By Okechukwu Emeh
Materials wealth is a protection against the deprivation, misery, shame and
inhumanity of lack, poverty and squalor. When acquired in a fair and just
manner or by dint of hard work, or divine favour, it is a thing of glory and upliftment
in the sight of God and right-thinking people. However, when wealth is achieved
through illegitimate means, it is bound to be a source or reproach and
resentment.
Today, Nigeria
is evidently in a war against corrupt enrichment using public office, as being
spearheaded with courage and determination by the administration of President
Muhammadu Buhari. Reassuringly enough, many people of goodwill across Nigeria have
risen beyond the confines of petty sectional sentiments by receiving the
unsavoury development of evils spawned in the land by our corrupt officials
with disbelief, revulsion and indignation. This is inevitable against the
backdrop of startling revelations from the ongoing anti-corruption investigations
into various public institutions in the country, like the $2.1 billion arms
deal.
It is not an overstatement that corruption is an ill wind that
blows nobody any good. Admittedly, the cancerous spread of this socio-economic
cankerworm in Nigeria is one
of the major reasons why Nigeria ,
notwithstanding her abundant human and material resources, is a classic example
of stunted growth and arrested development foisted by years of diversion of
public funds badly needed for national transformation into private pockets
through unwholesome practices like misappropriation, embezzlement, fraud and
bribery. Such economic and financial malfeasances are also a key factor fuelling
deprivation and despondency among our populace. Alongside this is the negative
impact of endemic corruption on our external image, as frequently captured in
our unimpressive ranking on annual global corruption indexes being conducted by
renowned integrity rating bodies like Transparency International (TI).