A. PREAMBLE
Nigeria, as a nation, has come to a point of “madness” – not mad because its inhabitants are individually mad but because as a collective entity, she is suffering from cognitive disfunctioning caused by a complete disruption in the value system of her leaders, young and old. Corruption has eaten up the moral fabric of the Nigerian populace and so, like a journalist observed so many years ago, “keeping an average Nigerian from being corrupt is like keeping a goat from eating yam.” (Weekly Star Editorial).
The recent bazaar that took place at Abuja in the name of primary election of the mega parties in Nigeria has confirmed that Nigeria’s madness requires urgent psychiatric attention. It was such a charade of shame resulting in the harvest of the oldest and most fantastically corrupt politicians as the flag bearers of our mega parties, throwing all sense of judgment, reasoning, justice and equity to the dustbin and presenting to the world the image of a new destroyed Nigeria where the values of competence, accountability, transparency and morality have given way to “dollarization”, manipulation and monetization among the delegates. According to Fr Emma Onuh of blessed memory, ‘When we become owned by what we own, we quickly lose the inner freedom to choose right’. Money and cashing out have torpedoed the value system of the average Nigerian and methinks this “state of emergency” requires serious moral renaissance.
B. PROGNOSIS: THE FACES OF CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA
Corruption in politics
Frankline Roosevelt, a one-time American leader has this to say: ‘The politician is the torch bearer of the society. He charts the course and others follow. The politician ought therefore to live above board.’ (Newswatch Editorial, February 2 1992). In Nigeria today, many are beginning to opine, erroneously though, that there is/ should be no morality in politics. It doesn’t matter how you get to power, provided you get there; whether you forge someone’s withdrawal letter at Primary election? Whether you swear a false affidavit in the process of substituting the person’s name? Whether you lobbied your way through delegates? The end simply justifies the means. How this Machiavellian cliche took over the value system of many Nigerian politicians is what I cannot explain.
Corruption in education
Gone are the days when we prioritized the education of our children, especially the children of the poor. I once overheard an Nsukka born professor, who was trained on the magnanimity and support of his village benefactors, contending that ‘University education is not for the poor’. That is why our public Universities have been abandoned to the throngs of infrastructural decay and ASUU members who are the only voices challenging this malady have been subjected to starvation therapy by the evil Government of Nigeria for the past seven months.
There is also terrible corruption within the educational system where square pegs are made to fit into round holes; wives of professors automatically become lecturers even when some of them should be selling groundnuts in the Ogige market.
Corruption in the churches
A Latin adage comes to mind here: corruptio optima pessima – the corruption of the best is the worst evil. When priests and pastors who should stand for the truth become compromised in the mire of materialism, bribery and corruption, all hopes seem to be lost. Christianity begins to look fake. Christian and Muslim religious gatherings become merchandised and their followers move about everywhere impacting no difference in the moral fabric of the nation, like rolling stones gathering no moss.
Corruption in the military/police
Insecurity is becoming the order of the day because of corruption in the military and police. Our daily news is overtaken by the deluge of terrorism, Hoko Haram menace and the threat from kidnappers. Nigeria has turned into a jungle where her forests have become kidnap dens at known locations and known gun men have been tagged ‘unknown gunmen’ because of corruption in the military/police.
Corruption in the Judiciary
The Nigerian Judiciary has seized to be the last hope of the common man. The Onnoghen – Tanko debacle of four years ago has put an indelible ridicule to the Nigerian judicial system and affirmed the unpredictability of the Nigerian bar till date. The values of integrity and incorruptibility especially in the legal field have become like the fairy tales we read in old novels which we hardly see in Nigeria anymore.
C. OUR UPTURNED VALUE SYSTEM
Celebrating death more than life
Looking at the Nigerian social system, one cannot but notice a sorry sight of upturned value system. For instance, people spend their life savings in celebrating the funeral ceremonies of their loved ones more than they spend in keeping the person alive and healthy. The Igbo culture with predilection for use of cows in burial/funeral ceremonies have metamorphosed into a meaningless braggadocio of Fulani cows, even when this business has been found to terrorize our farmers and dispossess them of their ancestral lands.
Emphasizing piety more than holiness
The noisy praying style is getting more and more trendy in our Churches making believers operate more like empty vessels that make the most noise. Go to our adoration centres and see the caliber of Christians that populate the place, full of manipulative prayers and a kind of conditional worship style that render God as ‘Deus ex machine’ (object of use) as philosophers like Spinoza will put it.
Admiring the certificate more than the knowledge
The incessant lecturers’ industrial actions in Nigeria have put a big question mark on the quality of the certificates our students carry. Many carry about graduate certificates in English language but cannot make a simple faultless sentence in grammar.
Preferring the party to the Candidates
Today as we get closer to the heels of Election 2023, we see a lot of blind followership of candidates due to party slavery. Many Nigerians are ready to drink poison simply because it is served in one’s party tea cup. People tend to justify the end above the means, worshipping money above morality and turning rich men into demigods. I cannot have another word for all these than a torpedoed value system.
D. WAY FORWARD
Getting the right leader
I believe that the first step out of this quagmire is to get the right leader. When we prioritize good leadership, so many things will gradually begin to fall in place. Only a good leader can quick start a good constitutional review, for example. A leader remains a servant not a ruler or god – image. We need humble leaders who will bring back to our leadership polity the concept of service. For me, nothing prevents a Vice Chancellor of a University from getting back to the classroom after a 5-year tenure. Nothing prevents a Parish Priest from becoming an Assistant or Resident Priest after retirement. Nothing prevents a Governor from retiring from active politics after 8 years tenure rather than insisting on lobbying his way to the Senate as a retirement home. Power is a good servant but a dangerous master. Many Nigerian politicians find it difficult to get down from exulted offices because of the way they cling to power. According to Vima Dasan, ‘If we have something we cannot do without, we don’t own it; rather it owns us’.
Igniting the fire of societal revolution
Edmund Burke said that ‘the only reason for the triumph of evil is that good people keep quiet, say nothing and do nothing’. Revolution begins to happen when everyone begins to say something and do something. We need to fight against bad governance in Nigeria today. We need to revolt against such materialistic ideologies like “Ashua azumama” – a consumerist settlement/lobbying mentality that commodifies the dignity of the human person. Our Nigerian society needs a cognitive resetting, especially of the psyche of our Youths and Politicians, many of who no longer believe in accountability and transparency in the use of public funds.
We need a new generation of avant garde Politicians who will unite with people like Peter Obi to say WE NO DEH GIVE SHISHI, WE NO DEH TAKE SHISHI; People who will, after administering public office, tell you to GO AND VERIFY all they have done; People who will reduce the cost of consumption drastically in Nigerian leadership and increase production. It is no longer expedient for the Nigerian Church to remain apathetic or even neutral in politics. It is no longer wise for priests and pastors to fold their hands in prayer and allow the corrupt politicians to continue to deceive and mislead our people. Political enlightenment is needed. A complete reorientation of our value system is needed politically, socially and religiously.
