WAYS TO SOLVE CORRUPTION AND THE CHALLENGES NIGERIA FACES

WAYS TO SOLVE CORRUPTION AND THE CHALLENGES NIGERIA FACES

The above title was the caption or the discussion of the day in the interview done with the National Conscience Party Presidential Candidate Chief Martin Onovo. Chief Martin Onovo has once worked abroad and related the system of government there with that of Nigeria while sorting ways to answer the questions thrown at him. Alongside with him during the interview session was the party’s National Chairman Dr Yunusa Tanko. Chief Martin Onovo was asked how he would tackle the poison of corruption in Nigeria if elected as President. The Chief gave four bullet points as answer to this question. He called it the 4E’s which he delivered thus:

ENLIGHTENEMENT: He stated that Nigerians should be enlightened on the dangers of corruption and the repercussions of it to the development of the nation. He clearly explained that if proper public awareness program is done to tackle embezzlement and misappropriation of funds by those in government, Nigeria would be a better place and that is what his government intends to do when elected into office. The public, in person of Nigerians need to be sensitized as they have a large role to play in helping the nation curb corruption. To me anyway even Nigerians themselves are also involved in corruption at various levels of strata they represent and clearly I don’t see how public awareness program will solve this. Is he telling us that Nigerians are not aware of corruption in the nation and the dangers it poses, yet we still breed it. However, since he is a Presidential candidate, he might have a way of making that possible. I might be short sighted you know.

EXAMPLE: This was where Chief Martin Onovo started interesting me. He said here that the next way to solve the problems of this country is for those in government and leaders at various agencies and institutions should portray themselves as good examples of integrity and that when they do that others will follow suit. Chief Onovo vehemently laid emphasis on this as he saw this to be one of the most important among the 4E’s of tackling corruption. As I said earlier on about this being interesting, I believe laying good examples by our leaders will help the younger generations and even the adults to see those in leaderships as role models and mentors if the need arises. This is what I believe is the real enlightenment program, a public awareness that is done not by voices or words of mouth but spectacularly by actions.

EMPOWERMENT:  This is also crucial as Chief Martin Onovo says that the public and also the government should be empowered in tackling corruptions. The ways of empowerment varies as it could be setting up legal ways of dealing with any corruption case. It includes also setting up various bodies to examine and investigation of any act of corruption just like how we have the EFCC and can also be in conferring authority upon various caucuses in the public to report, examine and investigate cases of suspected acts of corruption. This I see will be very effective after a good example has been laid as said earlier on.

ENFORCEMENT: Finally enforcement which is the last but not the least ways of dealing with corruption. But this stage is for whoever could not learn from the three points above. Chief Martin Onovo says that when the government tries to tackle corruption by first enforcing it i.e. probing and arresting individuals suspected to be corrupt, it would not solve the problem of corruption. I see Chief Onovo saying there that that will be like cutting a tree from the top instead of cutting it from its roots. So Chief Onovo says this should be the last thing his government will do as regards corruption if he was elected as President on March 28 general elections. This is arresting and jailing individuals who are found guilty of any corrupt activity. My problem with all he said was that does he know the meaning of corruption? If he does know then he will also understand that there are various forms of corruption and how does he intend to tackle all those? To me solving the problem of corruption is like building a nation from the scratch especially when corruption has gone into the nooks and crannies of the nation. This is a challenge that came up immediately after when we gained Independence as a sovereign nation back in the 1960’s, a problem which the plotter of the first military coup in Nigeria wanted to solve in person of Late  Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu. He failed or let me say his collaborators failed and we are still on the road to a better Nigeria till today when other countries like Singapore who gained independence 3yrs after us as a part of Malaysia and 5yrs after us has a sovereign state on its own have gotten to their destination and still planning another journey forward.

Chief Martin Onovo also spoke about the power sector when answering the question of tackling the problem of corruption in Nigeria. He said that in 1999, Nigeria budgeted US$51 BILLION to pump into the power sector in order to increase the 3000 megawatts produced to a higher figure by 2014. He said, looking down the lain 15yrs after that, the megawatts produced is still at 3000 when by now it should have been 25000 megawatts. He argues that, where did that money go to? And that the problems of Nigeria are basic and do not require any complexity but that corruption is what has crippled this nation.

