Nigerians find it very difficult these days to trust others and even themselves. Corruption, dishonesty and cheating have become the rule of the game rather than an exception to the rule. It has permeated all sectors of the economy. In anything you are doing with anybody, you must remain vigilant, literally with one of your eyes open except you want them to undercut you. The country has become so corrupt that the majority of the people now believe that it is the only way to survive. If you decide not to cheat, you will lose out. It is a game of the smart – each person trying to smart out the other. Some people say that it is a cultural thing. I disagree. In indigenous Igbo culture, those who have questionable wealth are ostracised and their children will hardly get married.
I suspect that white-collar jobs i.e. civil service and politics changed everything. At a time it was only those who worked with the colonial masters and who collected taxes and rents who could afford additional income to fund extravagant lifestyles. Then the politicians took over and developed an attitude to public service as an opportunity to convert public resources to private use. So the tome of dishonesty came from the top. Public resources became a national cake for public officials to feast on. It is like a competition where the status in the society is measured by the amount of public resources that you can appropriate to yourself.
Those who are unable to get into public offices use their own position to enrich themselves and cheat the system. Yes, the system – that anonymous entity that everyone uses to justify dishonesty. Whether you are a trader, driver, pilot, banker, bricklayer, vulcaniser or a kidnapper, ritualists or burglars; that is your own way to take your own national cake. If you cannot take the cake directly from the public purse or national treasury, you can cheat the next person to get your own. After all, that person must have cheated the system one way or another. That is it. The assumption is that very few people can make a decent living without cheating and so there is no qualms in cheating them back.
You can see the mirror image of dishonesty in our day-to-day politics. Distrust defines our politics. In fact, you are defined as a politician in Nigeria by your capacity to be dishonest and break promises without consideration about the repercussions. Don’t you know that he is a politician? That is what they often confront you with when a public official cheats you. So it is an accepted norm within those circles to cheat and break promises. Indeed your success as a politician and your upward mobility is defined by how slippery you can be. Character is a rarity. Bonds are broken with ease. Political actors make merchandize of confidentiality. Friends betray others for a piece of the pie. The electorate have totally lost confidence because of the litany of broken promises. If you doubt me, have a look at the electoral promises of serving politicians and compare their promises to their performance. And when you hear about the new addiction to stomach infrastructure, it is because politicians have consistently failed on their promises to the electorate for physical infrastructure and they have given up.
The exclamation of former President Obasanjo is very relevant here. He once said that; “corruption has eaten [so] deeply into the marrow of our existence that looters and fraudsters have become our heroes and it seemed we could no longer have faith in honesty, decency and hard work”. I worked with several people in my former life in the Nigerian public service. The bureaucracy or civil service provides the lubricant for dishonesty. It is a training ground of all sorts from where you build the capacity that you will need in politics. Those dishonest people – probably one of the most dishonest individuals that I have set my eyes on in my whole life, have now become politicians and celebrities. Characters similar to that individual litter around Nigeria. Their upward visibility is often defined by how much they could appropriate when they have the ‘lucrative’ opportunity of public service. That is a reflection of how the society functions. Somehow they become role models to society and so people now refuse to be honest when they realize how the society promotes cheaters.
Everyone believes that everyone is corrupt and so any opportunity that is available is seen as an opportunity to take your own share. Whether you are in the public or private sector, it has almost become an unwritten rule that you have to cheat to get to the next level. If you cannot cheat the system, then cheat your neighbour; after all, he/she might have cheated the system or someone else to get to where he/she is currently. And the vicious circle continues. Nigeria, as well as Nigerians, are paying the price. Everyone gets less than what is possible with us both as individuals and as a country. Our country runs on an actual that is far less than its potential because of artificial leakages constructed predominantly by individuals who we have been entrusted to move the country forward.
The most disturbing thing is that this overwhelming level of corruption exists side by side a lot of religiosity. Nigerians are a very religious and spiritual people. In every street you visit, you will see many churches and mosques all over the place. Public officials resume their speeches with prayers and end with prayers, yet they are the biggest rogues. You can hardly finish a conversation with a Nigerian before he mentions the name of God one way or another. They attend religious ceremonies very fervently, and they are pretentiously sectional and outwardly pious. However, the good things written in the religious books, you can hardly reflect in their character when it comes to corruption. Rather, many prefer to use religion for dubious political mobilization to further their dishonesty.
Ask a Nigerian whether he or she trusts his or her neighbour. You will be surprised at the answer you will get. Everyone prides himself or herself of dishonesty. Trust someone and you will get your hands burnt soon. Now in a globalized world defined both at the macro and micro level by trust, how can a country with such level of dishonesty expect herself to make progress?
To be continued next week
