Is Corruption a Safety Net in Nigeria

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[Applause]

hello

happy to be back home um

so berlin 2014

germany i was sitting in a cafe

having a cup of hot chocolate and i got

into a conversation with a german lady

she must have been around 45 50 years

old

and as usual the question was where are

you from

and i said nigeria you know with a lot

of confidence nigeria

and she said oh nigeria and you know

when a foreigner

gives you that expression oh nigeria the

stereotype starts being in your head

like oh maybe she thinks one of those

internet fraudsters oh no i have a beard

probably um

ambuku haram right

so but then interestingly she said she

mentioned

okocha kanu tijani

i was like yes that’s more like it but

then as the conversation went on

she said another thing and she said you

know

about corruption in nigeria and i was

like

there i thought we were getting

somewhere and now the stereotypes

came back and i said what about

corruption

and she said you know it’s it’s

mind-boggling is it really true the kind

of monies that we hear that people steal

in nigeria

like why would anyone need to steal that

kind of money

you know like to her

from what what i got from from her was

the only reason why anyone would steal

that kind

of money is greed right

which brings us to the question of

what is corruption there’s a popular

definition of what corruption is

that it is the abuse of entrusted power

for private gains and when you hear this

definition

what comes to your mind ordinarily when

you hear corruption

is somebody collecting bribe you see

that picture of someone collecting bribe

or offering bribe

or someone sitting in his office signing

a document

to transfer illicit or illegal money to

their pockets

by a show of hands please let me see if

that is the picture you get

when you hear corruption

raise your hand if that is the picture

you get when you hear

corruption someone offering a bribe

someone

collecting a bribe so

a number of us it is very normal

to think that way but truly is that

really what corruption is

no that is not what corruption is

do you know what corruption is

corruption is

58 000 women die

needlessly in nigeria

corruption is 13 million

out of school children that is what

corruption is

13 million more than four times the

population of botswana

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corruption is a child dying

every 20 seconds to a preventable

disease

in this country

so it is not just you thinking about

someone stuffing his pockets offering

bribe or collecting

it is way beyond that and i want us to

take a second

to internalize this to introspect to

think

deeply about this and what you realize

while you’re doing this is that you are

having a change in mindset

because you are seeing it from a deeper

perspective and that is why we are here

so back to the german lady

why do these people engage in corruption

is it greed

what was my response you know as

nigerians they say

we answer questions good questions so it

was my turn to ask the questions

i told her so i i get your point i know

where you’re coming from

however i want to ask you a few

questions you’re a german right she said

yes

you have good health care she said yes

we have health insurance

she said yes do you have to travel

abroad to get quality health care she

said no we have some of the best

hospitals in the world

do you have to send your kids abroad

to study no we have some of the best

universities in the world

do you earn a good living with an

average

would you say an average german ends a

good living

he said yes of course do you feel safe

or do you feel threatened all the time

she said no

this is find a safe country the crime

rate is very low

and then i said to her so you see

if you ask an average nigerian these

same questions

they wouldn’t be able to answer yes

and she was quiet for a few seconds she

was quiet

which brings me to a theory called the

fraud triangle

and what is the fraud triangle

the theory tries to explain the reason

behind people engaging in fraud or in

this case

corruption one

pressure financial pressure so you work

in a ministry

in abuja as a graduate

and you end between 50 to 60 000 naira a

month

that is less than 200 a month clearly

that is not enough for you

to pay your bills to feed clothe and

transport yourself

monthly

on top of that

you work in an organization there are a

lot of loopholes

that it is possible for you to

perpetrate fraud

and get away with it

especially if you have the support of

your colleagues

who will cover your tracks

thirdly you are able to rationalize

you are able to rationalize these

fraud you tell yourself that well i

don’t any now

every other person is doing it i won’t

get caught

and you’re in a society that promotes

corruption

a society that celebrates people who are

corrupt

the society that sees people that are

corrupt are smart people

and see those who are not corrupt as

dumb people

you are in this society with all history

tell me with all these conditions

who won’t be susceptible to corruption

it is unfortunate that a system that we

have

has not offered an alternative

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such that

corruption becomes a safety net

because as human beings you must attend

to your needs and you will find a way

to attend to your needs no matter what

what are you going to tell your kids

your spouse how are you going to do

health care where are you going to leave

what clothes are you going to wear you

must attend to those needs

and if the system does not offer you you

will find

an alternative and that is what is

happening in this country

so what should we do

what should we do

many successive governments have made a

lot of efforts

by developing institutions the economic

financial crimes commission icpc

name it a host of organizations

to address corruption in this country

however one basic thing

that i’ve been missed is that we look at

corruption

from a very narrow perspective

and this resonates with what the german

lady was saying

because what i got from that

conversation was that corruption is

simply

an issue of greed like you don’t need a

kind of money why would you steal

you have enough clearly

she is comfortable but is that the case

in our country

no so what should we do as a people

the first thing that we should do

is change our minds change our mindsets

and when we hear corruption the first

thing that should come to our mind

it’s not just a definition of corruption

it’s not just somebody’s stuff in his

pockets

it is the implication of corruption what

does corruption do to our society and

our people

it kills people it undermines the

society’s goal

it shatters people’s dreams that is what

corruption is

and if you’re able to internalize this

next time when you hear about corruption

you’ll see corruption in a different

light

beyond that

it is also important that

we look at the factors that lead to

corruption

if we don’t address those factors as i

mentioned

in that fraud triangle that speaks about

some of the major factors

that lead to fraud we won’t get anywhere

ladies and gentlemen you’ve been a

wonderful audience thank you