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The question yet to be answered is: why are Nigerians quick to inflate the price of their products once there there is news of an adverse economic situation, even when they are not affected? It looks like they feel happy seeing their fellow countrymen pay more for every item.
Nigeria is country where people rush into politics like worshippers who rush into religious houses, not for salvation of their souls but to loot the coffers of the country. No wonder every one baptized as a politician emerges as a multi-millionaire soon after taking office. It is a country where human life is sacred not because God created man, but because no other homo sapien can create man. Unfortunately, Nigerians care less about loss of a human life now, that is why a man is involved in a motor accident and, instead of assisting the victim, some are only interested in robbing the dead. What a country!
Billions of naira were collectively donated by private individuals, institutions and foreign organizations to assist in the fight against COVID-19; unfortunately, while hundreds of Nigerians are getting exposed to the virus, and while many others are struggling for survival, a few Nigerians in positions of power see this as good opportunity to embark on an embezzlement spree. What a country!
Here is a country of diverse challenges. Here is a country that jokes over every situation, be it looting of the commonwealth by their leaders in various fields or mass killing of citizens. The people do not have sustained anger over issues affecting them. Instead, it evaporates fast, and they move along unperturbed.
They are denied good health facilities, better education for their children, basic public amenities and thousands have died due to very bad roads, unfortunately, they only talk and, minutes later, they turn the situation into a laughing matter and they continue in their deprivation. What a country!
Where religious houses and preachers are equalling those teaching and private schools in the country. What a country, where landlords arbitrarily increase rent at their whims and caprices, without any government intervention as regulatory body or finding solution. Here is a country where a girl called Leah Sharibu has been in the hands of terrorists for years and the government is insensitive to her plight and that of others still in captivity; a country whose youths and trained professionals are in flight to other countries because of maladministration and government incompetence, yet they twisted such and unfortunate senario and into a joking drama by referring to the flight as “Japa”. What a country, where flood claims the lives of thousands yet the government turns back to blame its citizen as if the Constitution did not mandate it to protect the people. These are what happen in a country where the leaders have no confidence in their health and educational sector, no wonder they escape abroad once they are sick and ensure that their children are educated in foreign institutions. What a country, where the President assumes the office of minister of petroleum. Yet he cannot give directives when things are going wrong but prefers a government agency to do the impossible, bearing in mind that a recurrence of fuel shortage is experienced between two and three months before every yuletide. Here is a country where falsehood in the mouth of political leaders is sweet in their mouth whenever they try to explain government policies.
A country where a senator of the federal republic disclosed to the world that animals ate up missing N70 million. A senator, Shehu Sani (Kaduna-APC), has given some insights into why Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa-APC) was removed as chairman, Northern Senators Forum. He said, “That N70 million was money gathered from the 7th Senate. It was handed over to northern senators of 8th Senate.” He told the media, “The rumour going round, which I don’t know whether it’s true but I believe other senators know, is the fact that there were allegations that some monkeys raided the farm house of some of the executives of the northern senators’ forum and carted away some of this money.”
Said he, “I think this country is becoming a huge joke. First of all, it was the rodents that drove away the President, and then we now have snakes consuming about N36 million and now we have monkeys raiding a farm house.”
Mr. Sani said about N70 million belonging to the group was alleged to have been carted away by monkeys from a farm house. This is a country where, despite the clear fact that N70 million was misappropriated, the case was swept under the carpet. A country where a sales clerk has been suspended after she told auditors that a snake had eaten N36m.
That’s the equivalent of $100,000 or £72,250.
The clerk, Philomena Chieshe, was working at an office for the Nigerian examination board, which collects exam fees.
There are different species of animals in this country that guzzle money. Termites once ate up some documents of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) containing expenditures worth N17.1 billion, officials of the agency have told the Senate.
These documents were said to contain details of spendings by the agency in 2013.
The NSITF management stated this when it appeared before the Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC). Details of this expenditure and more are contained in the 2018 audit report of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (OAuGF).
In the report, which is now being considered by the SPAC, the OAuGF queried the agency for spending billions without appropriate supporting documents.
The management could not, however, justify the spending of the money when it was confronted by the panel.
The query
The OAuGF said the N17.158 billion represented the total amount transferred by the NSITF from its Skye Bank and First Bank accounts into various untraceable accounts between January and December 2013.
In the 2017 report, the OAuGF exposed how some ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) would pay salaries to dead or retired staffers, and purchase vehicles and other properties without proper documentation.
Although the Senate committee queried agencies indicted, no concrete penalty has been given.
Similarly, before the present JAMB administration, it was reported that the board had never remitted more than N3 million to the nation’s consolidated revenue coffers but then a new administration came in and remitted N8 billion.
A country where youths are always sniffing cocaine and indulging in illicit drugs.
No wonder NDLEA announced that it has seized “1.8 tonnes of cocaine worth N194 billion” in Lagos State alone.
It is such a shame that in a country where the government keeps talking about fighting corruption, the same corruption keeps rearing its ugly head in different forms and from different angles.
(To be continued)
