The highest form of participation in irregularities has been associated with a regimental way of life that could be likened to a religious lifestyle similar to unprecedented attachment to create serious indescribable offences. Specific checks on the level of decadence in Africa have brought to fore the insensitivity of leadership to a sense of affiliation to humanity rather than beliefs. Ardent followers of some religion have shown some characteristics similar to that of those who find pleasure in malpractices and other sharp practices.
The choices are clear with whether to steal or to pilfer without maiming. To be affiliated with a group of persons with a particular belief or culture enhances your potential to be indulged in corruption. The fairness is only in how mild the damage control may presumably present. Deprivation is a substitute for the advantage of the weak among the political stalwarts. Who find pleasure in making life delusional without a clue on a solution except it gets through their approvals? The exchange of ideas is just myopic with the elites of humongous discredits, taking pleasure in oppression.
The level of despondency in regarding piety and uprightness has gone extremely away from the track. The beliefs of so many leaders have taken the followers through gloomy destinations with no significant expectation of recovery. They lead by examples of taking undue advantage of other lapses: setting a pace of greed above contentment; creating a false and pretentious impression of wealth above hard work; leading many astray with claims of being smart and providing untrue evidence of aligning with purity. A grey representation of malignant disposition in the unprecedented views of uncertainty.
The groups of individuals involved in these despicable acts are fighting against each other in terms of superiority as to whether one group is smarter than the other. It is extremely laughable but creates a troubling tomorrow. A future that completely forgets the culture of compensation and delayed gratification for sincere commitment to service. Exchange of various scandals to drag each other into the mud until one party takes the filth while the other gets remanded. According to transparency international’s corruption index, ten years ago, Nigeria had lost over 400 billion US dollars to corruption since independence. These figures are not reducing as the cases multiply each political tenure.
Among the 3,284 cases of corruption reported by the corruption cases database, cybercrime/fraud cases take the highest while money laundering the least. This shows how fluid this infringement is into the system without barriers through cyberspace. Lagos state has the highest cases of corruption among other major states in Nigeria like Rivers, Oyo and Kaduna without excluding the Federal Capital Territory of the nation. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) May have a difficult task ahead of them in tackling the depth of corruption in the system of a typical Nigerian. The depth is beyond enforcement but mind-sets.
This anti-social attitude could be likened with beliefs as it is in some deities. A very constant phenomenon that has predated the common values and touch of decency. You can hardly find a system void of this common “religion”; the venom is predominantly infused. To all sectors of governance, you can hardly find an exemption. Not at the grassroots, where the local councils can hardly account for some misbehaviour by their officials who claim to be carrying out their duties under guises of enforcing the laws to enrich their pockets. These officers use the law to empower their inebriated will in defrauding the unsuspicious citizens. With all the fantastic laws, the inefficiency is the partial enforcement of these rules and guides with sentiments and prejudice.
It is almost insane to be normal in a clime with rots and decadence staring at one’s face in all spheres of governance. From the top of government to the least, you can easily identify touts who want to deprive you of due process and make illegal moves out of your naivety. The crevices in the walls of malpractices are extremely obvious for many other illegal practices to creep in. Intolerance of various levels have misled the conscience of inhumane disposition. What we call smartness is far from cleverly attributes and will lead to an abyss.
It is also sad that politicking has degenerated to making unrealistic gestures out of the manifestos of some aspirants. Facts and figures are not reckoned with but banters with disparaging terms that couldn’t be found. Making rhetoric out of the past giving, putting fallacies before past promises and defending falsehood in the sight of obvious misgivings. The expectations of the voters are almost impossible to the aspirants, so the decision for who to occupy the highly placed seat requires less commitment from the contestants.
Competition and comparison are features of the same consequences with serious identification in unnecessary vanity. In the realm of comparative analogy of how much wealth an individual has amassed to himself, the debate is most prevalent in cheating others which can’t be correlated. Unfortunately, many of these culprits leave these humongous amounts of funds with an untraceable link to the destination which end up dormant in their accounts while some members of their immediate family remain poor. Some other group of persons, see this avenue to peer up and seek fame in vague things of transient acquisition of properties.
This is a movement that may not end well. We are almost giving in to this nefariousness and the outcome will be bizarre which will create a mutated species of its kind and then incurable. The wave is blowing to the interior of our backgrounds that should serve as refuge for decadence. Adults don’t even have exceptions when it comes to indulging the younger generations; while their modelling is suspicious, the body language is affirming dubious acts. The frame of mind among the youths is distorted by suggestive moves of inconsistencies to living right. There is hardly a generation to rely on for sanctity, the recruitment is seriously massive. Wiping this mess will take a while.
Olusegun Fashakin, a seasoned educator writes in via olusegunfashakin@gmail.com
