Anti-corruption: A Plausible War For All Nigerians -By Abu I. Michael

Those in the corridors of power were dead to responsiveness, prudence, accountability, and transparency thus the law stopped working in Nigeria. And that was why some public officers and servants would steal to deplete public coffers without minding the facts that many of the citizenry are suffering untold hardship and the country fatally starved since the monies meant to oil the wheel of the economy have willfully been siphoned unchallenged. Just to borrow from the author of Quite Frankly, Oladipo Sanusi’s piece, “Re-working Nigeria at 55” published on page 55 of Leadership Friday, October 2 2015, I think that the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) has started the reworking process.

The raging war necessitated by the new government on corruption and its perpetrators is a plausible one which all good Nigerians must join to save the country and her people, who are highly impoverished amidst wealth; quite frankly, Nigeria was almost murdered if not for the change.

The news on the arrest of the erstwhile Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, some of her family members and associate over allegation of money laundering by the International Corruption Unit (ICU) of the British National Agency (BNA) was delightful not because of what may befall her if she is eventually found guilty of the alleged gross financial misconduct but that the law has started working and that stealers, looters and other offenders would no longer evade the law; and Nigeria will be better for this. Creditable media reported that 27,000 pounds was found in her over N3.7 billion house, an indication that many of our missing monies could still be hidden allegedly somewhere close.

The anticorruption war is a welcome development. Mrs. Alison-Madueke is just one out of many whom I believe would not go uncaught; her case was just a pointer as to what many Nigerians who have been entrusted with public offices have done to our economic and socio-political life. There are also money lundering cases involving the ousted Governor of Adamawa State and his son, Murtala Nyako; former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido and his sons; former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Stephen Oronsaye; The Punch edition of July 14, 2015 carried a report of the cases of money laundering also involving 21 other Nigerians as announced by the US Assistant Attorney General, Leslie Caldwell of Justice Department of the Criminal Division and the US Attorney, Grgory Davis of the Southern District of Mississippi. The searchlight continues.

PMB is indeed a master in the science and art of catching thieves of public funds. Now that the law is working shows that Nigeria is a part of the global community and there is no longer any hiding place for the looters and their cohorts on the surface of this earth.

Considering the huge amount of money allegedly being stolen by a single individual, one could roughly calculate the billions of pounds, dollars and naira which Nigeria can generate from the recovery process for use to change the fortune of our only and one nation, Nigeria. If many of the stolen amounts are recovered, the amount could make up to the budgets of 5, 6 and if not 10 years running.

The PMB Government should sniff every nook and cranny for stolen funds; for instance there have been projects worth millions and billions of naira which have been completed on papers but are not concretely on ground. These projects cover health, transport, agriculture, water, roads, education, sports, security, flood control, electricity, petroleum, Information and Communication Technology, pension matters, office costs and allowances of government workers etc. There are footprints of thieves of public monies and property who could be traced in the aforementioned areas of operations and transactions.

It also gladdens the heart for the call for the United Kingdom and Switzerland authorities to speed up the trial of the accusers and the repatriation of our funds starched beyond the boundaries of our country. The legal process of the western countries towards effective administration of justice should serve as impetus to our revered operators of the Nigerian judicial system.

The government may create facilities where Nigerians under protection could venture reliable information which could help to recover our stolen funds. The task revamping the economy is for all Nigerians under the present dispensation that is committed for the desired turnaround.

 — Michael wrote in from Lafia