Corruption : Nigeria’s Laws Are For All And Sundry

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde has declared that Nigeria does not need its loan to give good health to the sickly economy.

Rather, Lagarde recommended belt tightening measures to restore vibrancy and life to the economy. Lagarde also urges the Federal Government to be flexible in its foreign exchange policy.
Indeed, the debt relief granted Nigeria by the Paris club during the tenure of former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, could be said to be the biggest debt write off for sub-Saharan Africa. $18 billion of debt written off. The Paris club agreed to write off Nigeria’s debt without an IMF economic programme.
Of course, the country would not forget in a hurry, the harrowing experiences it had with the implementation of an IMF programme in the past, this is just as an idea of a national consensus for intensive reforms required to transform the ailing economy could not be woven around an IMF programme. The National Economic Development Strategy(NEEDS) served that purpose. Presently, what is the country’s debt burden, nobody is asking this all important question.
Be that as it may, economic experts have expressed reservations over the Muhammadu Buhari led administration’s economic policies, prominent among which are the introduction of the Treasury Single Account(TSA) and foreign exchange policies.
Indeed, financial experts are already expressing misgivings about the constitution of the present administration’s economic team.
Since the inception of the present administration, not much has been heard of the Progressive Governors Forum(PGF). The forum was vocal during the period before the 2015 general elections.
According to the PGF, its ”goal is to mobilize all APC state governments to facilitate accelerated human development through undertaking policies and programmes to improve quality of life of citizens, eradicate poverty and create jobs in the country. Has the forum been able to achieve its goal ?, the people are in the best position to answer this all important question. Of note is that the President Buhari led administration is giving the issue of corruption adequate attention, although the citizenry continue to meditate on the cost of this attention.
However, in a chat with a select group of journalists in Abuja, in 2015, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun had said, ”I am aware that the President knows that he has only 4 years minus two months. So it is not four years anymore. And if he wants to probe Nigeria, where does he stop ? 16 years ? 50 years ? Where do you stop, when you want to do that kind of probe ?”.
Indeed, history has shown that probes come at great cost. In his maiden media chat, President Buhari absolved his Ministers of corruption allegations.
Curiously, in a two page advertorial in the Guardian of Tuesday, 4 August, 2015, a group, Integrity group, had stated that one of the President’s Ministers and former Governor of Rivers state, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi was involved in the fraudulent sale of state Power Projects and Conversion of Proceeds amounting to N6,480,000,000.00, unlawful payment and fraudulent conversion of N4,633,440,000.00 by Clinoriv Specialist Hospitals and Leisure Limited and unlawful payment of Messrs Collect(Nig) Limited with public funds to the tune of One billion five hundred and five million, eight hundred and ninety-eight Naira, Seventy-two Kobo.
Without doubt, Nigerians have taken great interest in the $2.1 billion arms deal, even as the general belief is that the laws of the land are for everybody. Perhaps.