ERADICATING CORRUPTION

Among discussions between Nigerians, corruption is a major topic of the day, how it has become a way of life for us and the systemic failure it has promoted. Public Officials have looted so much, our country may never recover from the onslaught. If one public official can be caught with billions of naira under his bed and another with millions of dollars worth of property then imagine what a brood of these vipers have collectively stolen for decades. Anyway, calculating how much Nigeria has lost in trillions of dollars to corruption is a topic for another day, right now let us concern ourselves with how to rid ourselves of this hydra- headed monster.

To resolve a problem, it is important first to learn the cause of it in other to effectively strategise on how to get rid of it. Corruption didn't just creep up on Nigeria from no where and neither did it begin during the millitary era, rather corruption was already seeded in our polity right from our pre - colonial era and a couple of factors helped feed the frenzy.  
I believe the seeds of corruption were imported into Nigeria the day the first portuguese slave ship docked on our shores. It was a time when traditional rulers were offered trinkets in exchange for the lives of members of their clan who were sold or captured into slavery, the traditional rulers were paid to turn a blind eye to their duty of protecting their people. Likewise brother sold brother, sister sold sister and friend sold friend all in exchange for financial gain.
Corrupt practices also continued during the colonial era and at the eve of independence, the British introduced the concept of election rigging when they fraudulently put the north in power. It is a no brainer that the lifestyle of the British colonialists motivated the indigenous public officers who took their positions in government to act likewise.  
The Nigerian factor also helped germinate the seed of corruption, due to the fact that past governments neglected their duty to provide infrastructural development, social amenities are now inadequate and the society has became only for the survival of the richest. The educational system is comatose and we all know schools like Grange secondary school  and Covenant University don't come cheap, to pay the tuition you must be a millionaire.
This is similar in the health, security and power sectors where every Nigerian must now provide for his or her family on their own, the govt has nothing to offer, so many Nigerians steal money or become corrupt all in a bid to maintain the lifestyle they believe is deserving of their status.   If we must stamp out corruption, it will take bold and decisive action on the part of the 3 arms of government namely the Executive, Legislative Chambers and the Judiciary.  
1.  The executive arm of government must show genuine political will to fight corruption, if the head seems to benefit from the spoils of corruption, then how can it succesfully compel its followers to shun corruption.
2. Agents of the executive such as the EFCC and ICPC cannot succesfully fight corruption on their own if the laws are inadequate and the court system is also not helping matters, we all know a criminal trial in courts can take years to reach conclusion and thats if it's not derailed by unscrupulous lawyers who bring up applications meant to delay the process. The courts must reform its process so trials take a maximum of 180 days.
3. Also the law on corruption must be reformed to make stiffer penalties for public officials found guilty of corruption.  
We must understand that corruption can be erased through the systemic purging of the society and some parts of our cultures that help promote the malady, if the 3 steps i mentioned are executed in the next few months by the governmemt of President Jonathan, i am sure corruption will be well on its way out of our polity.    
Adedunmade Onibokun Esq. - @adedunmade