Not long ago I came across a picture on Facebook; it was the first item on my timeline. In the picture were three individuals: my Facebook friend, a successful and commendable African entrepreneur, and another individual. Alongside the picture was a caption, which celebrated "the individual," a beneficiary of a brutal military regime. The caption on the picture made me cringe. Immediately, I went through a flashback of Nigeria’s history – the picture made me think about Nigeria’s future.
Then I began to ask myself a series of questions. Why should we as Nigerians celebrate wealthy beneficiaries of brutal military regimes? Why should we as young people accept their ill-gotten wealth as part of Nigeria’s success story? Any good student of Nigerian history can make a clear connection between an individual’s sudden access to the nation’s resources through illegal means, corruption, or military regimes and actual business growth. In this instance, oil fields belonging to an entire nation were conveniently allocated to one individual. Rosemary Ajayi, technical assistant to the current Governor of Ekiti State in Nigeria said, "corruption saps the will of everyone but of those benefitting from it." I say, corruption in Nigeria should be considered a form of terrorism.
It is no secret that Nigeria is full of natural resources, however, the lack of transparency and respect for the rule of law has allowed for the misappropriations of these resources. Victor Asemota, owner and principal consultant of Swifta Systems wrote on his twitter page, "A friend said she was at the World Economic Forum (WEF) and was wondering how most people we celebrate in Nigeria became so wealthy? No one has straight stories." He continues…