It is said that whatever goes up must come down, but it seems that the Law of Nature which states that rule does not work in Nigeria. That, however, depends upon prevailing circumstance which may go contrary to that universally accepted maxim.
The inception of Muhammadu Buhari’s corrective regime which has effectively mobilised against corruption and its perpetrators in both public and private lives has sent shivers down the spine of crooked and dishonest elements who are now hurriedly returning their loots to the coffers of government, on their own volition, for the fear of what lay in store for those that bled the country white.
President Buhari told Nigerians living in Tehran, Iran during his recent visit to that country that his administration has intensified efforts at recovering public funds in private pockets and foreign n bank accounts. He, however, expressed his dissatisfaction with the partial return of the plundered funds even as his government has been collecting documents before the voluntary surrender of misappropriated money by some of the looters. When the documents are ready and the investigations over then the government will prosecute them and that will be the time to allow Nigerians know those who abused the trust given them for sixteen years.
This is certainly signalling the coming of the day of reckoning when the misconduct and unlawful acts of the corrupt officials will be thoroughly exposed and aptly punished.
In fact those accused of corruption are still innocent until proven otherwise by a court of law, but Nigerians are petulant and impatient about the seemingly long delay in prosecuting those already identified to have their hands soiled in corrupt practice, but for the need to meticulously and accurately investigate them with a view to gathering enough evidence for their eventual trial.
Nevertheless, President Buhari’s hand are presently tied compared to his first coming as a military Head of State in 1984 when he could easily order the arrest of alleged corrupt individuals and put them in protective custody to prove their innocence. Now, the dictates of the Rule of Law and due process have slowed him down in the speedy trial of corrupt officials.
President Buhari has gone an extra mile in revealing his strategies of revamping the country’s ailing economy by pledging to decisively deal with the saboteur in the power sector to restore sanity and service delivery to the people. Power supply has significantly improved with the inception of Buhari administration in May this year even though he has not directed his attention there with a view to effecting surgical operations that will eventually clear the mess that has rendered the power houses almost inoperable.
He will soon mobilise into action by ensuring that the needful, especially improvement of security, would be done to sustain improved services in many sectors.
He was particularly happy to have noticed that Nigerians in Diaspora are fully aware of pleasant developments in the improvement of power supply service in the country in the past few months which had been achieved without wasting any time. That remarkable feat by power companies was not only accomplished without President Buhari uttering any word or encouragement or cheers, but because the workers were aware of the prevailing atmosphere of change which had consequently spurred them into action towards improving their hitherto unsatisfactory services.
Nigerian Community in Iran praised the privatisation efforts in this country especially as it affects the defunct Nigerian Electric Power Authority, NEPA which has been unbundled into many companies and eventually sold to private concerns. That tasking and protracted exercise has hardly produced the desired effect and the main issue about it still remained relevant: the companies are not performing satisfactorily.
The fundamental thing before Buhari’s government is to reorient the power companies by exploiting their potentials thereby driving them toward optimal performance.
President Buhari was in Iran to attend a summit of gas producing nations and he told Nigerians in that country that just the country is bothers by saboteurs in the power sector so it is also held back by vandals who callously effortlessly blow gas and oil installations despite the vigilance put up by the security forces and the local law-enforcing groups. He lamented how the nefarious activities of these miscreants still persist in the large swathe of the oil-producing areas. It was, therefore, reassuring to hear President Buhari promising to rout the pockets of these troublemakers and reprobates to restore sanity in the petroleum industry as well as in the power sector.
The news revealed by President Buhari in far away Iran that Nigeria’s looted funds are being systematically recovered is heartening and encouraging for the recouped losses will now be effectively channelled toward creating jobs for the teeming unemployed youths which the previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan couldn’t help in anyway, thereby dealing a devastating blow to the economy through corruption and incompetence. With sustained efforts to reclaim the country’s plundered wealth, stashed in the vaults of foreign banks the government may be in a better stead to embark on important developmental projects across the country.
