successfully alienated from their own people, the British still ruled Nigeria.
That is why our rulers live in fortresses, far removed from the people they claim to be serving.  In Nigeria today, a successful man is one who has “left the others” to join the privileged, eating class. In several cases, this may not be as result of hard work, but merely because the “lucky” fellow has some acquaintance with some other fellow in the corridors of power.

The truth we all know is that one may just start swimming in boundless opulence tomorrow just because he had got the “right connections”, which may merely be that he is a distant to cousin to the hairdresser of  the girlfriend of the ADC of one of our rulers. When that happens, the person quickly leaves his fellows behind to “join them” to enjoy. This situation exists in degrees and categories, as I mentioned earlier, and it has created a craving in everyone to strive, not just to better his lot, but to show how he is  “better” than he his neighbour. And that is why, at the slightest opportunity, anyone with access to the public till will seek to corner all the juicy advantages there to himself, and create another world of limitless comfort for himself which would automatically place him far above the rest of the people. This is the situation that produced the “big-man” syndrome.  








































President Goodluck Jonathan and VP Namadi Sambo At
The Inauguration Party In Abuja


Recently, one of my ardent readers sent me an email to say that in Warri where he grew up, what they call these toy generators from China is: I-Better-Pass-My-Neighbour. So, when NEPA/PHCN envelopes everyone with impenetrable darkness, and those who have these toy generators put them on, they mean to demonstrate to their neighbours choking with thick, oppressive darkness that they are better than them. Yes, I better pass my neighbour!  

This mentality appears to be what guides the conducts of public officers in Nigeria. And when you look at the situation closely, you then begin to understand why Nigerians are suffering in the midst of plenty. For those in authority, it is a complete insult to suggest that the rest of the people should enjoy basic amenities like electricity, good roads, potable water and security. No, that would make everybody equal.

The GSM was a huge mistake that must never be repeated. Initially, they collected so much money from telecom operators and unleashed them on Nigerians to cut their necks with prohibitive prices, so that only the rich can afford GSM phones. But, the era of exploitation did not last. Globacom, just came into the market, overthrew the heartless, inhuman cartel, and today, the poor man in Lagos can call his poor mother in the village. Now, the rich can only emphasize their wealth by the number and type of expensive handsets they carry at the same time.    I-better-Pass-My-Neighbour.

That’s the mindset that rules the Nigerian ruler’s mind. There was a Nigerian ruler who was asked why he banned tokunbo vehicles during a phone-in radio/television programme. He did not know when he let out his grouse, which was that there were too many cars competing for space with his convoy on the streets of Abuja! “Everywhere in Abuja, what is you see is Golf, Golf!” he fumed. Now “Golf” is that Volkswagen vehicle thy call “pure water”, which the poor man, at his  own level, too, flaunts, to show that he is better than his waka-waka neighbour.

Now the Oga up there is not happy that private cars were becoming too common on our roads (even when the public transportation system is in such a chaotic state), that it was no longer the exclusive preserve of rulers and the rich, their children and cronies. And so, a ban had to be placed to put the poor back in his place, in the spirit of  I-better-Pass-My-
Neighbour.


   obasanjo-pic.jpg
   Olusegun Obasanjo: Nigerian President When
   This Article Was First Published


Today, the roads are so horrible that each time you ply some of them, you may have to visit your mechanic. But in order to rub in his marked difference from the rest of us,  President Olusegun Obasanjo does not use the roads to get to his home. Once he arrives at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, a helicopter will pick him up and drop him gently on his farm in Ota. How else can his neighbours be made to know that the “big-man” was returning if not with the flourish that the helicopter noise ushers in? I-better-Pass-My-Neighbour! 

 So, in Nigeria today, instead of a ruler to provide social amenities to benefit for everyone, he uses public funds to create limitless advantages, privileges and comfort for himself, so that everyone looking at him, his wives and children would really realize how unlucky he was to not have been born into such a family.

That is why a state governor can have the heart to steal N126 billion from state coffers. While public schools here are left to decay, children of rulers are flown out of Nigeria to attend quality schools in Europe, America, South Africa and even Ghana; they hop across to see “their” doctors in far away Canberra to treat common cold, and go to Kuala Lumpur to see “their” dentist. Nigerian public officers steal so much money to buy themselves houses in France, UK and the United States. Yet they have not asked themselves how many Americans have homes in London or France, or even how many people born in Boston have ever visited New York, let alone own a home there.

