NIGERIA’S (UNHOLY) WEDLOCK WITH CORRUPTION: CAN DEATH PUT THEM ASUNDER?

Corruption as it is, it has been argued, is more evil than what it amounts to, and more hydra-headed than ordinary legislation could cope with. It has pervaded every sector of the Nigerian life. Law enforcement agents and agencies take bribes brazenly, but this seems to be the least form of corruption. 419 has gone digital and it surfaces in every area of human interest. More and more billionaires emerge from people who, previously had been without any visible means of livelihood. Institutions of learning are not spared of this cankerworm as unwholesome practices hitherto alien to the ivory tower are now common place. The courts are no longer the last hope of the common man, but the bastion of corruption, greed and avarice as judges award justice to the highest bidder. The hoi-polloi have been eclipsed and cowed into hapless complacency. What should be done to rescue the soul of Nigeria from this perilous path? This paper intends to examine when and how corruption became a state-craft. The paper observes that since the entrenchment and institutionalization of corruption by the IBB administration, successive governments have only taken a cue from this lootocratic culture. While the paper acknowledges the efforts of the Obasanjo-led civilian administration to tackle corruption, the efforts fell short of steering the ship of state to a safety shore of accountability as they were marred by selective justice. The paper therefore, argues that nothing but ‘death’(as explained in the main text) as deterrence can put Nigeria and corruption asunder.