There is a general complaint nowadays, almost every activity in government is monetised. Whenever there is any problem requiring speaking the 'language of money', no 'pidgin' or 'standard English' vocabulary or any local dialect can solve the problem. In fact, in government circles, 'money answereth all prayers.' Another term for that language is 'corruption'. A prominent public analyst once said, 'it is not that there is corruption in the system, but that the system itself is corruption.' The issues of fraud, embezzlement, contract inflation, money laundry, bribery and gratification, etc, are being overflogged in public discourses, without solution. Those subjects are, therefore, excluded from this write-up. Rather, our focus in this piece is on the resentment against the use of 'scratch cards' for almost every social activity of government agencies. As far as the common man is concerned, 'scratch cards' is corruption legalised. The story was told of a frustrated job seeker, who once resolved to join the Nigerian Army and 'give up' his life for the defense of the unity and sovereignty of his fatherland. What can be more applauding than to resolve to surrender one's life to 'save' Nigeria. He was, however, surprised when he was told that he had to 'buy a scratch card' and 'buy airtime' in a cyber caf to log on for e-recruitment. He began to argue, speaking standard English, castigating the absurdity of the so-called e-recruitment requirement of the Army, in view of his patriotic zeal.Narrating his grouse with the system to those around him, the job seeker complained that at birth, his parents paid for his delivery in a government hospital, paid for his primary, secondary and university education, bought 'scratch cards' to register for his primary, junior secondary, senior secondary schools and his university matriculation examinations; and that he also had to buy scratch cards at all the levels to check for the results of the examinations and to collect his certificates. It was not as if the government supported his parents in paying for his 'feeding', 'accommodation', 'hospital bills', 'clothing', and 'transport expenses'. He advised his listeners, 'if care is not taken, you will begin to buy scratch cards to breath fresh air, to drink stream water, to walk on the streets and to pray to God.' His complaints made no impact on the disposition of his listeners and he was promptly advised that the only language that the e-recruitment system understood was 'scratch cards,' which he needed to either buy or get out.He had no option, but to comply and wondered why the government took delight in 'milking' the citizenry to death ' milk their agricultural resources, their petroleum and other natural resources, their labour by paying them salaries far below international standards, and then milk their petty incomes. He remembered that the people who campaigned for political offices, whom he voted for, and who eventually won and occupied the offices, never included the monetisation of government services and activities through the use of 'scratch cards' on their campaign manifestoes. Is there a 'demon' that annuls people's humane dispositions once they get into offices'What are really the perceived rationale for the monetisation of government activities and services through the use of 'scratch cards'' First, is the argument in support of the automation and digitisation of government operational activities through the use of the computer and the associated internet facilities, and these are quite desirable. All the inefficiencies associated with the manual documentation and processing systems, and the unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks in government activities and services are being removed.To a large extent, deliberate falsifications and document pilfering are being reduced. Subjective interferences in decision processes are being minimised and processing time is saved. More than that, the streams of modern inventions in electronic appliances and the information and communication technology are bringing a lot of efficiencies into information dissemination, knowledge sharing and strategic management in administrative governance, economic and financial monitoring, territorial defense, law enforcement and social security. It now becomes very easy to detect problems, gauge losses, locate the sources, trace the destinations, identify the immediate culprits, expose the remote collaborators, stop the damage, correct the problems and make restitutions where possible. With these, life has become very easy and the world has become a global village. Second, is the argument that 'efficiency' and 'high quality standards' have to be paid for, because nothing good is cheap and anything that is cheap cannot last or stand the test of time. Accepted, that someone has to pay. Now, the question is, who pays for these things, the government or the people' The government, you will say' The common man will ask, given the enormous resources at the disposal of government, why is government shifting that responsibility to the people' The answer to this question is straightforward, government has no business in business other than to provide the enabling regulatory environment for the free enterprise system to run smoothly. Whatever services government funds or subsidises will be inefficient and ultimately collapse. With all the resources at their disposal, government schools and hospitals are not the best. The best schools and hospitals are those that are privately owned and run. Government should, therefore, withdraw from funding or subsidising social services other than to provide infrastructure, legislation, order and security. This underlies the ideological controversy between communism, socialism and capitalism. It is unnecessary to delve into that controversy, but the subsisting evidence speaks. Communism is dead, socialism has crumbled.Capitalism, otherwise known as the free market economy or the free enterprise system has not only proved its vitality through its enhancement of arts, science and technology, which has brought serious advancement to the entire human race, but it has also made man to fulfill the God-given mandate of exercising dominion over all things on earth. To crown it all, the free market system has also been adopted by the erstwhile proponents of communism and socialism. The 'scratch card system' is a by-product of the free enterprise economy. Instead of condemning it, why not develop a survival strategy under it. Do not say I told you, the only survival strategy under a capitalist system is to develop a capitalist mentality.Alabi wrote in from Ibadan
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