CORRUPTION: 1. A young man works for one of the state ministries. His salary is 120K. He makes 15,000 every day on this desk (N75k a week) engaging in corrupt practices. As a result, he spends the daily cash as he cares. Living large and far above his legitimate income.
2. He visits the local joint every evening and buys drinks for friends, and area boys. They hail him. He is married but has two girlfriends. His “income” is enough to take care of them. The Asun seller at his favourite joint is happy, the joint owner is happy.
3. Everyone was benefiting from his “income”. Friends, family, area boys, joint owner, Asun seller, girlfriends, wife and his church. Life was good.
4. Then suddenly the ministry implemented the Treasury Single Account (TSA) at the beginning of PMB administration. His extra “income” disappeared and he had to adjust to the reality of event and live within his real income. That wasn’t easy.
5. Initially, he reduced his daily visit to the joint to 3 days a week and stopped buying drinks for everyone. He reduced the plates of Asun. The Asun seller started to find it hard to sell a full goat each day and resorted to buying half.
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6. The young man’s girlfriends started to feel the heat too. No more iPhone 10. The joint owner noticed a drop in sales. The young man finally stopped visiting the joint after a month. The area boys started feeling his absence. The effect cascaded down.
7. The young man started spending more time at home with his wife and kids. The family had to readjust to the reality of the new normal. His hair stylist noticed the young man suddenly stopped tipping. He will even wait for his N200 change after haircut.
8. Things are different. Times are hard, they all cry. The young man is blaming Buhari, his wife is blaming Buhari, the area boys are blaming Buhari, the girlfriends are saying Buhari must go, the joint owner is saying Buhari killed the “economy”
9. The Asun seller is cursing Buhari, the hair stylist is insisting Buhari is too old to rule. This is the story of our nation where corruption fuels the “economy”. Those who are not engaging in it are benefiting from it.
10. This thread is not about Buhari’s achievement or failure, but rather about the “multiplier” effect of corruption and how we have built a system largely driven by corruption. It’s about policy implication (good or bad). It’s about the choices we have made.
Finally, the young man had to withdraw his kids from what he called expensive primary school his kids attend. He added: “what are they teaching them there sef ” Obasanjo didn’t go to a private school. I just laughed
My Take:
Most of the so called rich men and women in Nigeria before now were feeding fat on the populace, imaging a level 15 officer in a state ministry sponsoring two of his/her children’s education in Europe but when TSA came to effect, free money dried up but Buhari was blamed for the inability to fund children in Europe! Awon ole jati -jati, ofan a je l’oju onile.
Editor’s Note: This opinion was anonymously sent to SOJ WORLDWIDE Facebook Platform. We found it useful and insightful for any sane minds.
www.sojworld.com (c) March 6, 2019
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