SOME readers of this column would be absolutely right if they conclude that writing on corruption in Nigeria is a waste of time. It might be, but what prompted a fresh interest in a national problem that has defied solutions forever are two developments earlier in the week. First one was a report by Transparency International, TI, on the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index.

Denmark maintained its position as the least corrupt country with 89 points, followed by Finland with 88 points, Singapore with 84 points, and New Zealand with 81 points. Nigeria was ranked 142 of 182 countries surveyed, dropping from 140th in 2024 to 142nd in 2025. Just another news item from another global rating agency. I’m not sure there’s anybody in government that is worried by the country’s ranking on the Corruption Perception Index, especially since it’s negative and is not coming from the money watchdogs like Moody’s or Fitch.

The second development was news of the arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of two suspects for their alleged involvement in a N600 million job fraud linked to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL.

According to EFCC, the two suspects, a man and a woman were arraigned on an amended six-count charge accusing them of defrauding a victim of N603,400,000 by falsely promising to secure her appointment as Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

As a journalist, I am almost inured to stories of corruption, misappropriation, embezzlement or graft by any other name called. That is because it is always happening, and despite the existence of the EFCC, ICPC, and the Special Fraud Unit of the Police, cases of fraud keep coming with amazing regularity. Just as you think you’ve heard the biggest, another one comes along that leaves you with mouth agape. But this one got me stone cold — a job scam in which the victim was said to have paid out a sum in excess of N600 million to people who promised to secure her appointment as Group Managing Director of NNPCL raises a lot of questions.

First, how sane is the person that paid out the money? The President appoints the NNPCL GMD. Was that victim daft enough to believe that the president would demand that amount of money through people who eventually got unmasked as scammers? If you had enough money of your own to the extent that you could cough out N600 million to secure a job, why not just invest that money in something productive and remain your own employer? There are more questions. Assuming without conceding that the said victim somehow got appointed to the NNPCL top job, would the nation really benefit from such an appointment? Wouldn’t it be in order to first recoup investment in the appointment before trying to see if there is value that can be delivered? If that person really became the NNPCL head honcho, I can swear that the refineries that were kick-started for show over a year ago would never have been kick-started at all, as the money for the kick-starting would have been made to disappear!

This brings me to a theorem that has been incubating in my mind for a long time: all of us Nigerians are inherently corrupt. This is because nobody asks how his brother or sister came about the money spent to acquire exotic cars and choice property in exclusive parts of our towns and cities. Nobody asks how an ordinary civil servant on GL-14 can afford university education for a child or two in a top university in the UK or US. No father or mother, right now, asks how his/her child got the money with which to procure visas and fly to enjoy holidays in exotic destinations.

It is often said that a people get the leaders they deserve; so corrupt people must get corrupt leaders. In addition, those in office as president, governors, senators, House of Representatives members and members of state legislatures came from among the people. If they get into office and start stealing public money, it is not difficult to deduce that thievery is in the collective DNA.

The late Vanguard columnist, Pini Jason Onyegbadue explained this better, much earlier in an article. The thrust of his argument about corruption in Africa is now known as Jason’s Law of Corruption. In that article, published on June 13, 1988, Jason argued that the “decibel of an average African’s public outcry is directly proportional to his distance from the opportunity to do exactly what he condemns. The difference between many a vociferous, sanctimonious and pontificating African and the villainous, itchy-fingered kleptomaniac is probably the absence of the opportunity to steal. In all probability, should the opportunity occur, yesterday’s moral crusader, is more likely to crumble and disappear under the weight of corruption.”

He further averred that Africans can be roughly divided into two, which he called “the ruling wicked,” and the “waiting wicked.” The Waiting Wicked are those of us not in any government job, while the Ruling Wicked, clearly, are the ones in government. Beyond that, corruption has eaten so deep into the fabric of our milieu that it has become an intractable conundrum. Even artisans are permanently out to scam their clients. The carpenter, mechanic, electrician, plumber all have perfect plans to fleece you whenever you call them for a job. In many homes, wives often use children’s needs to obtain more money than is needed for an item. Everybody is just out to get money, at the expense of anybody and everybody. How do we get out of this? Can we ever get out of it? TGIF.