The Reawakening Corruption Consciousness in Nigeria!!!
There is no country in the world where there is no corruption, what differentiate each country from the other is the way the people react when they are suspected of corrupt acts or caught.
In countries like Japan, just accusing a public official as corrupt even without proof can make him commit suicide, because of the culture of integrity where life is worthless when you have a bad name.
China and a couple of Asian countries have laws that award offenders with capital punishment.
In most African countries however, particularly Nigeria, corruption happens in all facets of our lives that we sometimes no longer recognise it. We have gotten so used to it that we have developed a sort of blindness to it. That is why someone who is paid a salary to deal with an issue will openly tell you to pay some money for him to facilitate the process, ironically, sometimes both giver and receiver do not see it as corruption any longer. Churches, Mosque and even hospitals are not left out in the plague, no one is spared of this monster. It is not uncommon for pastors to ask that you add some money to your proposal before submitting it to the church council with a view to receive the extra back from you.
Sometimes, you wonder if it is ingrained in our DNA.
Foreigners who hitherto were very honest in their country quickly learn to do business "The Nigerian Way" just because they find out it is the norm here. The Chinese and Lebanese have eventually come to master the act better than their Nigerian counterpart.
Just as in the case of egg or chicken theory, we cannot say if the politicians are corrupt because people expect them to be or people call them corrupt because they really are, whatever the case, most politicians have done very little to cover themselves in glory.
In recent times, though, there seems to be a new consciousness. Why before now, everyone just moved on when cases of corruption happen, in the past few years, there have been lots more uproar about issues of corruption. The political class who hitherto did not care if they were labelled with corruption tag have now resulted to singing songs titled "Am not the only one", "What about my partners that are now in your camp", "why do you focus on my tribe or religion alone"? In all of those cases, they are supporters on both divides. While these are genuine concerns, it is interesting to note that for the first time in a very long time, the impunity of boldly stealing our common patrimony is beginning to reduce at least in the high places, although, most lower offices do not care about this new consciousness. This is a very sharp contrast from the previous competition of fastest fingers first. Politicians seem more eager now to make themselves appear forthright, how well and long they can pretend remains to be seen.
The success or failure of this rebirth will depend on how long this new consciousness can be sustained.

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