INTEGRITY is a word frequently used by most Nigerian leaders, yet, the nine letter word is grossly misapplied in practical terms by them. It has no place in their private and public dealings and lexicon. The most guilty are those leaders, who, by providence, found themselves in public offices by virtue of being civil servants or opportunistic politicians.Honour has, for a long time, taken flight from the midst of this class of people. In its place are cupidity, sleaze, theft, and other pervert values that make our country seems a den of crooks and criminals. A few among the populace have substituted lofty virtues that threw up the venerable forefathers of the country as heroes, with impunity, profligacy and malfeasance. It is a sad story about our country that leadership is equated with roguery and politics turned into an absolute avenue to steal. The civil service has degenerated to a mere conduit for bureaucrats to swindle the country; the judiciary, like the media, has become unashamedly compromisers, instead of being the true conscience of the society and nation, while traditional institutions have sold out, for a pot of porridge. One of the professional organisations was pained by the general decadence, despite the 'rising number of professional accountants in the country.'The land is replete with cases of monumental fraud. There is the case of the unprecedented subsidy fraud in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [NNPC], which was amply brought to the fore by an external audit report. It necessitated a public hearing, with insinuations that there are intense lobby by those found culpable to kill the report.We have the N14billion police pension fraud. A similar mindless looting of the pension fraud exists that involves those entrusted with money meant to appreciate the conscientious and meritorious services of patriots, who had spent their lives after retirement from service. A number of government agencies and parastatals are riddled with frauds perpetrated by officials with the cases of a number of them pending before anti-graft agencies.There are also legal matters surrounding the shameless looting of treasuries by former state governors, who surprisingly today, are lawmakers or demagogues currently holding some political parties hostage, as well as acquiring property with impunity. All these cases do not include the atrocities committed by the military oligarchy and their civilian collaborators before the restoration of civil rule in the country on May 29, 1999, which have been completely swept under the rug. Probe is not a new venture in the country. It attracted a greater in the last two decades, especially under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. However, the emerging trend is that those who are often saddled with probing others have themselves become the probed. For example, the investigation caused into the power projects had all the trappings of a circus show, with the dramatis personae feeding the public with a full dose of drama, comedy and intrigues , whereas it was supposed to be a serious national issues, as it bothered on the critical base of the economy, and indeed, the country. The report of the committee suffered credibility and acceptability burden, because of the unholy actions of those assigned the job in the first instance.Now, we have another compelling story concerning the Security Exchange Commission [SEC] and the Committee on the Capital Market in the House of Representatives, over an allegation of N34 million bribes. One hypothesis that is fast gaining ground is probes have lost their essence in government circles. One is that those behind such probes are hardly determined to go the full hog carrying out sanctions where necessary to serve as deterrent. The other thinking is that the legislature often resorts to probes to stir controversy, instead of dutifully performing its oversight function. Therefore, the general public's view is that the legislature would only initiate probe when the 'boys' are broke. Therefore, those who are the targets of probes would step forward to cooperate. Once the camps are able to strike a compromise, any hullaballoo triggered by a probe becomes history.It is for such reason that many believe that the reports of many probes and investigations had been discarded or tucked in obscure places, where no preying eye can get their snippets. And truly, there is nothing on ground to suggest that we have seen an end of such tendencies.One way the ugly practice can be checked is by ensuring that governance is practically brought nearer to the grass roots, where the people can constitutionally demand accountability, transparency and due process in the management of state resources from their leaders without prompting from any quarters. The unimpeded access to free fund by those at the centre and state must be drastically reduced in a way that people only get a little or much funds based on vision and resourcefulness of their leaders.Besides, the vast majority of the people need education and enlightenment on their obligations and rights under the 1999 Constitution, towards achieving good governance and accountability in the country. This is where non-governmental organisations have a very critical role to play by acting as mobilisation agents against the excesses of public officials.Oderemi, 08023501874 (SMS only). ReactionsObasanjo at 75: 'Former President Obasanjo did not kill the Alliance for Democracy [AD] through any fraudulent agreement. Its death was as a result of a gang-up on the side of former AD governors against Chief Olu Falae, as they were afraid of him [Falae] for reasons known to them. Every right-thinking people know that on every negotiating table, the interest of all parties must be considered. It's always a give-and -take affair. If the AD people had genuinely wanted to work with PDP, they should have requested for the retention for their South-West governorship seats, instead they accepted that they would not present a presidential candidate, whereas they should have requested that PDP should not present governorship candidates in the zone. So, people should stop committing sin by saying Obasanjo killed AD because the result of 2003 election was as a result of AD governors' selfishness.' [08092890882]........................................Compliments! Nice piece on Obasanjo at 75. I agree with you, Baba should play more role of unifying the people across board, especially at this stage of his life. God has been merciful to him. Most importantly, he has and still plays vital roles in the country, Africa and the world at large.Prince Joshua [ 08027884112]
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