We had begun to witness a major shift in political movements that’s giving rise to more youth participation in the governance of countries. More recently, Gabriel Attal, a 34-year old was appointed France’s prime-minister by President Emmanuel Macron government, who himself was a 37-year old politician when he became the youngest President in the world. Examples of youths that have received mandates to govern in different aspects before their Forty-first year include Chile’s Gabriel Boric, Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, and there are also others.
And by sheer coincidence, the current Nigerian government has also appointed a 37-year old youth, Dr. Betta Edu to serve as the youngest federal cabinet minister in the history of the country.
The rise in youth involvement in government, often under 40, stems from disillusionment and frustration with unfavourable plans. Country-specific reasons include environmental factors, economic conditions, social disposition, and public perception. Despite controversies, youth leaders like Estonia’s Kallas and El Salvador’s Bukele reflect social traditions or endorse unconventional policies. In Nigeria, corruption is sadly normalised, driving the push for inclusive youth engagement.
While the country is still grappling with how its most critical institution, the Central Bank of Nigeria, purposely and opaquely dodged its true financial position for the past 7-years without admonition from the Legislators, troubling financial activities involving it’s youngest minister Betta Edu has become a major subject across homes in the country.
As the minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, is tasked with implementing the relevant social welfare programmes of the government. She is being accused of violating government financial rules which forbid officials from transferring government funds to private bank accounts of government staff.
Transferring ministry funds to a private account undermines law enforcement oversight, enabling diversion to individuals not in the National Social Register. A previous controversial 44-billion Naira transfer from the ministry’s NSIPA fund to a private account exacerbates the situation. Concerns arise over officials being emboldened due to lenient laws against government asset diversion.
Meanwhile, the receiving banks could have also identified those suspicious transactions and immediately reported the incident to the authorities. In countries such as USA, UK, the banks are obligated to notify the authorities of suspicious/or bank transaction activities above certain currency thresholds, so the NFIU or the CBN could have even become aware of NSIPA’s unauthorised bank activities that contravenes CBN’s daily cash-transfer limits for corporate businesses, and it’s uncertain if the local banks involved even notify Nigeria Financial Intelligence unit -NFIU.
Also in those listed countries, their financial regulatory enforcement authorities are quite proactive and tend to initiate investigations into inappropriate fraudulent activities with little reliance on a whistle-blower or informants. The EFCC’s response to the matter is reactive, and when dealing with extremely critical intransigence, the agency only functions when an insider provides information of possible wrong-doing. Everything so far appears improper!
Even the justification given by another youth minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo of the Interior ministry, whose private company is one of the recipients of Betta’s 3-Billion Naira ministry contracts, that he has not violated government rules, shows how pervasive corruption has destroyed normal government operation in Nigeria. As a federal minister and the owner of a private company that participates in any government contract, irrespective of which ministry awards the contract, this is referred to as illegal enrichment.
It’s not only a conflict of interest, but a significant breach of government trust.
The ICPC and EFCC should conduct a comprehensive investigation into government ministries and agencies, exploring instances of funds ending up in staff members’ private accounts. Questions arise about the Finance ministry’s tendency to delegate responsibilities to self-accounting entities and the Auditor-general’s failure to detect the illegal scheme during routine audits.
Law enforcement’s apparent awareness of such practices remains perplexing, as they often withhold information on guilty officials, contributing to the pervasiveness of illegal activities. This echoes past cases, like the accusations against former Head of Federal Civil Service Winifred Oyo-Ita. Reports from Arise TV also reveal a civil servant from NIRSAL working as a director in Tunji-Ojo’s private company.
Our public officials, notably the Judiciary and Legislative branches, exhibit a lack of comprehension regarding ethics. If asked, accused ministers might fumble to define it. Amid public outcry over soaring living costs, the new cabinet ministers are covertly amassing wealth from federal funds, further breaching the public’s trust. This trend raises alarming questions about ethical conduct within the government.
Whatever the case, the youths we are championing to participate more in the governance of the country have equally been indoctrinated in widespread corrupt practices, to the extent that they are now hardened and emboldened to openly justify dubious acts without fear of repercussion from the law, the law-enforcement agencies or the public.
We are destroying the future of the youths and the next generation simply because the lawmakers are unwilling to strengthen established laws against corruption!
The rampant corrupt practices around the country must re-emphasise how vigorously important it is for leaders, to repeatedly reinforce the significance of what public trusts means to the youths of the country.
Reforms can only begin when accountability becomes the new tradition in government.
It’s how normal societies evolve and function!
OHIMA AGANS-OLIHA, writes from [email protected]
