Nigeria is still reeling in shock, following the publication of suspected fraudsters by the United States FBI. The shock emanates mostly from the overly lopsided list in which 77 of the 80 suspects are Nigerians.
Unfortunately, we are too hasty to blame these youths who take to sundry crimes without interrogating what pushed them into it. For instance, apart from fraud, our youths are increasingly involved in other forms of criminality, armed robbery, occultism, etc. Victims of such heists or even some apprehended culprits reveal that most of them become deviant in the absence of better, viable options. Of course, this is a very lame excuse.
The economy has collapsed so badly the country now ranks among the pariah nations of the world. Yearly, thousands of fresh graduates join the several hundreds of thousands languishing on the unemployment holocaust while solution remains elusive.
Meanwhile, in the midst of this abysmal poverty, politicians, public officials and their offspring flaunt their ill-gotten wealth so brazenly, the youths feel that hard work no longer pays, hence the recourse to crime.
Ever wondered why kidnapping for ransom thrives? People find it easy to make cool millions just by snatching others in the hope that they get paid ransom. Are they making it? Of course; even foetuses are sold in the womb, even as babies are also plucked from their mothers’ breasts and sold to the childless or in bizarre scenarios for rituals by devilish goons, trusting in wealth from evil spirits. The society has become degenerative; the old and young are equally victims and in most cases huge ransoms are paid before suspiciously collaborative police come up with their hogwash as regards their chivalrous acts of rescue.
No matter how we may feel about the Muhammadu Buhari government, it certainly deserves the support of all in its anti-corruption war where sincere. Corruption has become a lifestyle for Nigerians and we must wean our future from its destructive potential or go bust as a people.
When a petty civil servant stashes away hundreds of millions in her bank account, how did she get it? When a police chief or army brass acquires real estate at home or offshore beyond his income, explanations must be made. When a former or serving minister’s son splashes millions on expensive jewelry or automobiles, it is time he explained how come, or better still let his father do the explaining. When a person whose status was known when they enter office but suddenly comes out rolling in inexplicable wealth, there is need to seek answers. When that your undergraduate or unemployed son or daughter swims home with wealth, don’t hesitate to question him on the source or invite the law on him to do that, instead of heading to church or mosque for a thanksgiving for ‘divine breakthrough’, which may turn around to haunt you forever. It would be helpful if we formed what I choose to call “Neighbourhood Police” by which we would be a check on one another and blow the whistle on that queer neighbour who suddenly becomes rich without any visible means of income.
This country should be tired of emergency billionaires who use spray guns to rain both local and foreign currencies on revellers without undue explanations. That is how corruption is fought in saner climes. Fighting corruption is so easy, if the anti-corruption agencies put their minds to it. For the EFCC to ignore to do the needful, hiding behind the lame excuse of not being petitioned, is unacceptable and portrays the anti-corruption war as a mere joke.
Until we asked questions of men and women who live above their means, in and out of office, the youths of this beleaguered country would continue to seek avenues of cheap wealth, if only to be like the Joneses and avoid being derided as never-do-wells by peers, society and parents alike. There is no surer and faster way to destroy our future generations than to allow the corrosion of exhibitionist vulgar wealth to ensnare the mindset of our youth. That is at the root of the FBI debacle.
Nevertheless, no justifiable reason can be adduced for criminality. It is only lazy youths that fall victim to the lure of evil money, which has dire repercussions. The irony of money is that one can ever have enough of it. The more of it you have, the more you want to have, especially the easy-come-easy-go loot from shady deals. It is a snare of the devil to destroy lives and that is why those that seemingly hit it big in crime keep at it until the cookie crumbles. Then those that once hailed and benefitted from them scamper to their havens, leaving them to roast in their fire alone.
This is ‘iberiberism’ (foolishness) of the highest pedigree. The bitter lesson for avaricious, kleptomaniac and drunken political tin gods is that no sooner would they vacate office than all the fortune hunters once lapping their vomit would so easily partner succeeding government to demolish their wayward legacies, as is currently ongoing somewhere in the South-East. Of course, the EFCC is already breathing hot air on the souls of profligate looters in power. One hopes the law catches up with them sooner because crime does not pay anyone. If it does at all, it is to the extent that the fame becomes shame, and the thinning, receding crowd leaves sour memories in the soul, searing through with pain as hot iron through melting wax.