Corruption In Nigeria: A Nigerian Girl’s Personal Experience
I would like to define corruption as a situation where a tiny group of persons is favored at the expense of others (the larger society). This definition is the most correct when you are describing corruption at its lowest and most important level. The everyday corruption, the one that leaves imprints in our everyday lives and changes the way we think and view things as good and bad.
This corruption has been so ingrained into our system that we see it as normal and acceptable. It is true that there are people who speak up when they see such injustice being meted out to a group of people I choose to call “the unlucky ones” but we all know Nigerians are great people who easily adapt and grow comfortable with anything.
It is little wonder that corruption has found a place to settle and thrive in a country where everyone prefers to take it as they see it. Where easier is better and we all cannot talk because it won’t change anything. A country where long legs, means, and godfatherism have replaced hard work and merit.
In this article, I will be using the above words with liberty and I think I ought to define them to aid understanding.
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LONG LEGS
This is a situation where someone has “connections” in the right places. It is the ability to call someone and get things done. It is the only power that can get you straight to the front of the line even if you came last. It is what distinguishes the once poor from the always poor.
The poor with “long legs” are ticking time bombs because everyone knows that they have prospects automatically. One day these extra legs (people) will call them for one job or the other and they will cease to be poor. The poor without long legs are another matter. These ones go around lamenting, using words like “I only have God. I know nobody and nobody knows me”.
A person without long legs in our society is painfully aware of their disability in times where they are standing on a queue, either for registration or deposit/withdrawal and someone comes from nowhere, shuns the queue, gets to the front and is attended to. The person without long legs is painfully aware of his disability when he or she has admission problems and wishes to “change it” but cannot because of the lack of those limbs.
The average Nigerian longs for sets of extra limbs to jump social ladders, jump over people’s heads and get what they want. That corruption is a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabric of our nation Nigeria. It’s not a myth but a reality.
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MEANS
People say, “he wouldn’t have gotten the job, but he used means and he got it”.
A person who has means is someone who has enough money or influence to get himself/herself wherever he/she wishes to go. Influence can be gotten by a variety of unsavory ways I would choose not to talk about.
In our present day Nigeria, Means is more about money than anything. Do you have enough money to make the people happy? Can you give him what he wants? You go to an office and you talk and talk, nobody listens to you because talk is cheap and verily, action speaks louder than words.
An envelope in your hand is more important than any articulate and intelligent speech you want to deliver. Speeches are great, they are said with the hand of the person you’re talking to wrapped around that fat envelope. Anything else and you will be seen as an unserious person who is not ready for the job/contract/scholarship.
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Godfatherism
There are levels to this godfatherism thing and these levels depend on the amount of “means” or “long legs” a person possesses. As the name implies, these Godfathers and Godmothers have sons and daughters. These sons and daughters have the privilege of knowing someone up there who has their best interests at heart.
Securing a Godfather is a thing of “connection” and of having the “means” to make them become loyal to you, remembering you when good things slide through their desks. These Godfathers enjoy certain privileges that natural parents enjoy, such as the care and attention of their acquired children, and both parties are happy with the arrangement.
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Ways In Which Corruption Affects The Average Nigerian
In Nigeria, the gap between the rich and the poor widens steadily every day. The former having billions of dollars in their possession and spending money on frivolous things, while the latter is barely able to afford three square meals. The social class dichotomy is a growing cause of worry to the average Nigerian because, gone are the days where it was easy to change your social class by getting a good education.
These days, education is so expensive that only the rich and the not too poor can afford it. If you are fortunate to be not too poor, your education can only take you so far. Nigeria has successfully eliminated the Middle class and people are now classified into Lower and Upper class. The burden of eradicating corruption is on all our shoulders and it is so very heavy. The little things we do matter.
Nigeria, are we really ready to change?
I think we have gone complacent and almost happy with the status quo. There is an aura of selfishness that pervades over this society. One man for himself, Thank God say no be me, is our mantra. We are happy when we are comfortable and others are not because they do not have the “long legs” or “means” that we do.
You’ll see people like this saying, leave me, na God do am for me. People do not even want to be helped, if you stand up to fight for them, they will surely leave you standing on the curb. “Mind your business.” “That is the past,” they would say.