People steal and accumulate even more than they would ever need, just to ensure that forever they can always say: I-better-Pass-My-Neighbour


Volkswagen Golf: Its Proliferation On Nigerian
Roads Threw The Ire Of The President


Like I said, this mindset is at play anywhere. Go to any embassy and see how Nigerian Security men employed there will treat you.

One day, while conducting an investigation for a story on the thriving visa racket at the British High Commission, I was reading a notice board outside the High Commission’s gate when a Nigerian Security man came and told me that I had stayed too long on the notice board and  should  leave. In fact, I had been there for less than five minutes. As I looked at him, flaunting his badge of slavery (uniforms), I knew exactly what was at play. He was working at the place where Nigerians scrambled to get visas to Mars, and I wasn’t! I-better-Pass-My-Neighbour.

 Until we kill this spirit, looting will never stop in Nigeria. The rulers would always ensure that mass poverty continue in the land because that is  the only situation that emphasizes how “lucky” they and their families and cronies are. That would also ensure that during elections, the poor can easily be manipulated with little gifts to sell-off their votes. In many countries there is nothing like “inferior” or “superior” hospitals.

Everybody, whether President, Governor, Senator, the jobless or school boy, is entitled to quality healthcare. But here, the craving is to show our advantage over others. Some even ensure they prepare their executive graves before they die, so that even in death, they would still be able to make the statement: I-better-Pass-My-Neighbour.

                                    -------------------------

First published in March 2006 in Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye's weekly column (SCRUPLES) on the back page of Daily Independent newspaper. 
 scruples2006@yahoo.com 

Friday, December 24, 2010

Dinner From A Dustbin In Lagos

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

It was a very beautiful evening in Lagos. I was in the car, waiting for my wife to get her bag from her office so we could go home together. 

 dinnernigeria1.jpg
Impoverished Nigerian: Feeding From The Dustbin
While His Leaders Squander Billions Of Naira Of The Common Wealth  With Reckless Abandon


Then, I saw him, as he passed, looking very hungry and haggard. The general consensus here is that he is not mad. At least, not yet. He is clearly traumatized by the impossible condition in which he struggles to exist each day. 

Suddenly, his hungry eyes caught the dustbin, outside the office complex, a few meters away from where my car was packed. He appeared so elated at his find. His face creased into an awful gesture, which he probably meant to be a smile. 

Then, with a quickened pace, he made for the dustbin, and began to desperately rummage in it, among its decayed, putrid, stinking contents. He seemed afraid that someone might come out to drive him away before he was through. 

An idea occurred to me immediately. Nigerians ought to share this heart-rending image with me. Yes, my camera was at the backseat, I remembered. I quickly reached for it, and with a greater part of me hidden behind the windshield, I took two shots of him while he was still busy searching and collecting some items triumphantly.  Then my third shot caught him as he made to move away with his booty.  And within a few minutes, he went down the street and was gone. 


dinnernigeria2.jpg
A Meal For Today From The Dustbin

This, too, is a Nigerian. Like you and I. Like Umar Musa Yar’Adua (Nigeria's president at that time). Like Senate President David Mark. Like House Speaker Patricia Etteh. Like former President Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo (the founder/father of Modern Nigeria). Like National Assembly Members. Like former State Governors. Like former ministers and Super Special Advisers. Like some Local Government Chairmen. All now incredibly wealthy after just a few years of “self-less service to the nation”! 

If this hapless Nigerian had heard that houses are renovated and/or upgraded in Abuja with a mere “ paltry sum” of N628 million, he didn’t show it. He was just content to invade the dustbins, to fill his stomach with its putrid contents, until life, his life, reaches a T-junction, where, his candle would be cruelly extinguished by the violent wind of the unspeakable callousness of Nigerian leaders. 

By the way, is Umaru Dikko reading this? Where is Olusegun Obasanjo? Shouldn’t he come out to see an undeniable evidence of the marvellous success of his economic reforms?  That is the reality of present day Nigeria. And make no mistake about it, there are several others like him out there, who would never have anything to eat today, until they are able to find a dustbin rich enough to yield them a meal. 

