Ayo Sogunro writes in his book titled EVERYTHING IN NIGERIA IS GOING TO KILL YOU: NIGERIANS ARE CORRUPT, THEY SAY. I am a Nigerian and i know why i am corrupt. I am corrupt because i am hungry. Because i need food, the whole food and nothing but the food. Because i have to hustle if i want to see the food. Because without food i am useless, to myself and to the society. A hungry man has no principles; morality is a luxury affordable to the well fed. I am corrupt because my hustle for food is filled with obstacles, because i cannot work as a labourer without tipping the foreman, because i cannot work in the civil service without greasing the wheels, because i cannot work in the private sector without knowing someone, because i cannot get a contract without contributing to the network. I am corrupt because i am hungry. I am corrupt because nobody knows tomorrow. I am corrupt because my society has no welfare plan and pension scheme is unreliable. Yet, a portion of my salary has to go to the pension scheme, tax, or whatever else the government decides. I have no confidence in the private sector - because the labour laws are unehlpful. I am corrupt because my employer is able to fire me without compensation and other people are waiting to take my position immediately. And its a foolish person who forget to plan for the future. I am corrupt because my daily bread is not secure. I am corrupt because i do not want to beg tomorrow. I am corrupt because i do no want my children to be corrupt. I am corrupt because tertiary education is a status symbol. I am corrupt because academic achievements are required to attain a comfortable middle class life. And even though i have technical and vocational skills and competent enough to work in whatever field with my skills, yet, i cannot get a job without a certificate. The right certificate can make a way where they seems to be no way. I am corrupt because i have to do whatever it takes to get the right certificate. Because i do not want to be condemned to third-class economic life. I am corrupt because academic knowledge is power. I am corrupt because i need a car. Humanity has progressed and i need to progress with it and i want to enjoy the comfort modern science and technology offers. I am corrupt because i am religious. I am corrupt because heaven help those who help themselves. I have been taught this since i was five, that the race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong. Because my religion insists that i will prosper only through divine favour. Because i have been assured that success does not come through hard work. Because i have seen people succeed in life without hard work. Because i must give my own testimony too, someday. I am corrupt because i must pay my tithes. I am corrupt because the alternative is dangerous. In the final analysis, the price of honesty outweigh the consequence of corruption. Because theres no safety net for honest people. Because a N200 note privately donated to security men is less cumbersome and less problematic than a honest trip to the police station. I am corrupt because corruption is a logical process, because integrity is unreasonable. I am corrupt because corruption is ordinary: a mundane fact of life. I am corrupt because corruption works faster. I am corrupt because the government is corrupt and the law makers has legalized corruption and they simply allot public funds through the law. I am corrupt because the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I am corrupt because the government have anti-corruption crusade but no welfare agenda. Because those who claim to tackle corruption belong to the corrupt system. I am corrupt because i dont trust the government and the system is corrupt. I am corrupt because this is the FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA PLC whose majority share are held by looters. Where corruption is the price of a sizeable shareholding. Because honest people dont get to own a stake in the company. Because any Nigerian can become the president but a corrupt person stands a better chance. Because shares in the company are traded by the insiders. I am corrupt because this is an unregulated stock market. I am corrupt because everyone else are corrupt.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 06:11:58 +0000
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