Things will be okay, they say when there’s a piece of bread in their mouth. I hate this country, they say when things begin to get rough.
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Everyday Corruption In Education
Even as Education has become a very small key to success, it is still a priced commodity and everyone wants to get an education. People fight every day to get positions in the same university that others waltz into because they have connections, godfathers of means to get the cogs rolling.
These sets of people easily get to study the course of their choice because the person they know, knows the person who has the power to make things happen. This process of giving someone an admission they do not deserve is termed “work”. I applied for medicine and didn’t meet the cut off mark but my father’s friends “worked” it for me and I am studying medicine now.
Last year was spent going from one office to another, my father spent good money and it paid off. I was finally given admission although I did not meet the cut off mark. The testimonies are endless. Admission by merit is fast becoming a thing of the past in some schools as getting in is purely based on connection and means.
Let’s forget about admission, let’s talk about those people who never come to class or read their books throughout their four-year course but graduate with flying colors. We all know the magic behind that kind of transformation is corruption. The funny thing is, we all know that there are sets of rules and a due process which things should follow.
Everyone is also aware that there is a group of people who possess the ability to break those rules and shuns those processes successfully. These people have what the average Nigerian does not: long legs or connections, means, and Godfathers.
Everyday Corruption In The Labour Market
I am laughing a little as I read my title. Labor market? Lol. We all know that there are some people who never have the chance to step into that “market” and begin job hunting. These people are plucked right out of school and installed in a position somewhere, whether they are qualified or not. Let’s look at the case of s fictional papa Jide.
Friend: Papa Jide where are you going this early morning?
Papa Jide: I am going job hunting. I have my eye on a position in the Wena office.
Friend: You know the person for the office?
Papa Jide: No.
Friend: Na wa for you o! You for just find something (a little bribe) for the person for there now. E dey help o.
Papa Jide: Thank you.
So papa Jide is one of those Nigerians who are not yet “wise” enough to know that you ‘make money with money’. The way corruption has been normalized is what should alarm any well-meaning Nigerian. If you read the above excerpt and see nothing wrong with it, know that you possess the corruption mentality. The fact that it happens every day does not make it right.
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Everyday Corruption In Awards And Pageantry
The most beautiful girl in this, the most beautiful girl in that. Then on the last day, one girl who is neither attractive nor intelligent comes out as the winner. Vote for me 50 naira. The contestant with the highest votes wins. What do you expect to happen to the beautiful, intelligent contestant or the worthy candidate for the award who does not have money to “invest” in votes or people who are willing to do that investment for him or her?
There are people with talents, wasting away in basements somewhere because they did not have the “means” to pursue their dreams. The sad thing is that people now think that hard work doesn’t pay anymore because of how long they have to wait to see results. We all need to apologize to these people because no one deserves to be hurt like that.
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My Personal Experience With Everyday Corruption
My most recent personal experience was gotten last year when I went for a registration. I remember coming to the office as early as 7:30 am and meeting twenty plus people already standing outside. We waited until 8:00 am for the workers to start work and when they resumed a piece of paper was shared. All of us wrote our names according to the time we got there.
My name fell on number twenty-seven and I was hopeful until one of the officials called out that they would only be attending to twenty-five people for the day. As the process of registration is not a long or hard one, I was hopeful that I would be attended to since their closing time was 2 pm, and it was only 8:30 am. I was mistaken.
By 9:30 am people began trickling in. These people boldly cut the line and were allowed to enter the sacred ground of the office. Two people, ten people, twenty people. The line was stuck on number nine for so many hours that I got upset and left.
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Conclusion
Corruption is a destructive power and it moves slowly, but surely. You might be enjoying it today, but I guarantee that in ten years you will be gnashing your teeth when you see the effects of your actions. The fruits of corruption our predecessors sowed are the berries currently sitting on our plates in the form of poor infrastructure, unemployment e.t.c.
What we really want is equity and stability so our dreams can flourish. What we desire is a country of equal opportunities where the young ones can have hope and the poor people can stand a chance. Let us all join hands in this fight against corruption and the injustices that go along with it for a better Nigeria.
God Bless You! God Bless Me!! God Bless Nigeria!!!
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