Democracy

Nigerian Governor wants poor people dead

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By Adeola Aderounmu

One governor, Adams Oshiomole of Edo State in Nigeria has told a poor widow to ”go and die”. The video went spiral on social networks and is popular on Youtube.

Often, I write that Nigerian politicians are not mentally stable and I use the phrase ”mad politicians”.

This governor stood in a public place, chasing away poor retailers from the streets when a poor widow begged him for mercy.

His response was ”you are a widow, go and die”!.

This statement is not an error and the governor does not need to apologise. (He apologised after the video went spiral on social networks and news outfits worldwide).

The reason he does not have to apologise is that he spoke his mind and the minds of the various other useless politicians across Nigeria.

In the video, Oshiomole’s posture reminds one of Hitler. He was stern, cold-hearted and very decided that people should just go and die. He stood like he owns Edo Kingdom.

These politicians steal, loot and cart away the wealth of the country. Every day in

Nigeria billions of naira disappear into thin air.

Nigerians live as destitutes and only senseless people will need the World Bank reports to confirm that. I knew how I lived in Nigeria and I know how I still live when I am there. We have no electricity, our roads are bad and we have zero security of life and property. It’s a rat race and hopelessness pervades. I live it, so no thank you to the world Bank report! It’s the story of our lives. Nigerian schools and education system has come to a halt at all levels.

Right from the presidency to the Ministry of Finance, to the central bank, to all state government houses Nigeria, these evil rulers find ways to steal, loot and care-less about the citizens.

Everyday these politicians say to the rest of us: ”Go and Die”.

They do so, by their actions and inactions. Have you wondered the meaning of Ms. Oduah still in the Aviation Ministry. It means if you don’t like it, ”Go and Die”. This particular ”Go and Die” is from Goodluck Jonathan to all Nigerians who want Oduah out. It is not for those stupid Nigerians who will protest that Oduah is innocent and will even give her Awards in Nigerian and in London for ”looting”.

It is not only Nigerian politicians who are mad. Many Nigerians are crazy, that is why Oduah and other looters in Nigeria will be protected by their clans, families and village members. That is why they will be shielded and rewarded. They are not the only criminals is a flt-face argument.

If Nigeria is a normal country, people like Goodluck Jonathan, Ms. Oduah and Adams Oshiomole would have been disgraced out of office if they have not resigned.

Okonjo-Iweala would have resigned for all the loots that went right under her nose at the finance Ministry making her a ”complete” member of the criminal gangs in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s central bank governor Mr. Lamido continues to receive awards here and there while he loots and enrich himself as well.

”Go and Die” if you don’t like Nigeria the way they run it. That is the slogan of those who run it and those who benefit immensely from the madness in the largest accumulation of black people worldwide.

I can’t believe the people of Edo have not stormed EDO’s Government house to pursue the widow killer out of office. In Nigeria, to chase a serving governor out of office will be an anomaly.

aderounmu@gmail.com

TWITTER: @aderinola

Nigeria’s Missing USD5 Billion, Nothing New

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By Aderounmu Adeola

The amount of money missing in Nigeria since 1960 is enough to save the world and I am not exaggerating.

What is crazy is that more and more money is still being stolen from Nigeria by the politicians and their accomplices. Before you finish reading this piece several billions of naira would have disappeared from Nigeria’s treasury by mere looting and crude oil theft. From Aso rock, to the central bank, to governors’s offices, to local government councils, and anywhere there is government rep, the looting is continuous and constant.

In Nigeria it is glorious to be a thief while serving as a politician. The president heads these crooks of company and that is why he is not able to sack the Aviation Minister Ms. Oduah. They are all birds of the same feather.

The striking repetition of the looting process makes Nigeria a laughing stock no doubt. The lazy, weak and corrupt government of Jonathan was quick to refute the fact that more than 100 million Nigerians are living hopelessly like destitutes.

Who do you blame? Fela called them the suffering and smiling species.

It shocked me, not, to read Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s familiar script in response to Rotimi Amaechi’s allegation that she more or less stole or misappropriated USD 5 billion of Nigeria’s oil money.

When confronted with the allegation that she and Obasanjo misappropriated or looted Abacha’s loot, Mrs Iweala listed several projects that were executed and budgeted for before the loot were recovered as ”what the Abacha’s loot” was spent on. This was a few years ago when Obasanjo held sway and people thought he had a righteous cabinets. These people are all crooks.