Perhaps, this fellow voted in the last election. Perhaps, he did not. But those who are supposed to take care of him are out there in Abuja and other points of power engaging in unspeakable profligacy, with the commonwealth, from which they have carefully insulated him. While he dies slowly, and miserably. 

What a nation. 
--------------------------------------
November 2007
scruples2006@yahaoo.com

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Nigeria: Madam Speaker Plays Her Level

(First published Tuesday, August 28, 2007)
By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 

The first time I heard her name was a couple of weeks or so before the inauguration of the present National Assembly. At that time, rumours had begun to make the rounds in media circles that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, intent on still holding the nation to ransom from his multi-billion naira farm in Ota, Ogun State, was bent on imposing a certain Mrs. Patricia Foluke Etteh on the nation as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Although there were widespread concerns about her obvious intellectual and political limitations, and in fact, hushed disapprovals even within the PDP’s unwholesome “family” and among her would-be colleagues at that time, nobody could stand on the way of the Emperor and Conqueror of Modern Nigeria.

And so, at the end of the day, a conquered nation watched dumbfounded as Foluke Etteh, propelled only by the fearsome determination of the Emperor and Life Leader of the PDP behind her, timidly emerged from one dark hole to become the Speaker of Nigeria’s Lower Legislative House, while, another Obasanjo unabashed loyalist and comrade-in-arms, David Mark, was pronounced Senate President.  

Well, if there is any consolation in the whole monstrous set-up, it may be detected in the growing optimism that Etteh, and all other vestigial remains of the Obasanjo nightmare, are today in several strategic positions solely to continue reminding us of the primitive state of our politics. By their predictable failure of character and leadership, they would, hopefully, succeed in awakening in us the capacity to feel deeply mortified that even in Africa today, Nigeria appears to be the only nation still left behind in what is clearly the slimy pit of jungle politics.

So, as Etteh and Co. play their level in our politics and governance, they can only help to continually shock us into the harsh realization of the extent of our country’s backwardness, and our folly in resigning ourselves to the insidious dictations of a few men of tunnel vision and unwholesome intentions, who, having conquered the nation by force of arms, have imposed on us our fourth eleven as leaders, for the simple reason that they can always be trusted to place their narrow interests over and above those of the nation. No, wonder Nigeria has become a perpetual embarrassment to Africa and the entire Black world.  

I am not surprised at Etteh’s strange understanding of the essence of public office. She is only playing her level. To expect her to ascribe to some higher ideals in leadership and politics would amount to stretching her modest intellectual and moral properties beyond their malleable limits. For her, public office is just one more prized opportunity to play the “big lady” and wallow in profligacy at public expense, nothing more, nothing less.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Now, Will President Yar’Adua Be Kind?


(First Published July 12, 2008)

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

About forty days after Mr. Umar Musa Yar’Adua was sworn in as Nigeria’s president and the nation was saturated with loud calls on ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to leave alone the new man he single-handedly imposed on Nigerians to implement his own ideas and programmes to “move the nation forward”, I published a piece in my newspaper column and on several internet news sites entitled, “In Nigeria, Yar’Adua Reigns, Obasanjo Rules,” asking those trying to shout our heads off whether they were sure “Yar’Adua himself [was] even desirous and eager to be rid of the overbearing influence of Obasanjo?”

I said: “Is he really ready to take charge? Are we sure that the ‘Servant-leader’ is not even too grateful that Obasanjo’s meddlesome and looming shadow are providing perfect alibi for what is gradually appearing as his stark visionlessness? I would certainly want to know those great ideas of Yar’Adua’s which Obasanjo’s meddlesomeness is preventing him from unfolding! The truth, as we know it, is that Yar’Adua never wanted to be president, and so, he never sat down to draw up anything that vaguely looks like a blueprint for the country’s redemption. When he was conscripted by Obasanjo and imposed on both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Nigerians at a time elections were merely a couple of weeks away, he was too preoccupied with the thought of winning elections to have any time to concentrate and think about how he would rule Nigeria … it soothes Yar’Adua, [therefore], to still have Obasanjo in charge, while he enjoys the perks of office without the responsibilities that go with them. And at the end of the day, when another four years of devastating failure must have been successfully enacted, Yar’Adua can conveniently come up with the theory that he was not allowed to implement his ‘superior ideas’.”

