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For popular comedian and United Nations Millennium Development Goals ambassador, Francis Agoda better known as I Go Dye, corruption has taken its toll on the lives and livelihood of the Nigerian youths. He made this known in a letter to President Mohammadu Buhari to commemorate the Democracy Day on May 29.
According to the Warri-bred humour merchant, there’s no cause for celebration in as much as corruption continues to be the order of the day in every facet of the polity. He says: “I cannot disagree with the fact that corruption is the fundamental problem mitigating against the progress of my beloved country. Millions of graduates have been roaming our streets, some let go of their pride and started to ride ‘okada’ just for survival, while others forsake their professional expertise to go into other vocational ventures, yet there were provisions for employment but some groups of persons have been using non-existing names to defraud the nation, collecting salaries estimated to be over N2 trillion within this period, as ghost workers.
“What have they done to us by this action? They have increased unemployment, made it almost impossible for the youths to get married at an early age, because we have millions of unemployed youths who should have been more productive but whose destinies to early progress have been short-changed.”
Touching on every sector of government, the comedian decries the appalling underdevelopment in our institutions and decaying infrastructures, while preaching patriotism as the only antidote to corruption.
“As a people, most especially the youths, we should realise that national pride comes first, we should not wait to be reminded before we use our greatness to rebuild this nation. The time has come for us to ask ‘what has been happening to our collective wealth? Who, how and what did they do with the money? This issue is beyond religious beliefs; it is the major problem against our spiritual lives in this country. We have to speak and build our national pride; we must take patriotism as a virtue that must come first, it’s so important, without it no nation can be built.”
Concluding the letter, the comedian pleaded with Nigerians to join in the fight against corruption and corrupt leaders. “I beg all Nigerians, irrespective of where you find yourself, to join anyone fighting corruption, because it’s not a personal fight, it’s a just fight to build the future for the next generation and make the world better,” he stated.
