Without a strand of doubt, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi is one of the ace chaperons of the country’s foreign affairs. The Professor of Political Science and International Studies was once Nigeria’s Minister of External Affairs. In Nigeria and around the world (especially in the US), Akinyemi remains a veritable voice of wisdom, experience, and deep knowledge concerning issues of global leadership and governance. A few years ago, at the second term inauguration lecture of Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko, Akinyemi made a rattling remark about corruption in Nigeria. It probably made a few goons of corruption uncomfortable. “No one can be a billionaire in Nigeria today without being corrupt. If you are a businessman, you would have evaded tax or other levies like import duties with the active connivance of those in charge. Your entire income as a political office holder, either elected or appointed, cannot make you a billionaire without indulging in corrupt practices. It is also not possible for you to work and retire as a civil servant in whatever capacity and become a billionaire without being corrupt. Unless our leaders tackle the issue of corruption and offer selfless service to the people, our democracy may not produce the desired development we are all expecting,” Akinyemi submitted; and I concur with him.
Every level of our government is annoyingly and frustratingly inundated with corrupt men and women. Crooked men in positions of leadership, and characters whose hearts embrace the evil of corruption have their minds set on self, not on the well-being and welfare of those they were called to serve. Nigerians have been made serfs by these men who profess to serve the nation.
In spite of the hot air of purloining everywhere in government, we are not unaware of men and women of integrity and virtues. Against tempting and alluring odds, these men kept their integrity intact as they served or still serve in government. Yes; they definitely are a few; but some of these men who once walked on the Nigerian terra firma, lived above board while they worked for the government. I cannot list all of their names in one treatise; and there are many we may not have come across. But names we know have been etched in the spine of Nigerian history as Nigeria’s few good men.
Mallam Aminu Kano of the blessed memory is a luminous example. He was an outstanding emancipator of the poor who served across spectrums of government and was not self-serving. It was not about how much Aminu made, but how often he helped remake destinies of people the society branded destitute. He served in Yakubu Gowon’s cabinet during the civil war and was in charge of war procurements while doubling as the Minister of Health and Communications at different times. There was the story of a foreign company that offered him huge cash bribe in the form of a commission from the contract it got from government. Aminu turned the funny money pronto into the federation account on his return.
Aminu died in 1983 leaving behind only one house, one wife, one daughter, one radio, one TV; and one farmland. No bank account was traced to him anywhere in the world, and reportedly left only a few naira under his pillow the day he died. Today in Nigeria, it is almost abnormal not to be a thief serving your country that needs help. People with power loot the treasury black and blue, acquiring wealth for themselves on the back of dying proletariats. Aminu Kano was one of Nigeria’s few good men.
Dr Alex Ekwueme was deputy to President Shehu Shagari in the Second Republic, 1979-1983. The intellectual giant paid his dues to the social, economic, and political development of Nigeria. He had access to power and lots of cash as the VP. But material things of life were not an attraction to this erudite man. Ekwueme led an exemplary life of unassailable probity and unimpeachable integrity. When his government was toppled by Major General Muhammadu Buhari and Brig. Tunde Idiagbon, the military tribunal that tried him during his 20-month detention had no reason to keep him longer in the gallows. He was discharged and acquitted. Ekwueme reportedly left office poorer than he began. He was probably the only VP in that status to date. Alex Ekwueme, one of Nigeria’s few good men.
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu is still here with us. Ribadu wears many hats as a police officer; an anti-corruption crusader; and presidential candidate. The work he did during his tenure as the EFCC chairman enthralls my heart more. When convicted former Delta governor James Ibori reportedly bribed the anti-corruption agency czar with $15m to cover up his dirty deals, Ribadu paid the whopping sum into the federal treasury. Nigerians in his league are scanty.
The current Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board is Professor Ishaq Oloyede. Oloyede’s stay so far at the board is revolutionary. An agency that was once bombarded with attacks from cash-swallowing, money-gulping mysterious beasts from monkeys to snakes, Oloyede recently shocked Nigerians when he revealed that the body is now fully self-funded without collecting a kobo from the federal allocations. In 2018, Oloyede’s JAMB remitted a whopping sum of 7.5bn naira to the federation account. From just one conducted examination 2019, Oloyede declared surplus money in excess of N5.1bn! This was a phenomenal increase over a measly sum of N50m the same JAMB declared for previous seven years (2010 to 2016). Oloyede is among Nigeria’s few good men.
Billionaire businessman, Warren Buffet, is on record with this submission. “In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they do not have the first; the other two will you”. Integrity is like a screaming siren that even the deaf can hear, and like the brightly shining sun that even the blind can see. It is unfortunate that many in power today lack this virtue. Drip; drip; drip; our patrimonies are going down the drain and into the bottomless pit in drips. Didn’t you read about Nigerian lawmakers’ recent demand for a sum of N5.5bn for SUVs as means of transportation? Do these outlaw legislators need SUVs to make laws? What happened to the vehicles attached to their offices in the last legislative session? Is N5.5bn earmarked for the SUVs not an insane proposition? It’s only in Nigeria that lawmakers need N5bn Prado Jeeps to make laws; not common sense to unmake the ills and afflictions that have historically been foisted on the people by men in power who lack integrity.
In the last two weeks, I lost two loved ones to the Grim Reapers in Nigeria! Illnesses that will be easily killed even in Ghana killed them! One was only 23 years old. The young woman had hope for 2020 and years beyond. Sadly, she couldn’t survive the hazards that men who lack integrity have unleashed on Nigeria. Revamping our health system is not a task difficult to accomplish. In its stead, dudes with access to power and cash are loading up on mansions, cash, and free SUVs from our commonwealth.
In the last 10 years, a whopping sum close to N3tn was budgeted for health care. But Nigerians continue to gnash their teeth in pain and suffering when they seek medical care. Men without scruples have turned our hospitals into concentration camps. Death has become buy-one-get-one-free. Men without integrity in power have flipped Nigeria into a dysfunctional and decrepit piece of crap and scraps that needs fixing. Good men are scattered all over Nigeria. But they are disenchanted playing the filthy game dribbled in government. At the end of the day, good will overcome evil in Nigeria. I strongly believe that.
Credit: Fola Ojo, Punch