The essay, judging by the reactions it generated, won me many friends who thought that my judgment of the ‘Servant leader’, though too early in the day, could hardly be faulted.
But there were a few who maintained that it was unfair to state like I did that the president (who was barely a month in office) presented the perfect picture of “a pitiably confused leader groping his way through an impenetrably dark alleyway.”  

Umaru Musa Yar'adua U.S. President George W. Bush (R) meets with President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Umaru Musa Yar'Adua December 13, 2007 in Washington, DC. This is the first meeting between the two presidents after the U.S. criticized election of Yar'Adua.
President Umar Musa Yar'Adua and Pres George Bush of USA: What Lesson Did
He come Away With From Meetings Like These?


Well, I have since been vindicated because the crippling directionlessness and benumbing passivity which President Umar Musa Yar’Adua presides over in Abuja today have clearly validated the ‘heresy’ I dared to utter about forty days into his regime, so much so that it has since become a permanent feature in virtually every public commentary or formal and informal discussions on the present regime. Unlike the time I first expressed it, the view has now become all too common and very obvious to elicit any more surprises. In fact, I doubt if it still has the capacity to make the president feel embarrassed.

Okay, I have been proved right, but where has that left us? Nigeria is presently weighed down by so many big problems, but here we are, stuck with a president who can neither be hurried nor bothered that the nation he is supposed to be ruling is dying every day.

Yes, we have a ruler who cannot be made to allow even the slightest hint of urgency in his moves and seems not to have the barest idea of what it means to be perturbed that he had flopped on virtually every promise he had made to the nation. In fact, it does not appear he can even be brought to lose any sleep that he has failed even before he started, and that most Nigerians have since lost every confidence in him. Many are no longer able to feel there is a government in Abuja! What is plastered everywhere are utter hopelessness and despair.
Hapless Victims Of Leadership Failure (Pix: Caboose)


Here is a president who evidently came into office without any ideas, focus, any coherent action plans or even an average understanding of what he was coming to office to accomplish. And so, each time his attention is called to the mounting problems begging for his urgent intervention, he appears startled and looks as if he feels he is being unduly bothered. It looks very much like what he would prefer is to merely sleep through the problems with the blissful hope that he would wake one day see all of them solved.

Maybe we should not even blame Yar’Adua, because, come to think about it: what exactly did he promise Nigerians   during his so called campaigns in which he was an imposed, “unwilling” candidate?

Okay, I remember that he kept saying something about “Energy Challenge” which he intended to tackle headlong. But since he came into power, the energy situation has worsened beyond what anyone had imagined was possible in a richly endowed and high-earning country ruled by a human being. The Obasanjo junta had allegedly squandered about $16 billion to plunge Nigeria deeper into thicker darkness, and the toxic revelation had caused Nigerians untold mental torture. But to demonstrate his utter disdain for the feelings of Nigerians on this heartless pillaging of the nation’s resources, and his unambiguous opinion on the astounding revelations at the power probe panel, President Yar’Adua recently appointed three governors (Liyel Imoke, Segun Agagu and Danjuma Goje) who had served as Ministers of Power in that darkest period of Nigeria’s history to serve in the so-called Presidential Implementation Committee on Power.

NIGERIA: Yearning For Purposeful Leadership

What this should mean is that in the thinking of the   president, these men deserved to be applauded by all of us for colluding with Obasanjo to ensure the nation remained in impenetrable darkness. What Yar’Adua has dropped is a bold hint on what he would do with the power probe report once it gets to his table.  What an unlucky nation!

If till now there is hardly any evidence that Yar’Adua has been able to achieve an appreciable grasp of the enormous task facing him as Nigeria’s president, then it would be most foolish to hope that he would still not be groping for direction even after two years from now. In fairness to the man, it could well be said that since he had raised no hopes from the beginning till now, no one can justifiably accuse him of dashing any.

But how long can a continuously decaying nation defer its reclamation by endlessly waiting for a president who is yet to start charting a very clear direction?

