The menace of corruption has eaten so deep into the fabric of Nigeria that at every corner one turn to, one sees the effect. From the Education, Health, Political, Security, Aviation, Oil down to the Finance sector.
Nigeria which is the most populated country in Africa has consistently been ranked high in corruption by Transparency International (TI)
In the latest 2022 corruption index (CPI), Nigeria position went up to 150 from 154 out of 180 countries.
The most pronounced corruption practice is in politics. This is because, its arm reaches out to other sectors of Nigeria economy.
Corruption is epidemic within the government.
Nigeria politicians find themselves in a strong position due to their connections. Like we have it as Godfatherism.
This is when political sponsors with effect and influence give support to political candidate of their choice even when they are not fit for the position.
It is worthy to note that, corruption is not a new phenomenon in Nigeria, history spans from the First Republic till date.
However, the cases of corruption in Nigeria is enormous, only few will be mentioned in this piece.
In 2016, it was reported that the Chief of Staff to Buhari, Abba Kyari took a 500million bribe from MTN to slash the $5million fine slammed against it for violating Nigeria Telecommunications on National Security.
While the MTN staff involve in such scandal was fired by the organisation, Abba Kyari was left in office. It was National outrage that forced Buhari to announce the probe of Abba Kyari. However, the findings from this probe were never announce.
Another similar case is that of the Accountant General of the federation, Ahmed Idris who in May 2022 was arrested for money laundering and diversion of public funds to personal account.
Recently, a public holder was said to built a whole City for himself in Katsina.
Without mincing word, different administration has made effort to flush out corruption through enactment of laws, and enforcement of the integrity system but with little success.
Systems such as the establishment of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The truth is even though these administration try to eradicate this practice, it is usually not effective because of the folks in their cabinet. Majority of them are in the game of money laundering and other corruptible vices.
Chief Patrick Osagie Eholor, Pesident of One Love Foundation, otherwise known as Ultimate equal
``Indeed THERE WAS A COUNTRY". It is so disgraceful that at this present time Nigeria barely have a functional railway station and yet somebody went ahead to borrow an airplane and painted it NIGERIAN AIRWAY. It is so shameful!
While I commend President Ahmed Tinubu for his effort towards flushing out all previous political appointees, he should please be very selective in appointing new ones and most especially do well to also probe the corrupt ones.
One thing I only gained from the previous administration of Former President Buhari was his quote "If Nigeria doesn't kill corruption, Corruption will kill Nigeria" and behold it is coming to play already corruption killing Nigeria while the common citizens are feeling the impact. It is time for the common man to rise up and fight the same government using legal means because no almighty will fight for them"
Corruption is not healthy for the country. It slows down country's economy. Also, it serves as obstacle to development and growth.