Hi guys,

If we really desire a drastic change in Nigeria, now is the time and here is our opportunity. The constitutional amendment charade has started again but I feel that this time, we can use that medium to press an important change. I have made this recommendations before and people said I am mad. Well, I have always believed that it would take a mad man to change things in this country. Some years ago, when the level of corruption in Nigeria gets me angry anytime I read the news on corrupt politicians and public office holders, I suggested that we may well need the military guys to come back and do just one thing for us - write us a constitution with the provisions in my recommendation below. I do not like the military but they would be better placed to emplace this law (i.e. if they are sane enough and mean well for the country) because I know that getting our politicans to do this would almost not happen. Then I thought I may be wrong. What if we all genuinely resolve and make a demand on our leaders to force this change failing which we shut down the whole country (that is if we are really desirous of a change as a people) and I honestly think this is possible.

To stamp out corruption in Nigeria, how about we make recommendations to the constitutional amendment review committee of the National Assembly on the following:

1. Stealing from the public treasury of any form and at any level of government in Nigeria should attract capital punishment.

2. Other forms of corruption (mis-appropriation, contract splitting, bribery etc) in public offices, either by appointed or elected officials of government should attract not less than 20years imprisonment without an option of fine.

My reasons for making these suggestions are simple. For every one naira that is stolen by public office holders, somebody somewhere is dying in the hospital because the money meant to procure drugs for them has been embezzled, or money meant to hire more Doctors have been pilfered away by one mad politician. Somebody is dying on a road for which money had been appropriated for its maintenance. Somebody is dying of generator smoke because our collective heritage meant to make the use of generators unnecessary has been stolen. Somebody is dying from road accidents caused by substandard tyres imported/smuggled into the country because a government official has taken bribe and allowed substandard products in.....The list is endless of the number of deaths that are recorded everyday because somebody somewhere has stolen funds meant to prevent situations or has made a selfish decision that endangers people's lives either directly or indirectly.

I believe that corruption is responsible for 90% of our problems in Nigeria. It is not tribalism, it is not religion (and I stand to be corrected on this). If we make stealing public funds punishable by death, politics would no longer be attractive to all the miscreants parading themselves as politicians today because the only reason why many of them vie for positions is the national cake that is so attractive. If we get these laws passed, only people who have genuine interest to serve and who have prepared themselves for public service would offer themselves for election. We can then leverage the abundant human resources that God has endowed us with to have meaningful discusssions on how to fix our infrastructures, education, and as well reduce poverty and make our collective lives better.

I'm quite appalled to see that many of our civil rights group and the SNG cannot press for these kinds of laws. I hear them clamouring true federalism, constitutional conference etc. With corruption still at the current level, nothing good can come of of a sovereign national conference because the process of selecting representatives to the conference itself will be influenced by corruption.

So if there are any of you out there who feel so strongly about a change in this country, please flood all the venue of the constitutional amendment review meetings with these suggestions and let us mobilize ourselves to press this home.

Let us continue to seek out solutions and continue to press for the change that we need in this country. God bless you all.

I hope it's not the same corrupt judiciary that will sentence them