The Sinking Mud Slide called Corruption and its assistant called Bribery.

I wouldn’t lie to you, I am very tired of the word bribery and corruption. I roll my eyes when I see it or hear someone starts talking about it. Truth is I cannot roll my eyes forever. I am pro-progress, I love development, I love doing the right things. I love seeing people do the right things and most importantly, as a Nigerian, I want Nigeria to grow. If this is truly what I want, then I cannot avoid talking about corruption or attacking it.

Let’s start with a definition;
Corruption is the act of impairing integrity, quality and virtue. It can also be called a state of decomposition, a process of putrefaction.

While;

Bribery is the making of illegal payments.

Over the years, I have made an observation and I personally believe that the younger generation of African youths are not getting better. There is a thin thread of hope and even if the old generation hand over affairs to us, we may still do poorly. For example, the few times youths have been engaged in conversation concerning issues about politics and governance, their thoughts and perspectives do not really seem to have a brighter and bigger aspirations in regards to development. Their interest is bordered on what to gain rather than what to give. I stand corrected and I will balance my words. I did not generalize the youth population because I believe that the youth are the future but most of the youths are getting discouraged by the current pattern of leadership they are experiencing and at the same time they don’t really have a grasp of what should be done.

Instead, a large population of youths are more interested in activities that are not directed towards empowering their minds. I remember as a secondary school student my brother told me of a mate that said when he got into a position of power, he was going to do worse than what was done before (he meant he was going to take enough funds for himself). When I heard that, it really sank my heart. Regardless of that scenario, there are people in Africa who truly have a defined vision of what they could do to improve the current situation of their respective countries, most of them need the right opportunities. 

I am currently in another part of Africa, and recently there was a heavy rainfall. As usual the environment has no drainage, hence the whole place (except for the area where I stay) was flooded. The beautiful dirty disgusting mixture of brown, dirt and water was so artistic and at the same repulsive but amazingly enough people were wading in it with delight disregarding the harmful effects that could follow afterwards. That is corruption for you. The amazing fact that the act could endanger your life, endanger others and cause years of ruin is not considered while people wade gleefully in it.

In contrast to my description of the beautiful dirty disgusting effect of the rain without drainage, the people who waded in it did not really have a choice per say, they had places to get to and they were not as conscious as I was to avoid the dirty bodies of water. For corruption, the choice to do the right thing is there but people prefer to do the opposite. Ask why and you already know the answer.

Because man gats survive, working is stressful. Doing the right thing can be termed as unnecessary and working for nothing.

Corruption sinks you gradually, it is sticky and drows you gradually without your knowledge until you discover that you are already gasping for air. Bribery is not the mud pool but it is just a component of the pool, it causes the consistency of the pool to get thicker. All you need to step your feet, and before you know it you have gone a long way. Most people start with simple acts that are outrightly wrong but cover it with “Everyone is doing it!”. Before long they are active participants of the whole show. You don’t know sometimes, until you have gone too far.

This topic is a very broad topic, so I will not go into what has been flogged for ages now, I will try and give another insight into it.

My father once told me that the news will only talk about the bad news. It is rare to hear about development and improvements or the countries that were progressing. Most times when Africa is mentioned, poverty, suffering, starvation, kidnapping, corruption, 419, and all the disgusting stuff are first associated before any other thing. The rich and beautiful culture is usually left out of the picture. Some years ago, I took my time to check countries in Africa that were developed and I was amazed to discover some cool places which are rarely mentioned. These countries experience relative peace and comfort in contrast to the more popular countries that are heard frequently on the news.

I will today, highlight some countries in Africa that have less incidence of corruption not only in Africa but in the world.

1. Seychelles 2. Botswana 3. Carboverde 4. Rwanda 5. Namibia 6. Mauritius

The most corrupt in Africa and some are the most corrupt in the world.

1. Somalia 2. South Sudan 3. Sudan 4. Guinea Bissau 5. Equatorial Guinea. 6. Burundi 7. Congo 8. Chad 9. Angola 10. Democratic Republic of Congo 11. Zimbabwe 12. Mozambique 13. Eritrea 14. Madgascar15. Cameroon 16. Uganda 17. Central African Republic 18. Nigeria 19. Mauritania 20. Kenya.

The term: it is normal, everyone is doing it,  should be done away with.

The government has a huge role to play in providing a transparent society and system but before we arrive at that point, let’s look at personal efforts that can be done.

1. We should stop encouraging harmful short cuts by all means. The process of any work is the beauty of that work. If we short cut every process then value will diminish and we would have low quality results. This can be applied from primary education up to tertiary.

Youths should be encouraged to participate in healthy competition that will spur them to develop themselves academically, if academics are not proving effective for that special kid then what they find passion in doing which will be a creative art should be supported and guided.

Parents or guidance should stop paying fees in order to have their wards promoted to the next class when they are supposed to repeat. Parents should not pay for external persons to sit an exam for their wards so that they could pass WAEC. 

The root of corruption is the desire to be ahead by all means. To get everything one desires at costs that will endanger themselves (in the long run) and others around them (immediate effect), even those who may never know them.

2. We should stop blaming the government for everything.

Most times in Africa, I have noticed that the citizens blame the government for every single misharo including their leaking roof which they can fix, or for the tumbled tricycle that carried excess passengers.

It is very valid and true that the governmental systems in most African countries are kakistocratic but that does not mean that the citizens should continue swimming in the mud slide because one day the mudslide will eventually clog the windpipe. 

3. Still on introspection, how do we handle the smallest projects given to us? How often do we mark ourselves present for activities we did not participate in?

Do we not seek to be favored in a crowd of waiting persons, not because our case is urgent but because we cannot stand in line with other people. How hard are we trying to be regarded, not because we deserve it but because it will just cause others to look at us in awe. If you do not understand the last sentence, apologies but Nigerians call something like this: to do yanga.

4. We should realize that we are destroying Africa if we decide not to make progress. It is our responsibility to progress and explore our countries and bring the best out of it, maximize it. If we love Canada and other striving economies, why can we not do that for ourselves?

Healthy competition is essential. If we understand this concept at a basic level, it will help us in the larger platform of life and interactions.

One of the interesting observations I made of developed countries is their continuous strive to develop. Sometimes, their desire to attain a better environment even look and seem out of this world, it is. The competition they have amongst themselves that I find healthy is that they input in their society the required tools needed to develop. It is not a one man show but the country’s show. They are competitive in developing their system to become more conducive for productivity. Basic needs are met and more focus is placed on creativity and development. 

In Africa, I noticed that the competition is individualized, as a Nigerian it is very visible that most individuals who attain offices in the government have only their generation on their mind. They do not care about anything called development. This individualized competition without an aim but to look better dressed and living well often pushes people to grab as much a s they can, sign unnecessarily bills, ignore impending and extremely crucial topics. Fight those importing pizza while tons of unnecessary agricultural products are imported. The competition is based on greed for the belly.

Corruption can be minimized when achievable and meaningful goals are set in place with all the necessary tools and facilities are available to carry them out. These goals which are directed at development should be finished to the end before new projects are commenced. Setting half-hazard, unnecessary, unattainable goals with no form of supervision will not take us anywhere.

This can be applied personally, and that is when growth can be achieved. Accomplishing tasks step by step in an efficient manner.

There is no country that is 100% free of corruption or totally transparent but there are countries that have placed their focus aside individual greed and instead focused on what will benefit all..

Denmark is the least corrupt country in the world and one of the most least heard countries in the news.

While we pray and desire for a better government, we should be focused on developments, ideas and mindsets that will spur more creativity.

It will always start with you.