Now, she has given a similar response to Amaechi’s allegation that the missing USD 5 billion were used for 2012 projects.

I would not have written this piece because for all I care Gov Amaechi is part of Nigeria’s problems. Nigerian politicians are not clean and they can never be trusted. Until now I did not read Amaechi’s allegation, I had only concentrated on the headline and when Ngozi Okonjo Iweala replied, I also ignored it. However when I saw that Amaechi took the time to reply Iweala, I thought I’d take a look at the content.

The River State government is making an allegation very similar to the disappearance of Abacha’s loot under Mrs. Iweala and asking the same question: why are missing funds used for projects already budgeted for.

When I saw the pattern and the precision of how Mrs Iweala respond to allegations, I could not resist this update of her participation in the destruction of Nigeria.

In a way the loots will keep flowing and one day more than 150 million Nigerians will be destitutes. Then, who knows how the people or the government will respond to the question about the existence of Nigeria and what to do with the thieves an looters in power.

One day this persistent reign of evil and evil people in Nigeria will end, I am sure.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Follow me at twitter @aderinola

How The Nigerian Government May Have Sponsored And Financed Terrorism

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By Adeola Aderounmu

When late Musa Yar Adua became the ruler of Nigeria in 2007 in one of the several disputed elections in Nigeria, one of his “achievements” was granting amnesty to the Niger Delta militants. His 6 or 7 points agenda including the vow to improve power supply never saw the light of the day.

The origin and the spread of militancy in the Niger Delta creeks are based on different arguments and different school of thoughts. The arguments are also influenced by political inclinations.

I know some people who earn their livelihood by taking dangerous sea trips to fish in Nigerian internal and territorial waters. Therefore what I know for certain based on eye-witness reports is that the militants became more “useful” when Obasanjo was aiming for his second term in office.

The allegations wrap Peter Odili in the game plan and the summary was that when the elections were over, the militants became more potent than ever before and also found new ways and tools to become more relevant than the pre-Obasanjo era.

The things that happened around that time would lend more credence to this narration from a close person. For, at that time in the history of Nigeria more people became aware of attack on national pipe-line and spate of kidnapping, first of expatriates and then of Dick, Tom and Harry.

When I was a young boy, at my early teenage years to be sure, I remembered that I swore never to step my feet on the soils of Northern regions of Nigeria. I think my opinion at that time was based on the news and images that I got about Northern Nigeria.

I started reading newspaper at the age of 8 and today I am still glued to my news-magazine subscriptions despite the availability of the internet and online news sources. So, I must have been well-informed about the “terrorism” of Northern Nigeria that came in different shades-religious, tribal wars and all sorts.

I remembered how I “worked” hard to make sure that my service year did not cross the borders of western Nigeria. I knew what I wanted and what I never wanted was to be part of the inexplicable madness of Northern Nigeria where my neighbour could be the one to slice my throat.

I envy those who went up north as the Northern images formed in my teen years is still with me and once I decided to leave Western Nigeria, it was on an international flight. If things were different-I would have been a good traveller not only across the world but also in my country of birth.

Nigeria got her independence in 1960. However, and so, so sad, Nigerians have not been able to successfully steer their country. As I prepare to send this story for publication, the signs became more ominous with the staggering internal rifes across different political parties.

You hardly hear of ideological debates. All you hear and see are egocentric views and mentally deranged arguments and struggles that show extremely low levels of human cognitivity. In summary, Nigeria is completely derailed and hope is lost.

From one government to another, impunity rose, corruption soar and the plundering of the country’s wealth by both people, local and international institutions and governments continue unabated. It appears the goal is to leave the country in an irreversible ruin.

Every time I write about Nigeria the intelligent questions haunt me and I don’t want to be the one to state that the largest accumulation of black people in the world resulted to one of the most useless forms of government on earth and an unbelievably resilient followership.

When Yar adua granted amnesty to the Niger Deltan militants, the signals were obvious. It appears that to be heard in Nigeria; you also have to be harmed. The militants gained access to government houses. Some of them got some of the best houses in Abuja and in their home states. Militants under Yar Adua became kings and lords.

When Goodluck Jonathan appeared, militants simply took over Nigeria. They got juicy government contracts and government appointments/jobs.

