NEXUS BETWEEN ILLICIT FINANCIAL FLOW, CORRUPTION AND ESCALATION OF CONFLICT CRISIS IN NIGERIA

I was imagining why is it that almost all the elected and appointed leaders in Nigeria will have to be investigated and some prosecuted after their tenure in office, and I got to know that they were involved in one case of corruption; misappropriation and stolen of public funds. I had wondered why this is so and came to conclusion that most people do not see call to serve as service or servant- leadership above self, but opportunity for self enrichment even at the detriment of those to be served. But most disturbing to me is and has always been citizens apathy to their commonwealth. Citizens do not care to know what gets in for them as funds, how these funds are or will be spent, or able to track what the money is for,  meant for or on what it will be spent on. That alone gives lacuna for looting and stealing spree in Nigeria.     

Nigeria is a wealthy nation no doubt but sadly is poor. To its poor masses out of corruption by politically exposed persons and those in previous military regimes. I have seen how politically exposed persons make friends with international multinationals companies and how that friendship have led to tax evasion for instance. Corruption has disrupted, is disrupting and will continue to disrupt the country’s sustainable development and is leaving many behind for too long so long. The hope of a prosperous nation has been looted away to foreign lands in Europe, America, Asia etc through illicit financial flows by Nigerians. It's a powerful cartel and can fight back, and do fight back strongly at any attempt to stop them from their illicit financial flow activities, this I know.

Illicit financial flow literally to my understanding is simply stealing monies that belong to everybody in a country to self, and then taking same away to other country to spend. Corruption if to be seen in full blown scale is exhibited in illicit financial flow and this is fuelling and maintaining conflict like banditry, kidnapping, violent extremism, armed robbery, abduction including the proliferation of small armed weapons across the Lake Chad region. Mark my words, some violence conflicts wagging across Nigeria have some element of political and corruption understone to it. Bad governance is DNA of corruption and where there’s corruption, there’s injustice. And where there’s injustice there will be no peace but confusion, fragility to violence and conflicts. Most conflicts in Nigeria to my view are birth by injustice, untimely and unaddressed grievances of citizens because of the political greed of few elites amongst others. Lack of development and legitimacy are powerful drivers for compelling citizens to engage in or support conflict and these conflicts collude to accelerate terrorism as well.     

9^th March 2021, I read the UK government agreed to repatriate to Nigeria about 4.2 million pounds (2.2 billion naira) of stolen funds recovered from a former governor of Delta State in February 2012. At hearing the news what came to my mind first was, that’s just one recovery of the loots out of the rest. Imagine how much will come into our coffers if these monies are recovered? Imagine if the recovery is made with 10- 100 individuals and how wealthy the nation could regain itself? Imagine if we will still have to be beggig and be borrowing to finance our national budget every year any longer? Imagine if we still be an independent nation that is dependent on foriegn aid for survival? Imagine if the recovery wouldn't pay our debts and set us free? Just imagine it all endlessly.

However, that imagination have come to reaffirmed my earlier assertion that Nigeria is wealthy nation that is poor, otherwise it wouldn’t have been this stolen as there is no stealing in vacuum. Somehow, it got me thinking if living in Nigeria is not almost like being tasty in an ocean?

That said, secondly on my mind was this fear on the repatriated funds and fear of the fund being re-looted eventually on arrival? This fear were real till I learnt that government said it intend to use the stolen fund to help the poor and improve citizen’s access to justice. Then my fears calmed probably because our government may have realized that there's no peace where there’s no justice I guess. Corruption is injustice to citizenry anywhere, anytime. 

Huge and in excess Nigeria’s monies are in the UK, Dubai and America etc. I wondered why these countries accept this monies without asking questions around such monies. Why most of these countries tend to accept this "DIRTY MONEY" and somehow shield those involved? Meanwhile most of these dirty monies looted, laundered and shifted are done by cronies of politically exposed person; those working as their front are the ones to buy those expensive real estates/houses abroad on their behalf, leave the houses unoccupied, pay school fees abroad for their wards, all in attempt to move the money out of Nigeria for spend. They starch many more in banks abroad and I would have loved to know how much Naira have been looted into Swiss Bank by who is who in Nigeria? While those monies are there circulating those economies, we will go and borrow it again from them with very high interest rate, loot some and continue to march backward, forward never.

Citizens are in dire lack and poverty, dying of hunger, no drinkable water, no primary healthcare, unemployment, leaving everyday without basic amenities and everything vexatious. At times I wonder what is wrong with us, that people stealing Nigeria are Nigerians? They sometime colloborate in organised way  with foreigners to steal and loot Nigeria, just to spend the money in Europe and America developing their economy. Otherwise Nigeria would have developed for all, long time ago.        

Corruption is killing this nation and ordinarily makes citizens distrust their leaders and pushes many to vulnerabilities of being recruited into violence crime and armed groups to steal, kill and destroy “just the same way the leaders have and continue to loot our commonwealth”; as one of the repented youth with armed group once told me is the reason he joined the group. That they are all doing the same thing in different dimensions with the leaders. "That looting is stealing and stealing is looting done by the two?" How true this assertion is, time has told us before now.    

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