 

Chairman, National Conscience Party Dr Yunnusa Tanko

 Sitting beside him was still the National Conscience Party Chairman, Dr Yunusa Tanko who has been silent for a while during the interview session. A question was thrown at him too which is why the other political parties like theirs have not reached out to a larger percentage of the public as regards to their plans for Nigeria if elected? The interviewer posed that it’s only the voice of PDP and APC that has been heard all over the nation and Nigerians are really not aware of other parties. Dr YunnusaTanko rightly set the stage in answering the question. He broke out with the fact that parties like theirs which are just starting and are not really popular have not been supported by the government in any way. He says that parties like theirs cannot do more than their power as regard financial buoyancy and that the finances they get as a political party are donations from members and also well wishers of the party and that is the money they use to do small campaigns and awareness in radio, posters, and handbills. He clearly stated the large amount required by media houses like AIT or Newspapers like THE PUNCH just to do an advertisement of their party and presidential campaign. This is the major problem that has not allowed them to reach larger percentage of the public and he gave a solution by saying government should have a certain financial support for all political parties in Nigeria during campaign  exercise that would  enable them to contest for election with other parties at a common ground.

MOVERS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN A DEVELOPING NATION

NIGERIA'S SOLUTION

Looking at the map of the Federal Republic of Nigeria this early morning, I saw what wonder can be made of the economy of a state with the smallest land size among all the 36 states in Nigeria. Lagos is that state which was the capital of Nigeria until 1990 when it was moved to Abuja. Nevertheless, ‘Lagos na where things dey happen’ as people will say. However there are countless numbers of reasons for the rate of economic development in Lagos state. Top companies in Nigeria today have their headquarters in the heart of Lagos and it is no more news that places where a business environment is cultivated are usually quick to develop. This is the main cause of migration of many individuals to Lagos. In retrospect, this migration has caused more havoc to the economy not to the place people are migrating to but too the places people are migrating from.

See how lagos small

Nigerians have tended to run away from their problems of underdevelopment even to other nations of the world. So we are not only involved in intra migration but also in inter migration. As an adage say ‘You don’t have to be white to be right’. It is great wisdom to avoid running away from your problems but to sit down and think of ways to solve it. Running away from ones problem still leaves such problem unsolved. This is the culture of an average Nigerian because nobody or let me say only very few people are ready to bear the cost of developing a nation. Nations don’t just grow, People thrive to grow them. This is the culture of the Israelis; they don’t just sit back and watch problems not alone run from it, they rather put their heads together to solve such problems. However, great is the price of greatness. If migration continues underdevelopment of the former state or nation will continue.

In line with the aforementioned, there are three major movers of economic development in any nation, state or community.  I call it ‘PEE’ and they all have a positive correlation with the migration of people and in its contradiction as it causes both development and underdevelopment in the latter and former community respectively.

    1. Population/People: Human resources are the greatest asset of a nation. This brings me to the quote of Bishop David Oyedepo which says ‘’There is no great nation anywhere, it is the people in that nation that makes a nation great’’. It is the most populated areas a nation that makes a nation great. A large population helps in the development of that nation especially when the population of such nation is full resourceful people who can think outside the box. And also when the population is also full with people who have a great love and passion for their nation and also for every citizens of that nation. In other words it is where people are that business thrives because humans all benefit from one and another. Business transactions cannot be successful until it is between two or more individuals. This piece also reminds me of Tuface Idibia’s song ‘only me’. He says he will be living anyhow because there will be no one to challenge him. He expressly highlights his dependence on other people like him. This is only because the most important of economic development is people. People have to invest, transact, work, sell, buy, save, spend, and manage just to mention a few. These are all what causes economic growth. Because they all lead to productivity in one way or the other and none of the afore mentioned can be done alone not even saving.