In short, as a militant, you can meet with the president easily compared to if you were a university professor trying to get a grant for a special research project. As a militant, you can get a scholarship award easier than if you are a hard working students with poor parents.

Over the years in Nigeria, mediocrity was lauded as a virtue. It grew with time and today you really have to be almost a “nonentity” to rise to position of power.

Aggression, violence and instruments of murder have been used to steer Nigeria for long and eventually these crimes came to the surface and became their “rule of law”. Good people became endangered species in Nigeria.

It was therefore easy for Boko Haram to rise. The origin of Boko Haram is still under debate especially considering the possible infleunce of foreign elements/powers. What is sure is that they became more prominent in the post-Yar Adua amnesty days.

Boko Haram may have existed when I made up my mind as a teenager not to step on the soil of the blood-spillers. They may have been their when the power hungry rulers of Northern Nigeria promised to make Nigeria ungovernable for Mr. Jonathan.

You see, in Nigeria treason is not even a crime. You can say these volatile words and walk free. You can annul and cancel elections and walk free. In the same way, you can rule anyhow and steal anyhow and nothing “go happen”. It is part of their rule of law.

Let us not be deceived by what appears to be the roles of established government worldwide in the rise and spread of terrorism. The Federal government of Nigeria will not be the first to directly or indirectly sponsor terrorism.

The role of the United States in the rise of Bin Laden’s led Al-Queda in Afghanistan are well documented. When Gadaffi of Libya became the target of the United States and NATO, terrorists were armed to aid the displacement and eventual murder of Gadaffi, just to mention a few examples. People are still studying the Syria scenario.

The now established terror groups in Northern Nigeria can partly be attributed to the failure of the various governments since 1960. Before 1999 the majority of the dictators and rulers of Nigeria were from Northern Nigeria.

They deliberately impoverished their people intellectually. They ensured that their people were educationally deficient so that the Northern elites will always have their ways among the ignorant populace. Today, the pay-back price is inestimable.

Ignorance is a disease. Northern Nigeria is that place that will go to war for events or happenstance that are not related or connected to Nigeria. When religious conflicts occur in other countries around the world, death tolls can be higher in Northern Nigeria than the affected countries themselves.

You will never find a greater cost for ignorance except the emergence of full-fledge terrorism itself. Northern Nigeria was a ready-made fertile ground for terrorism, thanks to dictators and thoughtless politicians from that area.

The militancy in the South of Nigeria followed a similar pattern. The governors of the oil rich states have over the years looted their people blind. What will remain inexplicable is how the looters and thieves from this region always have the backings of the people they steal from.

The Stockholm syndrome should be renamed the Nigerian syndrome. A situation where the people will defend or support their “thieving sons and daughters” should open a new area of research in human behaviour, psychology or anthropology based on the Nigerian examples.

Even the vocal leaders of the Niger Delta and those who served as ministers in federal and regional institutions like OMPADEC and NDDC ought to be brought to books. They coveted to themselves all the funds earmarked for the development of the Delta. They took from foreign coorporations and from state and federal government without accountability.

Therefore the fault is not only at the door steps of the unitary government headed by corrupt rulers since 1960. However it is well known that if the head is rotten, then the entire body is bad. That’s where the buck always stops at the door of the central government.

The Niger Delta militants are now waging “wars” that lack ideology. They have seen how “easy” it is to become super-rich and influential in government through the use of guns and gun-powders.

They have seen how their members have spread all over the world yet still siphoning amnesty funds like leeches and parasites. Oh! I hope I am not the only one who knows that militants at home and abroad earn more money every month that many teachers and professors labouring in Nigeria!

What these mostly non-combatant militants have not seen is the end to the spillage in their environment. What they have not seen and probably not looking forward to is the implementation of all the policies and promises that have been made by governments and agencies connected to the Delta.

They have grown to love the quick money and get rich anyhow style. Like their masters-the local chiefs and like the government of Nigeria, the future doesn’t count for them.

Truth is, for more than 50 years Nigerian rulers stole and carted away the treasures of Nigeria.

Truth is, everything was neglected including education, health and other simple basic infrastructure. Hence, in Nigeria, it actually ought to be a total war on bad governance. All patriotic Nigerians should actually be out there asking the government to surrender, pack and exit.

In Nigeria, the new full-grown terrorism and militancy are delayed responses to the now more than 50 years of absolute waste of independent status.