If Yar’Adua would be kind, that is, to himself and Nigeria, he should put a halt to all these blind pursuits and dumb guesswork, hand in his papers, retire to Katsina in peace, and save the nation further trauma of having to perennially wait for a man who may never be able to either comprehend or respond to the challenges of such a high and strategic office.

Although hangers-on and parasites feeding fat on the grounded system may hold a different view, certainly, the line of action I am recommending to Yar’Adua would attract a kinder verdict from history to him than going on confusedly like a child handed a terribly complicated, strange toy to decode, and traumatizing the whole nation in the process.

Indeed, quitting now would be more redemptive of Yar’Adua’s person than being remembered later as the groping undertaker of a richly endowed but seriously ill nation?    

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Dinner From A Dustbin In Lagos

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
It was a very beautiful evening in Lagos. I was in the car, waiting for my wife to get her bag from her office so we could go home together.

*Impoverished Nigerian: Feeding From The Dustbin While His Leaders Squander 
Billions Of Naira  Of The Common 
Wealth  With Reckless Abandon
Then, I saw him, as he passed, looking very hungry and haggard. The general consensus here is that he is not mad. At least, not yet. He is clearly traumatized by the impossible condition in which he struggles to exist each day. 

Suddenly, his hungry eyes caught the dustbin, outside the office complex, a few meters away from where my car was packed. He appeared so elated at his find. His face creased into an awful gesture, which he probably meant to be a smile. 

Then, with a quickened pace, he made for the dustbin, and began to desperately rummage in it, among its decayed, putrid, stinking contents. He seemed afraid that someone might come out to drive him away before he was through. 

An idea occurred to me immediately. Nigerians ought to share this heart-rending image with me. Yes, my camera was at the backseat, I remembered. I quickly reached for it, and with a greater part of me hidden behind the windshield, I took two shots of him while he was still busy searching and collecting some items triumphantly.  Then my third shot caught him as he made to move away with his booty.  And within a few minutes, he went down the street and was gone. 


dinnernigeria2.jpg
A Meal For Today From The Dustbin

This, too, is a Nigerian. Like you and I. Like Umar Musa Yar’Adua (Nigeria's president at that time). Like Senate President David Mark. Like House Speaker Patricia EttehLike former President Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo (the founder/father of Modern Nigeria).  Like National Assembly Members. Like former State Governors. Like former ministers and Super Special Advisers. Like some Local Government Chairmen. All now incredibly wealthy after just a few years of “self-less service to the nation”! 

If this hapless Nigerian had heard that houses are renovated and/or upgraded in Abuja with a mere “ paltry sum” of N628 million, he didn’t show it. He was just content to invade the dustbins, to fill his stomach with its putrid contents, until life, his life, reaches a T-junction, where, his candle would be cruelly extinguished by the violent wind of the unspeakable callousness of Nigerian leaders. 

By the way, is Umaru Dikko reading this? Where is Olusegun Obasanjo? Shouldn’t he come out to see an undeniable evidence of the marvellous success of his economic reforms?  That is the reality of present day Nigeria. And make no mistake about it, there are several others like him out there, who would never have anything to eat today, until they are able to find a dustbin rich enough to yield them a meal. 

Perhaps, this fellow voted in the last election. Perhaps, he did not. But those who are supposed to take care of him are out there in Abuja and other points of power engaging in unspeakable profligacy, with the commonwealth, from which they have carefully insulated him. While he dies slowly, and miserably. 


What a nation.
--------------------------------------

November 2007
scruples2006@yahaoo.com


Monday, December 13, 2010

Why Nigeria May Go Nowhere

  By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 
I am sad today. The dangerous old men whom we have foolishly (or is it helplessly) allowed to run our affairs in Nigeria have once again demonstrated their demonic resolve to ensure that this nation never experiences any progress in their lifetime. President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), together with their licensed agent, Prof Maurice Iwu, and his “Independent” Electoral Commission (INEC), have allocated the votes as they liked and announced their pre-determined results, whether voting took place in the areas or not. And to ensure we dared not open our mouths to say anything, they quickly filled everywhere with a swarm of stern-faced, gun-wielding soldiers, to intimidate us into silence, and force us to accept the very unappetizing products of election robbery.  

