By “I love my country I no go lie
Na inside am I go live and die
I know my country I no go lie
Na im and me go yap till I die…”
Fellow Nigerians, let me borrow that incredible song I believe was composed by Tunji Oyelana and produced in the Shehu Shagari era, around 1981. The National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was comfortably in charge and the ruling party had gone on spending spree. The situation got so bad, or so we thought, and Wole Soyinka and his irrepressible “conspirators” regaled us with satires. Stage plays were still popular in those days and the place to be, as a student at the University of Ife, was Oduduwa Hall, next to the Hezekiah Oluwasanmi Library. I will never forget “Opera Wonyosi.” Even now “The Beggar’s Anthem” still reverberates in my head.
We thought we had seen the worst of our country then but the profligacy of that time pales into insignificance compared to today’s madness.
Late last year, the Federal Government announced that it would be pursuing a whistle blowing policy to encourage Nigerian citizens to inform, snitch or tell tales (depending on what side of the divide you are) on their fellow citizens who have been engaged in corrupt practices and secretly salted away money and property. The incentive for the whistle blower was that they would receive between 2.5% to 5 % of whatever the value of money or property recovered as a result of the information.
On another day, I will deal with the politics, morality and efficacy of whistleblowing as a tool in the fight against corruption. On my own part, my major concern is the lack of protection other than financial reward offered to the whistleblower!
The serious season of the Whistle Blower started in February 2017 when EFCC operatives raided a building said to belong to Andrew Yakubu, former Group Managing Director of the NNPC. They recovered almost US$10 million dollars and £100,000 from a safe ensconced in a building deep in the outback of Kaduna. The Man subsequently walked into the offices of the EFCC and demanded for the money back contending it was a gift. As the matter is now in Court and thus sub judice, I will not enter the debate as to who, how or why?
