At his 90th birthday recently, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe asked his officials: “Are we now like Nigeria where you have to reach your pocket to get anything done?” Then he added: “You see, we used to go to Nigeria and every time we went there we had to carry extra cash in our pockets to corruptly pay for everything. You get into a plane in Nigeria and you sit there and the crew keeps dilly dallying without taking off as they wait for you to pay them to fly the plane.” That elicited a roaring laughter from the delegates attending his birthday bash.The senile dictator in Harare may have enjoyed his joke at the expense of our country but majority of Nigerians are actually honest people. The difference between our country and others like for instance United States (which remains the standard for many of our people even with its own contradictions) is not in the purity of hearts of their own citizens but rather in the fear of sanctions that are almost certain for those caught breaking the law. In Nigeria, the incentives for corruption and related crimes are high because it is a low-risk, high-reward enterprise, except you are a petty thief with access only to millions rather than billions. If you steal small in this clime, chances are that you will be caught and punished by the law but if you steal big, you are most likely going to be a celebrity because you have graduated to the status of a Rustler..............OLUSEGUN ADENIYI CULLED FROM THISDAY LIVE BACKPAGE.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 12:17:00 +0000
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