All those people are involved in business transactions in one way or the other

Therefore, migration from underdeveloped areas to developed areas will not only populate the areas people migrate to but will also boost their economy for sure. People who migrate carry all their money from their own areas to developed areas to spend, save, work, invest or buy and thereby moving the economy with what they have but at the same time leaving the nation, area or community where they migrate from underdeveloped. This money should have been invested in their own nation, area or community and would have benefited them more because it’s a nation that is still growing but people are too desperate and callous that they don’t take into consideration what their actions can cost a nation or community. Let me give a quick example imagine somebody like Aliko Dangote decides to take all his businesses from Nigeria to somewhere like South Africa. Do you know how disastrous that will be to the economy of Nigeria? That short example is a good explanation of how devastating the havoc people have done by

their useless migration that is not curtailed even by the government.My advice is that people should not migrate from underdeveloped places but should strive to develop those places thereby causing a change

 in those places. If for some reasons migration cannot be avoided especially if it is for economic reasons, after migration has been done, those individuals who have made enough money from developed economy they have migrated to should bring those money back to their homeland (areas where they migrated from) and help to develop those areas. You don’t talk change, you act change.

Finally, where people are is where money is and if Nigerians can strive to bring start up businesses to the economy, come out with innovations and ideas that would solve problems, they would at the end spring forth economic development. No doubt it will also attract individuals from other places such as investors, banks, community developers and so on.

   2. Education: This they always say is the best legacy and yes it will always be. The establishment of various academic institutions in the country today has given many the opportunities to be educated and seriously education has a direct effect to economic development. Knowledge and skill acquired in institutions today has been also relevant in solving world problems.  I know some of you might be saying that’s a lie, so so so and so did not go to school yet they are the world’s richest men. I have but one answer to this, though bill gate was a drop out but it was because he was in school that he could think of creating a technology that could control the traffic system of a particular area. The place of education in the nation cannot be overemphasized. Not only the education at school alone but also in churches, mosques and other form of educational institution. Education has it contributes to economic development through the provision of social amenities to the communities around them. Especially now that corporate social responsibility is now one of the most important aspect of a company today.

Graduates, Thank God they got admission in the first place

However educational institutions should also educate the society on responsibility especially now that youths tends to be on the street doing nothing or going around busy arguing about a football match just watched. This will help Nigerians to take responsibility for their lives and the society at large. It should also be noted that there are form of migration that is tolerable which are mentioned earlier on and migration as a result of acquiring education is acceptable. However since this post is geared towards developing the underdeveloped nations and since this post is not against migration from developed to underdeveloped, we should strive to establish academic institutions in underdeveloped areas so as to attract students from different part of the world and this will in no time jack up their economy. A good example is the establishment of Elizade University in 2012 by the visioner Chief Michael Adeojo. The University was established at the home town of the septuagenarian, ilara in Osun state. And it is also known from a 

established in ilara-mokin in osun state, Nigeria

source that the university is seen as the only marvel in that area. That is what I mean by developing underdeveloped areas. The presence of that school is enough to gradually build the economy of that town.

   3. Employment opportunities: Here we go again as this also has its tremendous effect to the economy of any nation. Having no doubt about the fact that good and better jobs increases the standard of 

   living of citizens which in turn enables them to afford their needs. Availability of employment opportunities fastens the economic development of a nation. What jobs do is that they eradicate poverty from the lives of employees. It should also be noted however, that employment opportunities are preceded by existing companies and firms in a nation. So in turn, it is companies that provide employment opportunities which directly affect the economy of a nation. With all thoughts and text typed, no doubt the economic development of any nation is encapsulated in these three major areas. If people in underdeveloped country rather than look for white collar jobs but instead endeavour to create jobs by establishing their own companies with well thought out plan, ideas and innovations, underdevelopment would be history in those places in the nearest future. Also another form of tolerable

    migration is for the reason of job openings that is why we can make a positive move on this by starting businesses in the underdeveloped areas that will provide jobs for people which in every way attract potential employees.

In conclusion, and now abideth this three, People, Education and Employment opportunities and the greatest of all is PEOPLE (you and I). Only you and I can develop this country. Lets come together to develop our nation NIGERIA.

From the words of John F. Kennedy, a onetime American President ‘Don’t ask what your country can do for you but for what you can do for your country’.

See ya later………*smiles*