OPINION:The Fight Against Corruption In Nigeria, Roles of Nigerian Students by AbdulBashit Obisesan

Nigeria at the moment may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth something. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind. The old top leaderships are useless weed-seeds the Nigerians ever prayed for, since the Independence. In 1968, when Ayi Kwei Armah wrote a novel entitled “The Beautiful Ones Are not Yet Born.” The questions that first came to my mind are: Does he mean good leaders have not yet come or been elected? Does he mean everybody seems corrupt? If no! Then, why does corruption seem a never-ending story in Nigeria? What role do the Nigerian students play in contributing their quota to give Nigerians the cleaner government they deserve? Besides, what then is the meaning of CORRUPTION?

The corruption we fought against ran the gamut from GRAND or POLITICAL corruption to ADMINISTRATIVE corruption as captured in the framework laid out by William Dorintinsky and Shilpa Pradhan in their 2007 paper, “Exploring Corruption in Public Financial Management.”

GRAND corruption is “the large-scale transfer of public resources for private interests”; POLITICAL corruption is “influence peddling on resource allocations and projects that benefit the decision makers, friends, and acquaintances, directing resources to special projects, and abuse of privileged information”; and administrative corruption is “misappropriation and misuse of public funds, fraud, waste, and abuse.” Meanwhile, it is difficult to imagine that Nigeria is just an infinitesimal part of the world we live in, and when we talk of corruption, it is indeed not only Nigeria in the entire world that is guilty of the same.

Having said that, we should know that the human eye is 576 megapixels, we humans don’t use it, instead, we use 16-megapixel cellphones.

Now, over 50% of the Nigerian total population are youth and presumably, 30% of them are educated, a figure that is strong enough to influence policy or decisions in Nigeria since 16megapixels of our eyes out of 576 megapixels capacity are made use of by every individual and with that, we claimed that we can make maximal use of our eyes, therefore, there is no any reason for over 50% to have no solution to the problem if less than 3% can function well.

Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeps it free from weeds, and grows the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may the Nigerian students tend the garden of their country, weed out all the wrong, viz: bad leadership, injustice, and corruption through:

• Social media as modern protest and advocacy tool, and
• Vote casting

i. Social Media as Modern Protest and Advocacy Tool.

Social media plays a pivotal role in helping the anti-corruption gospel gains more momentum. Today, it can be affirmed without reservations that majority of the Nigerian students are on social media. Therefore, social media can be diligently made use of by sensitizing youths and giving everyone a necessary sense of belonging while promoting a new culture of anti-corruption. For lack of space, #ENDSARS protest is one of the online protests that paid off. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria & the Nigerian parliament heeded the voice of the youth, ordered the immediate disbandment of the SARS and which later led to the formation of SWAT. In effect, social media is an effective way to address corruption in real time.

ii. Vote Casting

The choices we make are ultimately our responsibility. Somewhat by accident, if we do allow bad leaders to continue ruling us Nigeria will never cease to be an avenue for corruption. The Nigeria constitution gives every citizen of Nigeria 18 years old & above the right to vote and to be voted for and the right to vote is equally granted under Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Insightfully, if 2/3 of the Nigerian students are above 18 years. Presuppositionally, we should have 30% of Nigerian students who are eligible to vote, this allows Nigerian students to show their reaction toward corrupt government by eliminating them with their votes.

CONCLUSION

Corruption in Nigeria has inherently become part of our systems. Hardly do we have a government that can boast of corruption-free administration. That does not mean that this menace is insurmountable rather certain things are to be done by certain cliques in our society, especially at this time of advanced technology where we have a series of devices that can be harnessed at our convenient time and place to air our grievances. Therefore, I have a dream.

Just like Dr. Martin Luther King had for America, in his August 28, 1963 address in Washington DC, a dream that has come to pass in the person of BARACK OBAMA 45 years after. I have a dream that if we can be sensitizing the youth about their rights , staging dramas that satirize bad governances by students in their various schools, using their pens as an advocacy tool, and encouraging mass participation of youth during an election can sooner or later bring corruption to a halt in Nigeria.

WRITTEN by AbdulRauf AbdulBasit Obisesan, a Columnist for the Crescent-news.com|| Writer|| Researcher|| Comparative Religious Analyst || Law Writer|| Public Speaker|| Political Aficionado||

Obisesan666@gmail.com
08090617514

4th of September, 2022.