"The last official act of any government is to
loot the treasury” has been a popular
quotation on many websites since the global
financial crisis of 2008. The quotation is usually
attributed to George Washington (1732-1799),
but there is no evidence that he ever said it.

Dear reader, please pardon me if it appears that
you are being suffused with another entrée on
corruption in our notoriously corrupt country.
But don’t you just have enough of day-to-day
corruption scandals on the pages of our
newspapers and in beer parlours, with no sign
of abating? And there doesn’t appear to be
anything done about the scandals? What would
it take for us to do to arrest the situation?
My late English Literature teacher and former
governor of Oyo State, Lamidi Adesina, fondly
known as Lam Ade (may his soul continue to
rest in peace), used to scare the hell out of us
when he wants to punish us by saying “you are
sitting on a keg of gunpowder, which is
about to explode” or “you are tottering on
the edge of a precipice, and you are about to
fall inside” or “you are walking at the edge
of a razor blade, and you will be severely
cut”. In those days, those warning phrases used
to strike terror into our simple hearts, because
what they mean was that the offending student
was nearing expulsion from the school.
For decades now, that is what Nigeria has been;
sitting on a keg of gunpowder, or tottering at
the edge of an abyss. In fact I always shake my
head in wonder that a total collapse of the
polity, the economy, the society and the fragile
thread holding the country together has not
been achieved. But then, it appears that this
non-collapse into anarchy and bloody
revolution has been due more to the lack of
courage, meek and cowardly acceptance of the
followers to the indignities and oppression
heaped upon them by their rulers and
indifference to their plight than the resilience of
a beaten, degraded and downtrodden people.
I have always been one to defend my people,
even when some of us averred in many essays
that we are cowards, fools, “munmuns” and
ignorant people. The reason being that as part
of those same people, I cannot accept that I am
in that denigrating category and neither are 160
million people.

Unfortunately for me, when one of our rulers,
Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State
recently blamed Nigerians for the level of
corruption in the country, saying that political
office holders loot the treasury because they
have not been stoned by the masses, it was time
to put on my thinking cap and look at things
from his perspective..

“Kleptocracy , alternatively cleptocracy or
kleptarchy, (from Greek: κλέπτης - kleptēs,
"thief" and κράτος - kratos, "power, rule",
hence "rule by thieves" is a form of political
and government corruption where the
government exists to increase the personal
wealth and political power of its officials and
the ruling class at the expense of the wider
population, often with pretence of honest
service. This type of government corruption is
often achieved by the embezzlement of state
funds. Raubwirtschaft (German for "plunder
economy," "robber economy," or "rapine" is a
form of economy where the goal is to plunder
the wealth and resources of a country or
geographical area. Referring to Russia, Daniel
Kimmage used the terms: "kerdocracy" ("rule
based on the desire for material gain" or
"khrematisamenocracy" ("rule by those who
transact business for their own
profit"” (Source: Wikipedia)

If it is any consolation, it means kleptocracy is
not unique to Nigeria; but I will not rejoice in
that knowledge, as some people will be quick to
point out to me. Is there, or has there ever
been, any country in the world ruled officially
by thieves? I have looked at my history books
and have not come across any, but then
thievery has never been legally recognised
officially. Nigeria will soon set another world
record by becoming the first unilaterally,
officially recognised Kleptocracy in the world.
Trust me, the way we a re going.
According to some research articles, “the effects
of a kleptocratic regime or government on a
nation are typically adverse in regards to the
faring of the state's economy, political affairs
and civil rights. Kleptocracy in government
often vitiates prospects of foreign investment
and drastically weakens the domestic market
and cross-border trade. As the kleptocracy
normally embezzles money from its citizens by
misusing funds derived from tax payments,
natural resources, internally and externally
generated revenues or money laundering
schemes, a kleptocratically structured political
system tends to degrade nearly everyone's
quality of life.
In addition, the money that kleptocrats steal is
often taken from funds that were earmarked for
public amenities, such as the building of
hospitals, schools, roads, parks and the like –
which has further adverse effects on the quality
of life of the citizens living under a kleptocracy.
[3] The quasi-oligarchy that results from a
kleptocratic elite also subverts democracy (or
any other political format the state is ostensibly
under)” (Source: “National Strategy Against
High-Level Corruption: Coordinating
International Efforts to Combat Kleptocracy”
Fact Sheet, Bureau Public Affairs, Washington,
DC, August 10, 2006)
In “Kleptocracy and Divide-and-Rule: A Model of
Personal Rule” Daron Acemoglu, James A.
Robinson, Thierry Verdier. NBER Working Paper
No. 10136 (National Bureau of Economic
Research) Issued in December 2003, “Many
developing countries have suffered under
the personal rule of kleptocrats', who
implement highly inefficient economic
policies, expropriate the wealth of their
citizens, and use the proceeds for their own
glorification or consumption. We argue that
the success of kleptocrats rests, in part, on
their ability to use a divide-and-rule'
strategy, made possible by weaknesses in
the institutions in these societies. Members
of society need to cooperate in order to
depose a kleptocrat, yet such cooperation
may be defused by imposing punitive rates
of taxation on any citizen who proposes such
a move, and redistributing the benefits to
those who need to agree to it. Thus the
collective action problem can be intensified
by threats which remain off the equilibrium
path. In equilibrium, all are exploited and no
one challenges the kleptocrat. Kleptocratic
policies are more likely when foreign aid and
rents from natural resources provide rulers
with substantial resources to buy off
opponents; when opposition groups are
short-sighted; when the average
productivity in the economy is low; and
when there is greater inequality between
producer groups (because more productive
groups are more difficult to buy off)”.
The above accurately defines Nigeria. A societal
observation of the wealth of Nigerian politicians
and civil servants showed that despite their
relatively low incomes, a significant number had
amassed personal wealth sometimes amounting
to sums exceeding several million, both in
Naira, US Dollars and Pound Sterling. We always
wonder how such colossal sums could be stolen,
but we now know that corruption is built into
the Nigerian system, accountability is non-
existent, and with a weak and corrupt judiciary,
totally besmirched crime-fighting agencies, an
unresponsive and irresponsible government,
and, throw in, a totally befuddled and
indifferent society, it is easy, at least for those
who have the access, to walk into the treasury
and take what they want.
We are already living in a KLEPTOCRATIC society
in Nigeria - run exclusively by kleptocrats! And
we the munmun citizens sit down as if nothing
is happening, some of us taking sides because of
misplaced political partisanship, religious
affiliation, ethnic loyalty and a dumbfounding
refusal to speak, see and accept the truth.
Challenging Nigerians to hold their leaders
accountable, Amaechi said, “If you see a thief
and you allow him to be stealing, what have
you done? You have stoned nobody; that is
why we are stealing. Who have you stoned?
They came out and started dancing oil
subsidy, oil subsidy. They told you that they
stole N2.3trn, what did you do? “Instead you
are protesting ‘bring more oil subsidy’; the
oil subsidy that is not reaching the poor. A
few individuals are going away with the
money and you have done nothing. You are
mourning Madiba, who lived up to 95, and he
was very angry with Nigeria when he died.
You’ve heard that $50bn is missing and you
have done nothing about it. In some
countries people will go on the street until
they return that money. It is N8trn, it can
change Nigeria”

