UNEMPLOYMENT, BRIBERY, CORRUPTION: ETERNITY THE WAY FORWARD

I am glad that the Nigerian lawmakers are coming to terms with the deep corruption that exists in the employment processes of paramilitary agencies. Qualifications and excellence are no more honourable virtues and selection criteria in the employment sector.

Public office holders have placed bribe-tags on the available job vacancies. Merit have been substituted with mediocrity. Those who have refused to bow to the idol of bribery have being unjustly denied jobs, while those who place less concern on eternity and also premised on frustration have paid bribes to get jobs. I have lost a job because I failed to offer bribe when a top official of the board and who was on the interview panel demanded a bribe from me. Many indeed are the afflictions of the righteous.

The principles of federal character have been discarded. Jobs are no longer advertised, and when they do, the employers only do to fulfil all righteousness because many already know whom they are employing. Young people have their lives wasted because many have died in road accidents simply because they travel long distances for interviews of jobs that were never to come. What is the economic and political future of Nigeria? Are we sure in the coming time we will have intellectual manpower in government to tackle rising challenges and also cope and compete with global trends of development?

It is not uncommon to hear that in a place where vacancies exist for 5 persons such vacancies have been sublet to the following persons: 1. The President’s wife 2. A Senator 3. A Minister 4. The State Governor 5. This last slot is reserved for anyone who can pay N500, 000 in single or two instalments. This is the country we have built hitherto.

Is it not obvious why corruption has eaten deep into the government and both the military and paramilitary? How do we expect the country to be safe when the immigration officer paid bribe to get the job? That man will honestly collect bribe from importers who seek to bring contrabands into the country. Is it not alarming the rate of fake drugs and prohibited firearms in the country? The immigration man has his conscience replaced by the love of money which is the root of all evil.

Today, there are so many scams and corrupt practices; pension scam, fuel subsidy scam, Boko Haram scam, to mention a few. The problem is foundational – corruption in job places. When as a graduate he paid his way to get a job, what do you expect of him when he becomes a director?

I do hope the lawmakers will not just debate this issue but strive to bring it to a minimal decimal. And to my fellow Nigerians, it is vital to know that both the giver and receiver of bribe are guilty in the eyes of God. Stand for the truth; you may suffer for preserving the truth, look foolish before men, but you only value eternity above humanity. In the end, it shall become clear to all that the only thing that matters above all is that thing that matters when every other thing (money, fame, houses, cars, etc) ceases to matter...and that thing is called eternity!