It appears that the 3rd generation of pro-independence Nigeria are also wasting away. With the spread of militancy and the popularity of terrorism, one can presume that knee-jerk responses on the part of Nigerian government have made these twin calamities into wars that the Nigerian military will not win.

The end may likely come when the system of governance change radically. Those who have tried to fight off terrorism in the absences of functioning governments and social justice always fail.

It’s been 53 years of stupid rulership. Leadership does not not exist in Nigerian politics or military dictatorships. Nothing (except corruption and vices like impunity) is working with the system of governance where the man at the center decides for the whole country.

This ineffective system of governance has rendered almost all Nigerian government institutions paralysed-they are places for self-enrichment and not performance.

With evidence starring at us daily, we see that the Police are corrupt, the Judiciary is corrupt, the ministries starting from the presidency in the federal system to the departments in the local countries are all means for self-enrichment and endless political hullabaloo.

Nigeria will benefit immensely from a sudden change of system of governance. This means that the unitary system of government needs to be abolished as soon as possible. Doing so will automatically punctuate the ambition of the Northern terrorists and their sponsors who seem to be making the capture of Aso rock their goal.

Nigeria can do without Aso rock by appropriately returning power to the regions. Most of the stupid intra- and inter-party wars lacking ideology will disappear with the change of the system of government.

Regional governments will restore the old Western Nigeria and the other recognised pre-independence regions with minimal frictions for re-adjustments.

The change of the system of governance will not return Nigeria overnight to the paradise it was in the olden days. It will serve as the first step among several other steps that are needed to start the long journey back to normalcy.

Citizen re-orientation programs which will include patriotism, dignity of labour, promotion of merits, top- level discipline, committment to job, family, community and nation/country are among the virtues that will be needed in the various regions that will be re-instated or reconstructed.

aderounmu@gmail.com

twitter @aderinola

Things that happen in Nigeria (part 3)

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By Adeola Aderounmu

One day Muyiwa got a short term contract to reinstall and upgrade the computer systems at a cyber café at Iyano Iba area of Lagos. Muyiwa is a software engineer and one of the several million Nigerians currently looking for proper and gainful employment.

The cyber café (name withheld) is a stone throw from where Muyiwa lives so it was easy to get him to do the job for in a fair deal with the owner of the establishment.

While Muyiwa was at work (fixing the tokunbo systems) his mother sent Tunji-the younger brother-to help make a phone call at the call centre just in front of the cyber café.

Like a whirlwind the men of the Nigerian Police force from a nearby station pounced on the business centre and arrested all the people inside the cyber café and everyone standing outside waiting to make phone calls.

Muyiwa and Tunji ended up in the same police van along with several other people and before they could shout mummy, they have been placed behind bars like armed robbers.

In the end both were bailed by a sum of N10 000, an amount that is more than 50% of the minimum poverty wage paid by the Nigerian authorities.

The above story is real and reveals one of the criminal activities of the Nigerian police.

Sadly this is what the Nigerian Police do everyday. But who is going to punish these criminals who wear dirty, stinking uniforms around town?

Many men in police uniform are smelly and drunk while on duty. Many of them-like the corrupt politicians-are not mentally fit, yet they are employed to work as police officers.

Many Nigerian police men and women do not know the statutory functions of the police. Their understanding is limited to the conversion of police station to somewhat of a bank where money change hands. For many of them the job is about implicating people and asking for bail.

I have written somewhere before about the Moniya police station in Oyo state where robbers and suspects are shot and thrown into the (Ogunpa) river at night. I know this because I’d lived across the street in 1996 during my service year in Ibadan. I asked around after several sleepless nights of hearing gun shots and my findings gave me shocking revelations.

This is probably a routine in police stations across Nigeria because of the congestion of their cells. Killing robbers and suspects, I was told, was a way to keep the inmates level manageable. So if you don’t pay the bail for the people you know they will be framed-up for more serious crimes or even killed. Policing in Nigeria has become a big deadly business.

After my service year, I did not spend one day extra in Ibadan. I was glad to leave IITA where Nigerian junior workers were treated like slaves in my department (PHMD) and it was also a relief getting away from the crazy police station that was about 3O meters to my all in one-room apartment.

The discussions bothering on the atrocities of the Nigerian police can be project work or thesis for the entire final year law students at the University of Lagos in such a way that it would not even result to repetition or plagiarism. They are mostly semi-illiterates or sometimes complete illiterates in uniform, acting (according to Fela) like zombies, for the most.