So back to the discourse, "Power corrupts;
absolute power corrupts absolutely" (especially
made worse in a corrupt society) I have never
heard of any democratic country where an
appointed employee of the government will
obtain an injunction against the legislative arm
of government to stop them from probing
them. This is exactly what the all-powerful,
untouchable Minister for Oil, Mrs Diezani
Allison-Madueke achieved. Yes, if she feels
her rights are being infringed upon, all she has
to do is defend herself. She forgets that as an
appointed Minister, ALL her actions should be
accountable to the people, irrespective of what
she feels her rights are.
Earlier, several years ago, ex-governor of Rivers State, Dr Peter Odili obtained a similar injunction and for eight years now, nobody dared touch him and he is still laughing at the people of Nigeria.
Again, former Governor of the Central bank
of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido obtained another
injunction, but this time to prevent arrest. A
very bad precedent has been laid. Nigerians
have managed to turn democracy on its head
and turned to "demo-crazy". Other nations use
the court to fight corruption and recover stolen
national wealth; but we use the court to retain
and promote corruption.
When will someone or some people sensible in
the polity stop this display of impunity being
brought upon us? The oil minister had the
audacity to approach the court to obtain an
injunction to stop citizens’ representatives from
questioning her on issues relating to bad
governance and, adding 'salt to injury' the court
granted such injunction? Who is going to save
this country? Should we expect the heavily
compromised labour unions, heavily baggage
civil liberties groups, the Nigerian Bar
Association and other relevant establishments to
step in?
There is a form of government called
ANARCHISM (Anarchy refers to a society without
a publicly enforced government, which implies
political disorder or lawlessness within a
society). Why don't we just adopt that and stop
living this lie called democracy?

Another flaw or problem with our politics and
demo-crazy is that appointees, mostly square
pegs in round holes, into governments owe
allegiance ONLY to those who appointed them
(President and Governors) and NOT to the
service of the people whose very existence is
the reason for their appointments. In fact it
seems these mediocre appointees are
deliberately appointed to keep oiling the
machinery of corruption. These appointees not
only loot the treasury to further their own
political careers or businesses, but “donate” a
lot of the stolen funds to fight elections for
their masters.
2015, the year of the General Election,
most, if not all government ministries,
departments and agencies of government will
remain paralyzed and non-functional; while the
civil servants will be loitering about looking for
easy money to loot and share. And their "ogas"
will be looting and forced to divert looted funds
to sponsor elections.
That is what happens every time an election is
near. That is why you hear billions are missing
every time. Nobody to supervise and a vast
amount of money are lying around waiting to be
looted.
Maybe one day, we shall get out of our self-
imposed slavery and oppression....but don't fold
your hand for too long...you and I. You hear?
2015 is here. We have to do something to
reverse the downward spiral.
If we continue to do things the way we have
been doing for the past fifty-four years, we will
consistently be getting the wrong results that
we deserve. It means, continue to put the
wrong people in power, and we will continue to
get bad and evil governments of kleptocrats.
Simple! A holistic approach to Nigeria’s
problems is needed not jaw-jawing and double-
speak.

And what bearing does the title of this article
“All Loot and no Work makes Me a Rich Man”
has to do with the content? None at all, but
read between the lines. It is axiomatic of our
predicament.

Election is here, use your vote to get
better leaders, and hence, better lives. It is the
least we can do for our children, even if it is
too late for us.

The Truth shall be told always.

and the summary pls