faroukAll these years, Nigeria has been known for corruption, fraud and scams. This has caused undesirable embarrassments to well meaning Nigerians throughout the globe. This trend continues and it’s not really misplaced to say that Nigeria is jinxed.
Sometime ago, Sony corporation hosted an advert on youtube and face book where it portrayed Nigeria as a home of fraud where its citizens hardly do genuine business. This development was adequately countered by the amiable minister for communication professor Mrs. Dora Akunyili who demanded for an unconditional apology from Sony Corporation for the negative publicity against the country’s image and reputation. Even as the dust was yet to settle on that matter, 12 Nigeria were arrested and charged to court for the theft of over $ 70 million dollars through credit card frauds in the United State. Apart from that, a Nigerian Uto Essien was jailed for 30years for spearheading a multimillion dollar mortgage fraud and Another Nigerian Tobe Onwuhara is in the FBI’s most wanted list for masterminding the theft of around $44 million. And the list continues. Every time; its one complaint after another. If it’s not scams, it’ll be fraud. Well meaning Nigerians are either infuriated or downcast and still some Nigerians will complain that the west will always connect Nigeria with corruption, fraud, Kidnaps and robberies. But we got to be realistic. When all these complaints come up against a single country of the world; it shows that something is wrong and that something got to be done about it.
“Matter of factly, Nigeria is witnessing all round degeneration and it’s not an exaggeration to say that the country is sinking and something must be done fast to pull her from the abyss” (Sunday sun editorial, Sept. 13, 2009). Corruption, fraud (Advanced fee fraud) and scams have ravaged Nigeria’s reputation and self image for decades. It is a fact that Nigeria has a history of easy money (Martins, Olubi, Spectator, August, 21, 2009). We have not forgotten the adventures of Nwude –Odinigwe, Fred Ajidua, etc in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Corruption, fraud and scams have been here, and we have to acknowledge that. Anybody who needs to improve would have to acknowledge his shortcomings, seek solutions and then move ahead. Be that as it may, the story took a surprising twist recently as well-meaning Nigerians’ were treated to a cocktail of shock and devastation when a young Nigerian Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, tried to bomb a US bound delta airline on Christmas day. This sole and isolated incident has put Nigeria in a precarious situation. Hitherto, Nigerians were not known to have the tendency to execute suicide missions but this singular deed, has located Nigeria on the map of those to be paid special attention by international security agencies. Nigeria has now joined the league of countries where terrorists are nurtured and this has put Nigerian in a precarious state. According to Sam Omatsaye (Nations newspaper, Dec. 28 2009), “Farouk has brought Nigeria full cycle as a criminal nation, whether it is advanced fee fraud or 419 or drug trafficking or official corruption, or kidnapping, we are superstars. Now, add terrorism to that list. If there in an evil in the world, Nigeria has something to say about it”. This singular perpetration of anarchy by Farouk constitutes a huge blow to well meaning Nigerians especially Madam Rebrand: Prof. Mrs. Dora Akunyili, who has put in everything to ensure that the battered image of Nigeria is redeemed. This singular deed also, testifies that her efforts are misplaced as such; the country should tackle the root causes of the problems before dealing with the bad image.
Now, this singular event tends to compound the already perilous state of the country going by the fact that the president of the country is A.W.O.L (Away without Official Leave) as a result of a life threatening illness. Matter of factly, Nigerians are pessimistic about the future of this country. These events expectedly, prompts concerned citizens of the world to contemplate that Nigerians are really jinxed. But is Nigeria really jinxed? Well, Nigeria could be jinxed but every country will pass through trying moments once in a while in the course of their history. However, the crux of the matter hinges on the effectiveness of the measures taken to ameliorate any predicament. Matter of factly, we should realize that we can’t go on like this any longer; we have been branded a terror prone country by the Transport Security Administration (TSA) of the United States. We can either accept it or work against it diplomatically but the bottom line is that we should put our house in order. Since our problems are self inflicted, we need not relive the purported excesses and mistreatment associated with the colonial era, we got the right to self actualization even before the oil boom but yet our predicaments lingers on.
The problem with Nigeria is that since 1960, we’ve failed to realize our mistakes, we’ve even refused to accept our faults and misgivings and we’ve continued to push blames on each other and on other persons. Though we are aware of our wrongs, we’ve refused to accept the truth and we hardly seek redress. This is what we’ve done for decades and every misdeed will have consequences. Now, our oil which ought to be a blessing is becoming a curse and our diversity which ought to be our strength is now our source of disunity. Mediocrity begets anarchy, misery, failure and hopelessness. Through the years, the leaders have been embezzling government funds with impunity, the people have killed and committed offences against brothers and the state. Though they try to cover their tracks, the backlog of consequences cannot be down played and its here with us.
Anyway, for us to progress as a nation and overcome the negative publicity which is a reality, though we claim we do not deserve it, we have to re-orientate our minds and mentality and then pray fervently for a God sent leader or a statesman. Nigeria deserves role model and the ultimate role model will have to be the president or the prime Minster or the ruler. All through history, our problem has been bad leadership, bad government and selfish politics. As a result, the younger generation has come to embrace selfish and self centered leadership as the usual trend for Nigeria and this has continued to compound our problems. For decades, the role model for the young Nigerian has been fraudster and Government treasury looters, etc. Recently, the role model includes militants and kidnappers and finally, Al queda agents and terrorists who have become role models for people like Farouk Abdul Mutallab.
Nigeria deserves a responsible and God sent leadership. This leader can come from any sector of the Nigerian society. He will be pragmatic, God fearing, generous and kind. The country cannot get such people through election rigging or party selection which we’ve been used to. That leader will come through a straight forward process.