In Imo State, for instance, the Governorship elections were cancelled because of alleged eruptions of violence in several parts of the state, yet in some states where worse things happened, the elections were announced and applauded by the PDP/INEC, because, the PDP had “won” in those states. And because the PDP achieved a “fraudslide” victory in the “elections” into the State House of Assembly in Imo State it was NOT cancelled. I am waiting for Iwu and his INEC to unravel the mystery of how  they were able to determine that “the violence” that occurred in Imo State was only perpetrated in respect of the governorship polls, even though both the Governorship and House of Assembly elections ran simultaneously. What do these people really take Nigerians for? A bunch of fools?

Well, everyone knows that INEC/PDP cancelled the Gubernatorial elections in Imo State because the PDP, as a result of the strange politics it plays had no candidate for the Governorship elections to rig in. So, INEC/PDP has now fixed a run-off election on April 28, to enable the PDP field a candidate (whether a new one or the one it had expelled) and equally rig him into office. Nothing can be so outrageous and provocative. Indeed, Iwu does not even care to pretend anymore that he is working for the PDP and no one else. 

Just before the Presidential “election results” were announced last Monday, President Obasanjo made a broadcast to the nation, perhaps, to prepare our minds for the bitter pill. He admitted that there were cases of electoral malpractices but failed to inform us when those who perpetrated those criminal acts would be charged to court. Obviously, since they were working for the “right” party, they may have merely been cautioned, paid handsomely, and asked to “go and sin no more”.

And from the way the president and his party members are eagerly and enthusiastically singing to everyone who feels shortchanged in the votes allocation process to go to the Election Tribunals, my guess is that, just like the so-called elections, the verdicts of the election courts may have been written already. It would seem that those who have strong cases against the “elected” people may have to wait till beyond May 29, when the lawless dispensation may have, hopefully, expired, to go to the normal courts to get fair hearing. 

*Olusegun Obasanjo on Election Day
In the entire South East, reports say virtually no voting took place. I was dismayed when I saw the Presidential Candidate of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu,  on TV casting his vote in pitch darkness.  In most places in the South East, election materials arrived as late as 5pm and before they could be distributed to the various polling centres, darkness has already enveloped the whole place. And considering that the PDP government had plunged the nation in darkness due to the total collapse of the power sector under its watch, one can now imagine how voting could have been carried out in those areas so late in the day. Maybe it served their purpose very well. With darkness engulfing the land, and the people having dispersed with the belief that no voting would take place again, all it would remain for the INEC/PDP gang to achieve their habitual “fraudslide” victory would be to gather their men of darkness to some darker corner to mass thumbprint the ballot papers and declare victory for the “victorious, largest party in Africa”. 

Now, in all these brazen display ungodly desperation, where is the interest of the masses factored in? Can we find a single candidate out there who is minded to improve the welfare of the masses? Everybody is pursuing his or her narrow interests, including those who would soon start calling on Nigerians to accept the “vote allocations” in the interest of peace.  

Indeed, the Nigerian state thrives on a very a solid foundation and enduring, pervasive culture of very crude selfishness. Maybe, “selfishness” is not the most appropriate word to convey the exact meaning I have in mind; but there is this consuming desire and deep craving by the average Nigerian to always have an unfair advantage over his neighbour, to ensure and emphasize the exclusive, distinct nature of whatever he does or possesses, and ultimately become the envy of others. This should, however, not be confused with healthy striving for excellence and distinction. Rather it is a mindset that makes someone to value whatever he has, only when it is obvious that no one else has it, or that only a select, privileged few have it. 

I don’t know whether it was the British that planted this insidious seed in Nigerians or merely helped to water and tend it, for their own self-serving reasons. The British had created the Government Reserved Areas (GRAs) and several other segregating and divisive facilities, and took some special “natives”, the educated and privileged few, away from their own people, put them in those secluded areas and planted in them a deep feeling of being “special” or “different” from the rest. This may have helped the British to perfect their divide-and-rule policy, but it equally succeeded in engraving in the minds of those lucky natives this consciousness of being better or higher than the rest. And so, when the British unwillingly granted what they called Independence to Nigeria, they ensured that this iniquitous status quo remained. Through this privileged class, which they had created and successfully alienated from their own people, the British still ruled Nigeria. That is why our rulers live in fortresses, far removed from the people they claim to be serving, unlike what obtains in almost every other nation. 