Cyber cafés are well known places for yahoo-yahoo or 419 activities and that has been the excuse used by both the EFCC and the other security agencies for raiding the guilty and the innocent. This useless venture by the Nigerian security agencies shows the scandalous lack of knowledge and a near zero-intelligence collection by them.

The right thing to do is to collect information about fraudsters, trace them, monitor them and arrest them with substantial evidence. This is a mirage in Nigeria. Rather than arrest a criminal, the Nigerian police commonly raid a group of people and lump them together. The bail sums will be huge.

If the Nigerian police have a warrant for the arrest of a man who is on the run, they will arrest all the members of his family in his place. This is simply senseless and shows nothing but stupidity and lack of understanding of the rule of law. It shows violation of the rights of those who have been unjustly arrested or apprehended. The act is criminal on the part of the police.

Even when the police in Naija make the correct arrest, they are eager to accept bribes or to extort whatever they can from the criminals and sometimes set them free. They are probably short-changing the judiciary that is also reckless with the spate of briberies, kickbacks and questionable judgements that emanate from the rotten institution. The law system in Nigeria is approaching total senselessness. Corruption has torn it apart.

All cyber cafés in Nigeria are reputed for regularly giving huge sums of monies to the police so that they can be allowed to stay in business. The cafes have both good and bad people as customers but it is the task of a well-trained police force to fish out criminals and let law abiding citizens do their daily chores-send emails, chat with family members in other countries and to maintain touch with the global events.

If the owner of a cyber café is a fraudster he should be charged accordingly using the evidence against him. It is wrong to apprehend the innocent because they are present when the guilty person is been arrested.

Nigeria is made to look like a lawless country going by the activities of the policemen. But they will blame it on the politicians and the lack of sophisticated instruments/equipment to work with. The police will blame their criminal activities on poor salaries. One can only imagine the type of training that they received as well going by the state and conditions of their academies prior to the popular Channels TV coverage.

The reputation of the Nigerian police from my point of view is similar to that of any other criminal. The Nigerian police will ask you for the receipt of your television as you take it to the electrician for repair. If you don’t have the receipt, you are in a serious mess. You can be locked up and lumped with real criminals. You can die in jail because you fail to produce the receipt of a television that is not working at all.

If the Nigerian police act on intelligence rather than impulse, they will not stop or question people moving around with their electronic devices. It appears that the code of the Nigerian police is “wear a uniform and oppress the people as much as you can”.

Poverty-both mental and material-has resulted in many atrocities on the side of the police. It is not impossible that greed is also a reason. The states of things in Nigeria are extremely sad. Conventional knowledge tells that the people of Nigeria find it impossible to live on their salaries. That is probably a fact for many people who have jobs. One can only imagine the plights of the jobless in the absence of a social security system. The minds of people have been broken.

What have emanated from the foregoing are different types of evils in different offices or agencies across Nigeria. It is worse on the streets and in homes. People are confronted by the continuous dual threats of robbers and the police.

In a society where people worship money and mysterious riches, in a society where poverty and penury is plaguing more than 70% of the population, anything can be done to get sudden money and overnight wealth.

There are confirmed reports of the Nigerian Police who transport “certain” prisoners from the cell and let them go on free foot. In return they are known to raid bus stations at night (say from 10pm) in order to substitute the criminals they set free with the innocent people they have “captured” at the bus stations.

They do these things because they have been paid huge sums by the criminals and their families or gang. These stories are true even if they don’t make the news for various reasons including the Nigerian factors. People who tell the truth are endangered species in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Police are involved in many more atrocities, they are so lawless! If you report a robbery at the police station physically, you are likely to be arrested and detained. The police may accuse you of being the robber and accuse you of trying to cover your crimes. Ordinary Nigerians are like pawns in the hands of the police. The police in Nigeria are never your friend, don’t be mistaken about that!

The Nigerian police are known to listen to fake reports, collect bribes and arrest innocent people. If the arrested person has no connection, he or she will remain in the Nigerian hell. No one will listen to him or her. The Nigerian police have many bad and rotten eggs parading the streets.

