The parable of the public looters

Two weeks ago, I wrote on the pandemic of protected lootings with a promise to revert with part two of the article. Here is it! The public looting of the palliative warehouses in Nigeria is primordial. It starts from the creation of the country and forms part of the legacy of colonialism in Africa.

What are the interests of the colonial masters in Africa? Is it for an equal alliance? No. The evasion of the continent is in search of power and resources. It is to loot the mineral and human resources of the continents around the world by the superpowers of those days. The looting of the public belongings is old history, and it is primordial to the current looting in Nigeria. First, the colonial powers took our human resources as slaves with the connivance of a few traditional rulers and traders. Africans were taken as slaves to build industries and social amenities in Europe and America. They were maimed, killed, and deprived of the fundamental freedom of life. As if that was not enough, the massive mineral resources in Africa were exchanged for menial gifts to the selfish traditional rulers. The foundation of the world’s order was looting of the public resources and capacity of the poor people around the world.

Nigeria’s missing link is a neutral leader like the Late John Jerry Rawlings of Ghana. He transformed Ghana because he was not wearing the ethnic and religion lenses of the Nigerian leaders. All what our politicians have done was to focus on themselves at the detriment of the poor

The super colonial powers of the era were united in their lootings of the continents. Land borders were shared as if they were sharing the national budgets. The Governor Generals and the colonial staff were privileged and lived like lords of the jungle. They were oppressors of the local people and in most cases, using humans like horses for comforts. They lived just like the current politicians that get to the office with a mindset of being enriched and protected by the people they are stealing from. The police, the judiciary and the law were made to protect the public office holders and their cronies in power.

The Colonial Looters expanded their looting territories by negotiating for demarcation of land borders among themselves. To consolidate the power and the volume of the existing looting territories, especially for administrative conveniences, various consolidations were executed, including the amalgamation of 1914. The amalgamation was for the convenience of the colonial masters and a fraud to loot more resources. Unfortunately, most African countries have not liberated themselves from the scam, unlike Singapore and other countries that have created something out of the legacy of the colonial looters.

With the success of the struggle for independence in view, the colonial masters never lost their sight on holding to influence, power and resources. They knew the freedom of the colonies was inevitable. To secure their positions, they ceded political powers to part of the countries that are considered not ready or educated and that can dance to the tune of the Home Office post-independence. The first strategy was to sow a seed of discord among the people. The Richard Constitution of 1946 was the bedrock of regionalisation of power in Nigeria and a reality our political leaders failed to accept. The slogan “our unity is not negotiable” is a mirage and the dark-horse instrument of the looters.

Why would a state like Kano with a record of disruptions of the businesses of beer distributors and yet receive VAT from the same beer consumers not go against fairness and justice when it is a state paralysing from other’s efforts? The illogical sense in this is the deliberate weakening of the tax base for VAT for which Kano’s is an ultimate beneficiary. We have lived and governed Nigeria on the basis and ideals of the colonial looters. Now looting has become a way of life and thinking going by the looting of the palliative warehouses.

The power and rulership advantage on the platform of the population given to the less vibrant and education Northern of Nigeria had produced a result in its likes. The results are the banditry, large uneducated Almajaris, injustice in revenue generation and allocation, lopsided political appointments and refusal to practice a true federal system that will benefit all the federating nations and for the benefits of the common man on the streets. These are the tricks our politicians inherited from the colonial looters.

After independence, the race shifted. Africans proved to be smarter and learnt to do better than the colonial looters. We imported religions, created looting affiliations called the political parties with no ideology to help the people. The nationalists transformed into regionalists, tribal loyalists, individualists, and ‘looterlists’ amassing public funds to fund private lifestyles. If you are in doubt, check the millions of the potential development funds the likes of Samuel Doe, Omar Bongo, and Sanni Abacha looted and kept in from banks. The Independent newspaper quoted Obasanjo to have said that over $140 billion had been stolen by African leaders.

These are the monies for the welfare of the Almajaris, the street hawkers in Lagos, the poor people fighting terminal diseases, yet Ahmed Lawan is justifying the looting of 1 percent of the budgets of the Senates. Can he resign and let the 1 percent be used in educating our children in Kano? We will not miss him.

Nigeria’s missing link is a neutral leader like the Late John Jerry Rawlings of Ghana. He transformed Ghana because he was not wearing the ethnic and religion lenses of the Nigerian leaders. All what our politicians have done was to focus on themselves at the detriment of the poor. That will change at any cost and it has started with the last protest. The next protests are to stop the unproductivity pay to ‘Stealnators’ among others. Recently, some ex-staff governors claimed to support the proposed executive orders to scrap the looting pension laws for ex-governors. That is an image laundering strategy. Were they not mindful of the masses when the laws to steal the few available resources for the governors were sponsored and got enacted?

Now to the masses who took advantage of the END SARS protest to loot the COVID palliative warehouses and the impact of that on the generation to come. The looting of the warehouses is symbolic. It is the manifestation of the looting culture entrenched in our political system by the colonial masters and modified by the ruling class. The palliative food in the warehouses was meant to be given to the people; the majority is hungry and has been affected by the pandemic. There is no acceptable excuse to store those items in hidden places except for future looting. It is of no doubt that those items will be found for sale in the open markets’ courtesy of the looters. The public has displayed the attitude of the average Nigerian elite. Get to power or position and be a rich person without limit.

After all, our past heroes, and the anti-corruption ‘sloganists’ have also been looting from the public.

There is work ahead for the National Reorientation Groups, the motivational speakers, and the same acclaimed nation builders. How do we go about cleaning the colonial and political looting mentality in Nigeria?

Let us think of the way out. God bless Nigeria.