In Nigeria today, a successful man is one who has “left the others” to join the privileged, eating class. In most cases, this does not happen as result of hard work, but merely because of the “lucky” fellow’s sudden acquaintance with some other fellow in the corridors of power. Indeed, one may just start swimming in boundless opulence tomorrow just because he had got the “right connections”, which may just be that he is a distant to cousin to the hairdresser of  the girlfriend of the ADC of one of our rulers. When that happens, the person quickly leaves his fellows behind to “join them” to enjoy. And that is why, at the slightest opportunity, anyone with access to the public till would seek to corner all the juicy advantages there to himself, and create another world of limitless comfort for himself which would automatically place him far above the rest of the people. This is the situation that produced the “big-man” syndrome in the country.  

Sometime last year, one of my ardent readers sent me an email to say that in Warri where he grew up, what they call these toy generators from China is: I-Better-Pass-My-Neighbour. So, when NEPA/PHCN envelopes everyone with impenetrable darkness, and those who have these Chinese toys put them on to supply power to their places of abode, all they are trying to demonstrate to their “unlucky” neighbours choking with thick, oppressive darkness is that they are simply better than them. Yes, I better pass my neighbour! This mentality appears to regulate  the conducts of public officers in Nigeria. And when you look at the situation closely, you then begin to understand why Nigerians are suffering in the midst of plenty, and why people are still stealing and plundering even when they have accumulated so much. 

I-better-Pass-My-Neighbour. Once the president was asked during a phone-in radio/television programme why he banned tokunbo vehicles, and he immediately spewed up his grouse. What people understood by his outburst that day was that he was not too happy that too many cars were competing for space with his large convoy on the streets of Abuja! “Everywhere in Abuja, what is you see is Golf, Golf! Golf!” he fumed. Now “Golf” is that small Volkswagen vehicle which Nigerians call “pure water”, which the poor man, at his own level, too, flaunts, to show that he is now better than his waka-waka neighbour. Now the Oga up there is not happy that cars were becoming too common, that it was no longer the exclusive preserve of rulers and the rich, their children, cronies and “woman friends”.   

Now tell me, all these do-or-die struggles to gain power, are they because of any love for the masses? Certainly not. The deadly determination of Obasanjo to foist on the nation his own self-serving choice as his successor, was it done out of any form of love for the Nigerian people? Certainly, no! The people I pity so much are these people who call themselves party supporters who go out there to fight and die for those who would not even allow them to get near their gates once they gain power. These are the most unfortunate victims.  And the real tragedy is that even in 2011, we will still have people like that! 

Until we kill this spirit of “I-Better-Pass-My-Neighbour”, looting will never stop in Nigeria. The rulers would always ensure that mass poverty continue in the land because that is the only situation that emphasizes how “lucky” they, their families, cronies and “woman friends” are. That would also ensure that during elections, the poor can easily be manipulated with little gifts to sell-off their votes and even their lives. In many countries there is nothing like “inferior” or “superior” hospitals. Everybody, whether President, Governor, Senator, the jobless or schoolboy, is entitled to quality healthcare. But here, the craving is to show our advantage over others. Some even ensure they prepare their executive graves before they die, so that even in death, they would still be able to make the statement: I-better-Pass-My-Neighbour. Na waa for this country!


First published in SCRUPLES,  Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye's  Wednesday column in Daily Independent (www.independentnig.com) on April 25, 2007.

Nigeria: Oh, At Last We Are Here!

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 

This Saturday, Nigerians will pour into the streets to find out if Professor Maurice Iwu and his “Independent” National Electoral Commission (INEC) were really serious when a few days ago they once again assured the nation that they were ready to conduct the April 14 and 21 elections.

Indeed, the desire for change in many Nigerians has reached fever pitch, and become so palpable. What has become clear is that so many people are eager to perform their constitutionally assigned role this Saturday to ensure that this long-awaited change comes. It is to be hoped that nothing would happen to reward their pleasant expectation with devastating disappointment.


