736
By Tochukwu Ezukanma
The year 2014 bore depressing tales of terrorism, corruption, transnational epidemic, government ineptitude, official brutality, religious exploitations, etc. Like tiny rays of light piercing through an encompassing gloom, the last few months of the year bought us a few refreshing reports. For one, we learnt that there has been a decrease in the level of corruption in Nigeria. Although this decrease in corruption and its inevitable concomitant enhanced accountability and probity in the Nigerian public life is not, in any way, obvious in our everyday lives, the global corruption watchdog, Transparency International, which once ranked Nigeria the second most corrupt, now, ranks her the thirty ninth most corrupt, country in the world.
Secondly, the Nigerian Oil Minister, Mrs. Diezani Allision-Madueke was elected the president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Fascinatingly, she is the first woman to be elected the president of this powerful and influential oil cartel. We are all very proud of her. In his newspaper column, Aso Rock Lens, Olalekan Adetayo, was effusive in his description of the new Madam President’s first appearance at the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting. He wrote: She was the cynosure (of all eyes), as she, in her regal and stylish carriage, stepped into the Council Chamber. Many ministers left their seats and approached her to congratulate her. And cameramen struggled to capture her on lens. At the end of the meeting, like a president that she is, she was ushered into the Press Briefing Room to address journalists in her new status. After the interview, she walked out majestically like a president. She is actually one.
Mrs. Allison-Madueke’s pulchritude is not in doubt; really, she is dazzlingly beautiful. A certified architect with also an MBA degree, her academic credentials are unquestionably impressive. With her remarkable professional experience, even, before she was appointed a minister, she had an impressive resume (curriculum vitae). Essentially, she is a rare combination of beauty and brains. It is a splendiferous mix that is morally neutral, for it can be directed to the most altruistic and constructive or the most selfish and destructive ends. At OPEC, she, evidently, put this fetching combination of hers to the most responsible and respectable use.
As she enthused, “I went into a body which is completely male dominated and mostly Arab dominated as well. But I have found that they have come to (very highly) respect me and respect Nigeria’s voice over the last three years in OPEC.” Usually, the leader is chosen, not from one of the guys, but from among the distinguished few. What is it that distinguished her and earned her the respect and admiration of the other ministers that entrusted her with the leadership of an organization dominated by men from cultures that do not have much respect for women? It could not have been the lawlessness, ineptitude and corruption that she is known for in Nigerian, but accountability, probity, sobriety and respect for the rule of law.
On her return to Nigeria, what happens to all these laudable qualities that earned her the veneration of the members of OPEC and propelled her to the apex of the organization? Evidently, she jettisons them on her entry into Nigeria, and becomes intoxicated with power and the perks and pomp of her office to an inordinate extent. She blends into a voracious and supercilious power elite, world-renowned for its abuse of power, theft of public funds and scorn for the masses. And then, like most of the other ministers in the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, she wallows in incompetence, waste of public funds, derision of the law and contempt for Nigerians and their elected representatives at the National Assembly.
Does she not preside over one of the most corrupt ministries in Nigeria? Her ministry has been burdened by repeated allegations of corruption and financial dishonesty, including the missing (of course, stolen) $20billion (some sources say it is $10billion). Just, as a country mirrors her leaders, a ministry mirrors its minister. And in concert with the Ministry of Finance, her ministry perpetrates that monument hoax, couched in moralistic homilies and euphemistically, called “Fuel Subsidy”.
Her ineptitude is evident in that after years of her repetitive promises to refurbish the Nigerian refineries and get them fully operational, they, for the most part, remain decrepit and continue to operate at below capacity. In what must represent one of the most conscienceless and unconscionable act of corruption and waste of public funds, she splurged more than N10 billion of the people’ money on her personal air travels. Remorselessly, and in disdain for the laws of the land and in defiance of the constitutional authority of the Nigerian legislature, she refused to honor summons from the National Assembly to answer for that infamous profligacy.
Please, Madam President, bring home those honorable characters of yours that won you the accolade of the first female president of OPEC. Nigeria needs them. With them you will rise above the disorderliness, corruption, avarice and inefficiency that are the hallmarks of Nigeria’s officialdom. They will enable you to curb corruption in your ministry; renovate the Nigerian refineries and get them fully operational; and account for the unaccounted $10billion to N20billion. They will allow you to, in concert with the Finance minister Okonjo-Iweala, put an end to the Fuel Subsidy and tell Nigerians that it was actually, a grandiose fraud – a rape on the credulity of Nigerians and the Nigerian commonwealth. They will make it possible for you to offer a public apology to Nigerians for that inexcusable and morally reprehensible extravagance and abuse of office (that cost Nigerians N10billion), and then submit yourself to the investigation and sanctions of the National Assembly.
These will be most salutary for Nigeria. They will reinforce the rule of law and alleviate the economic strangulation of the Nigerian masses. In addition, these qualities brought home will earn you the esteem and love of Nigerians. After all, the most legitimate source of love and glory is your own people.
Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria
0803 529 2908