Is Corruption a Nigerian?

When I was growing up in Nigeria, I had never heard about corruption so freely used. Nigeria then was a middle income country with strong GDP, until the military government took over power from the civilians from 1966 to 70s and beyond. Thereafter, the general situation of the country started descending from the glorious height to the lowest level where corruption has now become part and parcel of everyday function. In Nigeria corruption has thousands of names as its perpetration too. Obasanjo the former President and one of the founding members of Transparency International, who was in office for 2 terms, could not do much to tame the malaise which has ruined the country's economy and general development efforts for over 20 years. Obasanjo used EFCC to haunt and torment his political opponents. This was the reason why his anti-corruption efforts failed through Ribadu. Governance and public office in Nigeria and some of the Africa countries is come and fill your pockets with the people's money.

The World could still remember how elections were blatantly rigged in spite of the presence of the international monitors and observers. Obasanjo corruptly handed over to President Yar'Adua, so that the connection of looting will continue without probe. There are a lot of things going wrong in most African countries but these are often overlooked by those who claim to be helping with global issues and concerns. Nigeria is the most populous black country in the world and has wealth oil. The politics of oil exploration and exploitation have kept the country in perpetual slavery and under-development. Why must those who claim to fight corruption be a party to it? All public looted funds from Nigeria are often banked in the countries that are still milking and sucking Nigeria dry. No country really cares if Nigeria will survive the impunity of looting or not. The new dimension of looting is now the Bank Executives and their cohorts in government. The stealing of public funds in Nigeria has past alarming rate. A country where laws are swept under the table for bribes. A country where the politicians, the governors, the law makers, civil servants, just mention them, wreck and cause havoc to the public treasury without any reprimand. The 'corruption' in Nigeria has defiled all anti-corruption measures if they were any at all. As a student and researcher of corruption in Nigeria, the curbing of corruption in Nigeria has become a tall order because the government is not serious about fighting corruption. Those in government in Nigeria are doing eat, go and come back, to be recycled in another government within a short time again. The cycle of looting continues.