WATERSHED AND WATERLOO

7-Point Agenda, Transformation Agenda, Vision 20:20, YouWin, National Job Creation Scheme. All these sound familiar? What do they have in common? They are a cacophony of tenuous slogans being sung  like a badly composed anthem by loopy politicians driving this nation to socio-political meltdown faster than a ferret on speed. Wasteful expenditure on senseless propaganda by importunate profligates. 

By now, ALL Nigerians have become immune to these farcical ploys by these soliticians (a euphemism for soulless politicians) to deflect our attention away from their maniacal and devilish exploitation of our resources. Where has any of the above taken us? What prospects are there for these corrupt, visionless and arrogant illiterates to loosen their vicelike grip on power? Instead of focusing all their attention on how to even begin to think of how to commence the repair of the damage they have caused this nation and its long-suffering people, they are too busy jostling for position in readiness for 2015. Little do they know, in their befuddled countenance that the very 2015 they are readying for will turn out be their Waterloo, and the long-awaited watershed for our great nation. 

This writer has inexhaustible mental resource to keep on barracking the perpetrators of suffering and poverty in our country. I have no doubt in my mind, whatsoever, that I am only one of many millions that feel the same way. Think about it:

• The Pension Task Force uncovered a series of fraudulent acts totalling N151 billion, and one of the officials was actually found to have 555 different accounts in a single bank! All we continue to hear is how much of the meaningless assets of some of the fraudsters the EFCC is going to seize. Don't hold your breath for information about the fate of the culprits. 
• The BPE was found to have virtually given away our valued public enterprises to foreign and indigenous investors alike. Our Aluminium Smelting Company cost us $3.2 billion to establish; sold for how much? $130m. Yes, and that is a fraction over 4% of what it cost us. What about the Delta Steel Company? Sold for $30m when it cost us $1.5 billion to establish. Yes, and that is precisely 2% of what we paid to have it set up. Anyone heard anything about the scandal any more?
• Following the furore that followed the oil subsidy saga, a House panel was set up, led by Farouk Lawan. Promises were made, a lot of hot air was blown. Has its findings been published yet? What is holding it up? Didn't Farouk himself allude to the fact that tremendous forces were at play? If you think any of the thieves will ever face justice, then you're living in cloud-cuckoo land.

Why is it so difficult for some people to do good and what is right by their own people? Why is corruption so deeply entrenched in our socio-political life in this country? Why can't we just do what is right for once? These are questions that will appeal to the conscionable among us. Our fate is in our hands. The rats will continue to dwell in the knowledge that the billions they embezzle will forever insulate them from the harsh realities that surely await them. What does it profit a man to gain all the world and then to lose his soul?