Someone shared how his teenage son wanted him to buy iPhone 15 and how he rejected the idea. A listener quipped, “Oh, it’s because you’re not in public office. If you’re a commissioner or minister, you’ll buy four iPhone 15 and you won’t feel it.”
Was I shocked? Yes, because this is a very young, well-educated individual who should know better. For someone in her 20s with degrees in accounting, economics and still counting, she is one of Nigeria’s so-called hopes of tomorrow; but then, here we are!
I was discussing national issues with someone I had huge respect for some time ago and I was shocked when he asked if I also would not “eat” if I have the opportunity to get there.
Again, here is a well-educated professional who is involved in charitable work that is expected to ultimately make Nigeria an El Dorado! I was lost for words and that was the end of our conversation.
#EndBadGovernanceInNigeria is currently trending on X and I’m wondering if we’re truly seeking good governance.
This is because, when it comes to unbridled, illegitimate wealth acquisition and unofficial deployment of public funds, the average Nigerian hardly sees anything wrong with it. It is only wrong when they have no family representation on the table. If they have a friend, lover, or, better still, siblings or kids in public office, then it is the Lord’s doing.
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From the look of things, people in government are bad simply because they’re the only set of people whose conspicuous consumption is undeniable. The sleaze that goes on in corporate and private settings will shock any normal person when they blow open.
When people say Nigeria is a ‘vast crime scene,’ don’t doubt it. And we will all continue to stew in our national juice until we are ready to build a country where sudden wealth and theft/misuse of public funds is truly investigated and punished, instead of the media trial which EFCC and ICPC seem to specialize in.
An accountant friend narrated how a driver returned from a trip and presented N100K receipt for fuel he claimed to have used in a single day. He didn’t travel from North to East or South to North o. The travel was within two southern states and he didn’t drive an articulated vehicle.
During some of the numerous workshops I’ve participated in, it is not uncommon to see people present receipts of N120K commuting from Ado-Ekiti to Lagos.
As for hotel bills, don’t go there.
Whenever I use airport cabs and ask for receipts, the drivers are always eager to give me blank receipts, with some even volunteering to sign them upfront.
Some of them will ask me how much I want to be written on the receipt and when I say they should write the exact amount I’m paying, they will raise up their head to see what would likely be the face of a fake Nigerian or a subhuman who doesn’t spend money.
As a young professional in my 20s, I was appointed member of our office canteen committee in 1993. I resigned within months because I didn’t want anyone attac.king me with acid for refusal to participate in doctoring receipts whenever we made purchases!
Hire domestic servant and see how both of you play hide-and-seek over theft and its prevention.
As office people, we use services of those who claim to help you make purchases for the home at a fee; but that is where the joy ends. By the time you see what you have paid for, you’ll realize that the professional shopper who claims to know where to buy the cheapest and freshest groceries and foodstuffs will present with the most-highly-priced stuff, sometimes with half-rotten produce and you’ll wonder if it’s a crime to patronize people’s services.
When people say Nigeria is a ‘vast crime scene,’ don’t doubt it. And we will all continue to stew in our national juice until we are ready to build a country where sudden wealth and theft/misuse of public funds is truly investigated and punished, instead of the media trial which EFCC and ICPC seem to specialize in.
