Corruption 'The Nigerian excuse for failure'

Give any so called Nigerian thinker a few minutes they will complain to you about corruption in their country as if they have a monopoly over this human condition. At the same time they will locate this problem in others almost ignoring the fact that sometime in the past few days they have got an advantage over others through relationship, gifts or sheer bribery. As I watch the Governor of Illinois being arrested for amongst other conducts trying to sell the US Senate seat vacated by President elect Obama I am amazed even further. What are Nigerians try to get away with? This arrest is not unusual in the politics of the United States, Rep Jefferson of money in the freezer, Senator Stevens of Alaska amongst many others in the past year. In fact all the above are neither repentant nor did they go quietly out of public life. My point is that these things happen in a society that plainly delivers to its citizens and produces economic as well as social excellence in which many institutions work for the greater good. Across the world there are examples of how deep corruption operates as symbiotic within the national fabric of most countries. In Japan pretty much across the board, in Great Britain watch what happened with Al Yammamah, in South Africa well the whole Zuma saga is yet to play itself out, in India, Thailand you can name it this is a human condition. This is not a carte blanche for corruption but neither should it be an excuse for failure. It is a symptom that has to be managed, parasite that lives in the body politic that can only destroy the host if it is not managed because it can only survive if its host survives as well.

In Nigeria, yes there is a matter of scale but that has a lot to do with a failure of having any organising principle that truly balance the host / parasite basis for the symbiosis that seems to lead to a more productive results in other jurisdictions. For example the perpetual probe and hysteria that has paralysed the House f Representatives in Abuja from doing any of the peoples business. It will be certainly interesting to know how many laws are on the statute book in this current session of the House. I venture that there are no serious policy or statutory improvement on the other hand we have had one speaker after the other under microscope and the absolute obsession with acts of the Obasanjo regime. The same is true of the Executive branch caught in its own paralysis by constant policy reversal of its predecessor without any real strategic progress. All the excuses to destroy Nuhu Ribadu another anti-corruption fundamentalist who even though got the host / parasite balance thing out of kilter still worked in a Government with momentum and purpose that at least gave context to his role.

We must stop this Nigerian exceptionalism and stop finding excuses for failure especially when we blame all others than ourselves. Corruption will not go away what we need is a process that can deliver the dynamic equilibrium necessary for the growth and evolution of our society. In my own view we can achieve this by taking the following steps:

- Establish the key indicators for excellence for Nigerian society call it 2020 vision or anything else so long that it captures the imagination of the multitudes of Nigerians rather than the 'jones' of a few eggheads.
- Evolve operating principles and standards that are based on context as well as understanding of the different cultures that make up Nigeria into the foundation of how we will organise our society into the future. Once again this cannot be top down process.
- Start a national campaign of productivity and meritocracy to put equality of opportunity at the core of the Nigerian experience.
- Prioritise transparency with banks and other institutions rather than just criminal punishment especially using the tax code as the mechanism for reward and sanction.
- Criminalise unexplained and unproductive wealth.

There are of course many other ways in which this can be done however we cannot continue to celebrate consumption especially extravagance and yet wonder why the obsession with personal amassing of wealth at any cost or means. We have put wealthiness as the greatest aspiration in our society, promoted in Churches and Mosques every day and relegated service, innovation as well as productive excellence out of sight. Enough excuses I am sure there is corruption in Calabar but it is a clean city and it is Nigerian so how come my beloved Ibadan is so filthy? In Calabar the Okada's wear helmet for themselves and passengers. Come on guys no more excuses.