If you have a problem with the police or you are trying to find out the status of the person who is in the police detention, they will tell you that the officer in charge of the case is not around and no one else will give you useful information. Your trips to the station become endless. Imagine that there is an officer in charge of a case, just like in the bank where you have different advisers for different activities. The police in Nigeria think they are running a bank because of the large sums of money that change hands daily at their stations. The police are very unreliable I must add.

Police trouble in Nigeria can take breath out of your body. You need to be mentally strong to remain collected as you try to explain your innocence to the people who understand only the language of money. They are like vultures and they can ruin you and your business. They can shoot you while checking your car or vehicle particulars. Don’t argue with the trigger-happy, drunk police officer in Nigeria, even to this day and minute! Their reputations remain the same, bad!

In some areas of Lagos state policemen and soldiers are now plying the okada trade in the evening and night. What they have done to the okada riders since the Fashola ban are unspeakable things. Passengers and okada riders have died as they try to escape from policemen and soldiers.

Does Governor Fashola of Lagos state know that policemen and soldiers are now into the okada business in certain areas of Lagos? If his answer is no, then he has a real problem with the management of his domain. I don’t support the use of okada because of the dangers involved and I hate with unreserved passion the fact that policemen and soldiers in mufti can use take over this business despite the ban. What a lawless bunch! Criminals in uniform! Mr. Fashola, wake up and smell the coffee in the suburbs.

If you live in Nigeria and you don’t have a top police officer or a well-known wealthy, corrupt politician as your family friend, you are probably taking a great risk. I know many innocent people who have been rescued from the claws of the police with a phone call from the top. What if these people have no helper?

Indeed things are not supposed to be like that. I am not supposed to be afraid that the police can do me harm or even implicate me. But these things happen. I am not supposed to rely on a top police officer or a corrupt politician for my freedom. There are internationally recognised laws that guarantee my freedom and human rights.

In Nigeria depending on which side you find yourself, your rights are not guaranteed. The police can do you “anyhow” or “kill and go” as we used to say. Ask around Nigeria, “what is “yellow fever”?

There are bigger questions if you ask the family members of Nigerians who have been killed by state or federal sponsored terrorism. Who killed Dele Giwa? Who killed all the activists and politicians that have died over the years during military and civilian regimes?

In fact Nigerian military dictators and politicians are the greatest offenders here. Through the unitary system of government, through massive corruption and through the destruction of the judicial system, the rights of Nigerians have been taken away from them. Millions of Nigerians were born into a system where their rights and future had already been stolen or mortgaged even before they were born. It’s like been born into modern day slavery.

The Nigerian dilemma is a huge one that did not start with the atrocities of the police or other security agencies. It was a socio-political problem that ravaged the economy and crept thereafter into every known sphere of the Nigerian life destroying whatever/whoever it finds.

The negative activities and criminalities perpetrated by the Nigerian police are also a pure reflection of the failed Nigerian system. What is working as it should in Nigeria? The system does not regulate at all.

Radical political restructuring, massive investments in free public education, unprecedented turnaround in the electrical power sector and out-of-the-world turnaround in technology and manufacturing are among the things urgently needed in Nigeria. Public institutions need to be rebuilt on functionalities and trust across Nigeria. People are too corrupt and the entire system is rotten. It stinks!

The beauty that some people especially the politicians try to reflect about Nigeria are too superficial. Majority are suffering in several ways. These majorities are the category of people who are least heard. Nigeria’s progress will continue to be tamed until the majorities who are living in penury and who are exposed to social injustice are allowed to speak out, have influence on their societies and utilise the best brains for the appropriate tasks.

If Nigerians start on the right path today it will take decades to rebuild the system. It’s easy to destroy and it’s going to be hard to resuscitate. The more we delay the more Nigeria decays.

I think it is so clear now that the major political parties in Nigeria are all the same. It appears that the same old monsters of IBB, OBJ and co. are the deciders of our future. What a hopeless situation!

Do we want to maintain the useless unitary system and the cycle of idiocy? Do Nigerians want to keep fools in power because of the “turn by turn to chop” syndrome? What kind of a country are Nigerians leaving for their children and grandchildren?

When will this shameful circus end? What do Nigerians want and where do they go from here?

aderounmu@gmail.com

Things that happen in Nigeria (Part 2)

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By Adeola Aderounmu

When people are employed by the Federal Government of Nigeria, their names are published in what is known as the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette. Promotions and other relevant information about civil service and civil servants are also published from time to time in the official gazette.

