Stolen $150bn: Nigerians should be alarmed

In an opinion article that was published in Washington Post during the week titled “Nigeria committed to good governance and fighting terror”, written by President Muhammadu Buhari, he alleged that the sum of $150 billion may have been salted out of the country into offshore accounts by officials of past administrations, especially within the last decade. If this allegation is true, even if it is half of that large sum, then Nigeria is in trouble. For politicians, civil servants and their collaborators to have the presence of mind to steal that amount within just ten years, is beyond the comprehension of commonsense.

However, unfortunately, this stolen sum as alleged by the president has not generated alarm, raucous as we had envisaged. People read the story and moved on with their lives. And that kind of attitude is very disappointing. In country lacking in virtually all good things of life, but whose political leaders are accused of stealing such humongous sum should have precipitated some loud reactions. We have evidently sunk so low that nothing shocks us anymore, and that's tragic. Because we hear of billions of naira and dollar everyday but see very little of the impact in the lives of folks may have killed our sense of value. The people are just not interested or so it seems, and it is about time to get them interested in their own affairs.

The revelation, cum accusation by the president should get politicians worried. It just so happened that none responded specifically to the allegation. Not even opposition parties could take on the president. That to us means that the allegation might not just be true, the allegation may just be a tip of the iceberg. Therefore, it should worry us as a corporate entity just how it is easy for government officials to steal such amount of money from the system without a trace. Of course, this money was not stolen at once, but what kind of system do we run that makes it possible for people to keep taking from the public till as if it were their own?

To make matters worse, to what extent does checks and balances work in our country? Let us say someone is awarded a contract and because of that the person will need to get materials from overseas. Payment will pass through normal channels and at the end of the day, such funds either does not repatriate value of paid money or nothing is even returned at all. So at that point who or what agency is responsible for ensuring what was promised during procurement verification is what is supplied? How is it easy for people to either openly and without conscience steal from the people even in the seeming hopelessness we find ourselves yet come back to campaign to continue in their mindless enterprise?

The sum of $150 billion will fetch you over N45 trillion! Dear Nigerians that is more than our ten years national budget. How could this have happened? How could this be stolen? That means we are perpetually in danger. That means it is by the grace of God that this country is still surviving. That means every day that President Buhari survives is indeed by the grace of God. With that kind of money, the guilty will be bent on perpetuating evil. There is no way the guilty will be at peace right now. They will be plotting evil against the new president and against Nigeria. Indeed that may explain why we have had one crisis after another. There is no way any country will be at peace with this kind of heist. The alleged thieves will not allow anybody to work and they will not work for anybody.

This situation is clearly a disaster. For Nigerians, we are between the devil and the deep blue sea. Because our minds have been tortured for long, we don't even know which politician to believe again. When the fight against corruption will be revved up, it is the same Nigerians that will start crying on behalf of their tormentors. We know it is not ordinary. It is a result of several years of torture from our oppressors who makes it look as though nothing can work here. These alleged offenders tell the people that Nigeria is corruption and corruption is Nigeria, therefore there is nothing anyone can do about it. Already some people are crying “witch-hunt”. Our admonition going forward is that Mr. President should not use extra-judicial means to return Nigeria to good behaviour; however, he must take all necessary steps, no matter how mean it might seem, to recover looted funds then return our public conduct to acceptable international standards. That's the only way our country can make progress and that's the only way the progress can be sustained. Every country of the world must help our president so that he might help the poorest of the poor in our midst.

#editorial