This is written by a Nigerian over the recent NNPC saga.
By Pius Adesanmi.
President Buhari and Ibe Kachikwu must understand that the pro-corruption caterwauling oil workers trying to slow down Nigeria's progress at NNPC cannot be handled the way you handle Dasuki or Alex Badeh.
Thieves like Dasuki and Badeh are billionaires. When their own corruption fights back, it is refined and civilized fighting. That is why you see them in court, all smiles, exchanging banter with journalists and lawyers, receiving phone calls, reading novels and newspapers, and watching Cossy Orjiakor on their phone screens during trial proceedings.
They are contented thieves. They know Nigeria. They know that at the end of the day, they may do a little time, refund some of the loot, and be back in the system as elder statesmen. They may even be back in the kitchen cabinet of the next president. They have Bode George, Tafa Balogun, and Lucky Igbinedion as examples and precedent. They don't fight dirty and they don't fight to die because they have everything to lose by fighting like demented souls.
Not so for civil servants who have perfected a system of stealing carefully in millions, spread from the beginning of their career to retirement. It is usually a well-oiled looting routine, not too small, not too outrageous but enough to live well above your means, well into retirement. This routine and regularity is what makes Nigeria's civil service the most corrupt in Africa. It is hard to encounter a worker living within his means.
Only yesterday, I was external assessor for yet another scholarship scheme in another University outside of Ontario. I must stop assessing scholarships. The form says: justify why you need this scholarship. Answer: "I am here with my kid sister. Things are very tough for us. Our parents have five children. Two of us are already here and our third sibling who is completing high school will join us next year. Our parents are civil servants in Nigeria. If I get this scholarship, it will help a lot"
Just imagine if the two parents in reference were civil servants in the oil sector and they have two kids in Canada and are planning to add a third. You think they are going to fight you with finesse like Sambo Dasuki and Alex Badeh? They will fight you jati jati. They will fight you to the gutter. They will fight you to the latrine. They also understand that the worst case scenario for Dasuki and Badeh is to be downgraded from billionaires to multimillionaires after trial and everything.
What is the worst case scenario for civil servants stealing millions? If they manage to escape jail, they certainly will no longer be able to afford the mansion in Lekki and may have to downgrade to Gbagada or Surulere. And Baba has already told them that the forex we have is for his own children. They wouldn't be able to afford the forex anyway - what with their source of income blocked.
That is why civil servants tend to fight very dirty when their own corruption is fighting back. President Buhari and Ibe Kachikwu must understand that what they are facing from oil workers is not the sort of kid gloves fightback that contented thieves like Dasuki and Badeh are doing.
In Baba's and Kachikwu's shoes, I would take some coconuts and crack them on the corrupt heads of those oil workers. Imagine saying they were not consulted! Consult you for what? Who are you? It is unbundling by the owner of the show. It does not affect your work. You have not been fired. Your pay is not cut. So, what is your own? Spoilt workers. Iyalaya all of you.
This unbundling is in order.
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