Unfortunately the average Nigerian workers have been reduced to slaves or sub-human beings by the way things are done in Nigeria. In Nigeria, there is something called verification and auditing exercises at the various government institutes/ministries.

In my opinion I think this is one of the several loop holes and financial leakages in Nigeria. Nigeria is among the most corrupt countries in the world because the various governments in Nigeria are very corrupt. The people who run things in Nigeria are unbelievably corrupt and impunity is almost universal in Nigeria.

What corrupt politicians and private/public servants in Nigeria have failed to understand over the years is that every act of corruption adds to the gigantic sum in figures and effects that makes Nigeria probably the most corrupt country in the world and the place where some of the poorest people live.

What is the meaning of verification /auditing exercise in Nigeria? It means that some unscrupulous individuals collude with the Central Bank or the economic departments of their various ministries and allocate millions of naira to take a tour of the various federal ministries spread across Nigeria.

In the process they send thousands of government workers especially the junior staff members into unnecessary panic. Some workers who are on annual leave (for the first time in donkey years) are forced to call off their leave/holiday even if they have travelled abroad. If they don’t report back to the office, their salaries will be stopped (and someone will be embezzling the salaries!).

Some workers who are not able to appear during the verification/auditing saga have to pay thousands of naira as bribes to their immediate bosses (or the directors as they are called in the civil service) and also to the verification officials from Abuja in order to have their salaries reactivated whenever they are back to their respective posts.

This situation is very similar to pension verification. How can somebody work for the Nigerian government for 34 or 35 years and still be made to go through physical verification? This is an issue of corruption and moral decadence across all strata in Nigeria. It is scandalous, disgraceful and shameful. It speaks volume about the mental cognitive-ness of the rulers and occupiers of Nigeria.

If the people who run the civil service in Nigeria are normal, mentally alert, upright and fit for their jobs then they will never ask a man or woman who worked in the same office/department for 35 years to be verified.

There are instances where people are brought to government offices on hospital beds with dangling nutritional drips attached. During verification, people collapse, faint and even die waiting to be attended to by the “gods” from Abuja. In extreme cases people are summoned to appear in Abuja irrespective of their ages or health statuses. This is wickedness and inhuman.

The bosses at the various federal ministries and auditing committee from Abuja are very well aware of the ghost, ex-employees and dead workers on the payroll of government but they don’t talk about that. In connivance with the various economy departments of the federal ministries, they continue to embezzle the salaries of dead and ghost workers. The spread and intensity of corruption in Nigeria is out of this world.

In a normal country, dead workers don’t receive monthly salaries. Ex-employees are removed from the pay roll. In Nigeria, dead workers, ex-employees and imaginary workers (aka ghost workers) are used by top government officials and their accomplices to embezzle funds.

The situation is made complicated by citizens of Northern Nigeria who are registered into jobs or enrolled into government payroll from birth. Invariably in places like Northern Nigeria where education is almost absent, ghost and imaginary workers are created when babies are born. Who is collecting all these monies? What type of country is Nigeria really?

These offences usually go unpunished because it is made a normal thing and the crimes are covered up by the people who know about it and who share the money from the illegalities.

In Nigeria, trust is alien. In the 21st century a gang travels around Nigeria doing verification and auditing. What happened to the official gazette as the record of government? That is a document that is available in print and most definitely in soft copy that could be used to verify government workers. The gazette is probably not reliable because of the falsification in the various federal government offices. Who is going to punish who when everybody has a criminal tendency? Do you have to travel across Nigeria to do auditing? What happened to computing, accounting and technological advancements?

The severe decadence in Nigeria is revealed in many ways. It is appalling and saddening. It is absolutely impossible to explain how widespread this madness has gone. In Nigeria, everybody knows that there are ghost workers. This means that the economy department in every government ministry is occupied by one or more criminals. This means that the bosses or directors in these ministries are criminals.

It is these criminalities and embezzlements that the auditing and verification officials want to partake in. That is why they fly around Nigeria with huge sums allocated to them. Yet they make additional money on ground through bribes and kickbacks.

These are common practices in Nigeria. The ordinary workers will not talk about these things because they will be killed or booted out of service mysteriously. Do or die is widespread in Nigeria. I wish to reiterate that in Nigeria the people who are not corrupt are becoming endangered species.

