By Denrele Animasaun

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop

It is high time Nigerians received a windfall, we know what is going on; there are billions of pounds that have been recovered and are languishing in the coffers or there about. This money can definitely make a difference in the quantity of lives of ordinary Nigerians. It is about time the government acted expediently to circulate the clawed back loot from the greedy politicians, and give back the money to the rightful owners: the Nigerian people.

We are talking of billions of pounds here, billions in pounds,not in Naira . It would be good if some of these monies are used to pay salaries of workers, invest in industries, and lend money to small traders, buildings, transport, health and education.

It is important that people see that there is a real shift and that the fight on corruption continues regardless.  It is cold comfort to say that things are changing and people cannot see or feel it. It is important to bring confidence and motivation to Nigeria, only then real change can happen. At the moment Nigeria is not, it has not been working for some time.

People are still queuing for oil, food prices are high and living today is becoming difficult. One thing that cannot be said about Nigerians is that they are not patient, they have been patient and have received little or nothing for their effort.

May I suggest that they look into what Finland is doing? If Finnish proposal is anything to go by; they are proposing to give every Finn to 800 euros tax free each month, and it will cost the government 52.2 billion euros a year.

I know the population of Finland is very minuscule compared to Nigeria but the principle is very transferable.

When is change going to come to Nigeria? So why the Buhari administration embarked on similar proposal?

In the light of the  $322m that the former Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo Iweala released to the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki for military operations. It seems that the loot was divided up by the usual suspects and was misappropriated. And now that the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked former Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo Iweala to “apologise to Nigerians for misleading them that the  recovered Abacha loot was transparently spent , knowing fully well that the $322m recovered Abacha funds were inappropriately released to finance the fight against the insurgents.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has got a case to answer and she can no longer keep mum and this is not the time for no answer and no apologies, right now she needs to grovel. At some point, we need to know; under her watch, substantial amount  of money was mismanaged and for  someone with an esteem past, world bank and on the platform of transparency and with the pledge to safeguard Nigeria’s public finances . She was the clean broom brought to reform the nation’s commonwealth and now this?

SERAP’s is right to say that she has done her reputation more harm than good. They went on; “We hope that she will take cue from the World Bank (her former employer) when it defined ‘accountability and probity’ as knowing what task has been set, accepting to do it, and going about it with a sense of probity. Probity implying the willingness to self-disclose such information to which a specific stakeholder group has a right as well as tolerance of the scrutiny of such a stakeholder group on information to which they have a right”

And they echo every Nigerian’s anguish; “We therefore urge her to now come out for the sake of millions of Nigerians living in extreme poverty but also of generations as yet unborn and tell Nigerians the whole story about what exactly happened to recovered Abacha loot, as well as publicly apologise for claiming that Abacha loot was transparently spent. She should be willing to be held to account,”

Do I think she will sing like a canary? I don’t think so. If she does then, more heads will roll and the rot runs very deep indeed. She will implicate many people and maybe that is not a bad thing.

Someone has cooked the books and Okonjo-Iweala cannot pretend she was not aware of what went on. There have been some ghost contracts and ghost projects and it is about time we all know and what they did with the money.

In today’s Nigeria where, people often take, take and they do not give.  It is convenient to tar all Nigerians with the same brush.  However, there are Nigerians who try their best to make a difference in any way they can, where ever they are.  They do this without fanfare or seeking rewards, if only there are more Nigerians who are altruistic. It is a little wonder how we do not have more compassionate people in a country where majority of its citizens claim to be religious. Actually showing compassion is one of the cornerstone of many religions, yet it we seem to gloss over this when we profess to be rigours and pies. ? Dalai Lama once said of compassion;” If you want others to be happy, practise compassion. If you want to be happy, practise compassion.”

Actual helping others has its own rewards and anyone could do their bit, with whatever they have and need not be grand, they put their minds to it. Majority of Nigerians have been conditioned to think that it has to be that there always something for something, that people cannot simply exhibit kindness without a catch. Actually, they do and there are Nigerians who do just that home and abroad, and they do not make a song and dance about it.  Contrary to what most of us are accustomed to; people who will donate a carton of sugar and a bag of flour to an orphanage and they will invite a gaggle of press to take pictures so that everyone knows how generous they are.

These people do not understand the essence of true altruism; that only when you help people who have no means of repaying your kindness, then you are truly giving and making a difference in the lives of others.

Here in the UK, we get  our share of  Nigerians  who bang the drums for their “charitable work “and those who quietly do this and change the lives of people around them just because they can and they do this not for acknowledgement nor praise. They just do it because it is the right thing to do and for those people, I applaud them and I wish there are a lot of these compassionate people. These public spirited minded Nigerians who give time and support, I applaud each and every one of these selfless people.

One such person is Tayo Fatunla.  Tayo began his cartooning career in Nigeria drawing for Punch newspapers, Daily Times and The Guardian to name a few.  Some may remember his OMOBA cartoons and this was where his career as a cartoonist took off and this was where first I met him at the Punch Newspaper office, when he was the resident cartoonist and we got on like a house on fire and over the years our paths have crossed many times. We collaborated on a few projects of mine, he illustrated a free health promotion newsletters for barbers and hairdressers that I produced in South London. Approaching Tayo, with the idea, of producing a free health newsletter that people can pick up at their local barbers and hairdressers seems to be the answer and Tayo came on board and helped translate some of the messages in his inimitable style; diffusing health matters with humour.  It went down well with the customers and hairdressers and barbers alike and it resulted in training barbers and hairdressers in basic counselling so that they could sign post their customers to appropriate services to get help earlier rather than later