By Zulfah Abdulazeez
I traveled around my realm of thought and realized our problem isn’t all about corruption or politics because, since the freedom from our Colonel masters 61 years back, the country has been fortunate to be led by diligent heroes whose effort stabilized the economy . However, as the world developed and the country grew, The political system of the country deteriorates. politics is now labeled as a problem in society.
The way and manner in which it is practiced, led to the name, “Nigerian democracy” in respect to this, corrupt electoral practices and failed promises are considered normal.
The reasons for all this is what our elites are made to discuss, mostly in a news program and to date, no reasonable reasons have been pointed out.
The nature of the political system resulted in political apathy, violent election, loss of values, and so on.
This is where I believe, the question” what is it about Nigeria” is supposed to arise. Instead, the concept “corruption” came in, the country perceives corruption as the biggest problem .l conquers to this, but I ask again, what exactly is our problem. With regards to corruption, institutions are seeing going against ethics, they no longer function as they should be and efficiency is no longer the product of the day. A post is entirely handed to someone based on blood relations and connection, not values and certification.
People see corruption mainly in our institutions and political system but I see corruption as our inability to access our rights and freedom, Inability to stand firm and be who we want, I see it as an act of instilling fear in an ordinary citizen to get what we want. and I see insecurity as a product of corruption.
The funniest corrupt act to me is asking a man to pay for the job he seeks, Now this is where I realized what it is about Nigeria it isn’t politics, it isn’t corruption but PERCEPTION. The way we see things totally goes contrary to our thinking . in view of our perception I say, welcome to Nigeria – home of diverse people but blinded by selfishness. A home where opportunity is consumed by developed ones, where political positions are mostly attained base on the ethnic group, not values, why does ethnic group matter when values are all that we need for development? now tell me isn’t all this enough to lead to corruption?
Our reasoning affected our political system, Majority display love for candidates not base on transparency or qualities but what material things they have to offer. This indeed is a bad perception that shaped our society.
We admire the developed countries but what I see in them is a beautiful perception, their reasoning has shaped their world into a better place for them. we see their act of helping one another as an act of being kind, but I see it as “country development”.The developed ones find it easy to invest in others, as such there is a low presence of dependency. They believe in what value a man has to offer, therefore, opportunities there are achieved based on merit. The most amazing thing in this country is that respect, love, honesty, kindness, to an extent are being bought and controlled, not genuinely given.
All these are the effect of our perception. That is why I say until we begin to perceive things differently and positively, until we chose transparency and value over ethnic groups, eradicate selling job offers until we begin to see ourselves in others, and begin to invest in those who are capable of taking the nation to the next level, we will continue to drown in the ocean of questions”Perception” I say is the problem not “politics” not “corruption” our perception is that which has led us to corrupt society and failed political system.
“We need to appreciate our values”
Zulfah Abdulazeez wrote from the Department of Mass communication Bayero University Kano