It is easy for these criminal activities to be perpetrated because it is generally assumed that everybody is corrupt in Nigeria. When the rulers of Nigeria, their families and friends can use Nigeria’s monies for whatever they want without being prosecuted when in office and after leaving office, then people down the ladder also have their own ways of getting away with crimes and other atrocities.

In top government positions, especially political placements-it is assumed that you get fired or prosecuted when you are out of favour. If you are in any vocal opposition groups, you will be dealt with to send a signal to others like you. The EFCC and the ICPC are willing agents to these anomalies. In an ideal world, it would not matter your position or ideology, you will suffer for your crimes as immunity does not cover your evil, mental status and criminal tendencies.

In Nigeria, people are promoted based on how much they steal or how much they bring back to their bosses. It is in Nigeria that criminals experience elevation especially in political offices. Nigerian politicians are known as common looters of the treasury. Nigeria under a unitary form of government is not working. All indices show us that Nigeria will not work under this useless form of governance because there is no limit to how corrupt people can become.

I don’t mind to stand alone to state without fear that Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world. In my eyes criminals rule in Nigeria right from Aso rock to the lowest level of office somewhere in Maiduguri, Igbogila, Abakaliki or Badagry.

In Nigeria, people walk away with contract funds without doing any work. People kill and go! The judicial system in Nigeria is ridicule to the international law system. What kind of law is practised in Nigeria that makes criminals the freest, loudest and most visible people?

For the Federal Civil Service and by extension the various civil service commissions at the state levels, there is an urgent need to clean up the system. The questions are many though.

Who will punish the cartel stealing through the use of ghost workers and dead employees? When these ghost workers are discovered and reported, who is responsible for their retention or re-emergence on the payrolls? Who will stop the registration of babies as government workers in Northern Nigerian?

In a system where everybody is assumed to be corrupt, who is going to ensure that verification and auditing exercises are done remotely from Abuja? How can criminals be detected without sending out verification officers who turn out to be bribe takers?

Who will ensure that a Nigerian worker on level 12 is paid his/her salary as a level 12 officer and not as a level 9 officer? Who is stealing the balance of the salary shortage? It is pure madness and wickedness to keep paying workers incorrect salaries while politicians and top officials embezzle money freely and get huge wages on top of their lootings. When will all these anomalies end? Who will save Nigeria?

One question or suggestion will lead to thousands of questions and other suggestions because Nigeria is running a worthless system of government that creates a million loop holes. The beneficiaries and custodians of this useless system don’t want a change and everybody thinks that their turn to “chop” will come. This is the absurd mentality which when added to other aberrations makes Nigeria one of the worst places to live on earth.

Some government workers boast of how much cash they share in their offices. This is common in Abuja. All the monies that should be used wisely after budget allocations end up in people’s pocket and they start to boast of how much they share in their respective offices weekly/monthly to top their salaries. Abuja is promoting massive corruption and a lifestyle built on lies, deceits and looting.

Many of the things that happen in Nigeria are abnormal. Many people don’t know these things are abnormal. Many people also think it is alright because that is all they have seen or known all their lives-a nonsensical system where the law is almost useless. The laws of Nigeria, the Police in Nigeria and the courts in Nigeria are made for the further oppression of the oppressed and downtrodden.

A few people in government and in private establishment travel abroad regularly and return to Nigeria with the same slogan-“Nigeria is better than abroad”. They say these things to continue to keep their fellow citizens in bondage and everlasting physical darkness.

There is no magical dose that will solve Nigeria’s problems. If the right things are done today, Nigeria may need another 50 to 100 years to become a normal country. Remarkable things can happen in a decade though. Still and sadly the politicians are not willing to start the recovery plan because of their immediate gains, stupidities and their perception of Nigeria as an investment to be plunged and drained for their selfish interest and their children’s future. Who about the rest of us?

Only the ordinary people of Nigeria can save themselves from the vultures in Aso rock and across Nigeria. The unitary system of government brought this mess that continues to enrich a few and enslave the rest. People must demand for a change and the means to achieve that change must be pursued.

Rather than politics as usual, ordinary Nigerians need to be awaken to the benefits of true federalism or regional governments. There will be no magic dose to the problems of Nigeria but the way things are now, even with the emergence of a new mega political party (old wine in new skin), a violent collapse of Nigeria predicted to happen in 2015 will be a worse option.

(To be continued)

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