Nigeria

It should be quite clear that the change most people crave so much, perhaps, more than any other, is that the current (outgoing) gaggle of garrulous, incompetent fellows at Aso Rock should just give way to some other people come May 29, and they can’t wait to embrace April 21 to do what is expected of them to ensure that this happens. In fact, to some people, just anybody can reclaim Aso Rock, so long as he was not part of the outgoing most disappointing mob.

The abysmal failure of the outgoing regime in virtually all spheres of life has so traumatized Nigerians that many now feel that no other leadership can be worse than it. What they are saying is that the exit of the current regime in Aso Rock will mark the end of the worse of the worst in Nigeria.

I just hope they are right. What I think I strongly believe, however, is that our environment is changing, for the better. Nigerian citizens are beginning to shed the colonial view of government as some kind of oracle or god that must not be questioned by any “ordinary person”, and have in fact started looking into the eyes of their rulers to demand responsible leadership and accountability from them.

What this means is that the end of the Obasanjo regime would automatically translate to the end the Kabiyesi syndrome or what has been variously described as Babacrazy. I foresee a much freer (even if not less corrupt) National Assembly. I foresee many threats and actual enactments of impeachments, even at the highest level of governance. I see excesses by chief executives in the states and at Aso Rock thoroughly abridged.

As I look at the various presidential candidates, I fail to locate any Emperors waiting to be crowned, to ride roughshod on Nigerians, and be rewarded with superfluous praises by an army of sycophants. Yes, the sycophants would still be there, but I see the level of impunity that marked this expiring era being drastically reduced. I see rulers realizing that the populace would no longer be content to watch them passively as they squander the nation’s resources and mortgage the people’s future. I see them fearing the possibility of immediate repercussions, yes, serious challenges from a citizenry that has lost patience with incompetence and shameless thievery.
Also, I see a Presidency that would shed its current excessive weight and powers, and limitless access to funds. I see a truly federal structure emerging.

Again, I foresee a Presidency that can even be investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and kicked out in disgrace. Change is here, my people, and I am so excited.

The states too will not be spared this refreshing wind of change. I wonder how many governors that will be on their seats to celebrate their first hundred days in office.

By the time the gods that imposed them on the people have all become powerless ex-emperors, chances are many of them would be shoved aside. Very soon, also, Iwu and his INEC would take the backstage, and many of the genuine cases brought against some candidates, which it had conveniently ignored, would be properly tried in courts of competent jurisdiction. I don’t see the judiciary easily jettisoning its post-Uwais vibrancy and recovering independence. What I see are judges who would not like to end up like Wilson Egbo-Egbo, and would stand up to be counted on the side of decency and justice. Indeed, the vestigial remains of this decadent era, where people catch thieves with horribly soiled hands, where mere scums and renegades are planted in positions of responsibility, would soon be blown away by the cleansing wind of the new era that is coming.

What I see, therefore, is that some candidates who have remained reluctant to clear the clouds swirling around their hideous pasts would have no place to hide again. Yes, those who had made false declarations in their INEC forms will be put in their right places, as their matters would surely receive fair hearings in the courts, after the lords of lawlessness, who derive peculiar animaiton from obtructing the course of justice,  have left the stage. Indeed, I can’t see any godfather after this dark era who would successfully manipulate the judiciary to kill such celebrated cases.

By the way, has anyone located any of Prof Iwu’s polling centres? Has anyone seen where he has displayed the voters’ registers for the elections that are just a couple of days away? Please, if you have, just give me a call and I would go and see the wonder with my own eyes.

Again, who can say with assurance that his name would eventually be found in the voters’ register which Iwu till now (Tuesday afternoon) has refused to display?

Or is this part of the winning formula of the “largest party in Africa” which INEC does not pretend anymore it has great sympathy for?

Well whatever happens this Saturday, I am confident that Nigeria would never remain the same after April 14 and 21 no matter what next Iwu will bring out from his bag of tricks. There is a wind of change blowing across the landscape, and it can only sweep away anyone that tries to resist it.

I am still hopeful… And watching…
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scruples2006@yahoo.com
www.ugochukwu.blog.com

Tuesday, April 10, 2007