One of the most difficult things any man, company or society has to deal with is managing finance or in other words utilizing wealth. In fact to this end, there have emerged several courses that aim to help in the proper management and utilization of available wealth. Some of which include Accounting, Business Administration, Actuarial Science, Banking and Finance and the list is not exhaustive.
However, it is important to state that despite the myriad of courses that are expected to bring an end to financial mismanagement; the devil keeps raising its head. This presupposes that studying statistics and analysing figures may not be the major getaway out of pecuniary mess.
Do we say there were no professionals at the Cadbury saga in Nigeria? In May /June 2009 the Federal Inland Revenue Service through enforcement provisions alone made 22.6bn Naira from tax evaders, and sealed off PAN over unpaid 1.3bn Naira tax. What of the Enron saga in the United States, the Comroad case in Germany, Lernout & Hauspie in Belgium, HIH Insurance in Australia? We won’t also forget the case in Korea where the SK Group inflated profits at one subsidiary by $1.2 billion. It is noted that in all these scenarios, it is in fact the professionals who have gathered prerequisite skills and who are meant to be the armament of the ‘wealth of nations’ that actually help in the looting of the treasury.
On the public scene, we have the top financial officers who hold the key to public wealth, but what do we have? Over bloated budget, fraudulent misstatement of fund, gross mismanagement of resources, corruption in all sectors, money laundering, embezzlement, bribery, looting and all forms of corrupt practices. How many of our Ex-Governors are facing charges of various kinds of corrupt practices? Even the government agencies fail to pay tax. As at 2006, Government agencies owed about 53bn Naira tax liabilities and as at 2007, it had increased to about 61bn Naira. Even tax deducted by ministries and banks are not remitted appropriately. Financial impropriety has eaten deep in all sectors and we cannot trust the professionals, even Lawyers are not excluded.
It will be imbalanced not to mention the indecency amongst individuals too. We know that whatever transpires among individuals reflect in corporations. We as humans are greedy and covetous; we desire to amass wealth to the detriment of others, no matter who is disadvantaged. The religious circles are not excluded, offerings are raised and tithes paid but there are no proper accounts.
Public funds and properties are the easiest to eat up, leaders deal with public properties without proper care. People’s offerings and tithes are used to amass personal properties all in the name of giving to God, citizens’ monies are transferred to private foreign accounts and used to buy foreign properties, private jets, yacht, fastest wheels and people are left to suffer.
Leaders in all sectors have become gods and in their pride, they have stolen God’s glory and they make people live at their mercy. Not until we put appropriate check mechanisms in place, we cannot evolve a financially sane environment.
When we say appropriate check mechanism, we have lost hope in mere titles, in the name of professionals such as Chartered Accountants, Auditors, Lawyers or even agencies such as EFCC or ICPC, we are talking about integrity, honesty, truthfulness, honour, veracity, uprightness, reliability, accountability and the list goes on.
Any professional who is devoid of these virtues is not worthy of our trust and money, but if an ordinary individual can show that he has at least a tad of these virtues, we appreciate and respect such persons more than the name bearers, and in fact such an individual should wear the crown, but that is not usually the case, we love titles and hate honour.
The individual is the cradle of the society. We may point to the society, calling it corrupt, at least they say Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, but Nigeria is not a being on its own, she does not have hands, limbs and legs, individuals are the major components of a state. This means that it is the individuals that are actually corrupt. Until we all imbibe a national culture, the type that will send the whole nation to fast and pray, until we can all put on the cloak of candour, not crazed by the worldly wealth that will soon be damned, we may not evolve a sane environment.
Painfully, the youths who are the hope of any nation are distraught with the get rich quick syndrome, it used to be that fathers who could not meet ends meet got involved in dirty things like sacrificing humans for money, now the baton has been passed to undergraduates who flaunt blood money and sometimes money amassed through fraudulent practices such as cyber crimes and forged documents, acquire the latest cars, lodge in the most expensive hotels and spend their lives away.
The other youths who cannot keep up with the dire trend of wealth creation advance other means which makes them lose focus. No wonder our students are finishing with terrible grades, and even those who finished with good grades have next to nothing in their heads, they cannot prove what they have. We have been corrupted, our minds have been infected, and our ideals are fouled.
It is a vicious circle that we are in, and not everyone can see the rot. What the baby does affects the boy, the boy is fast becoming the youth, and the leaders of tomorrow, rehearsing for the mantle today have deep their hands in the abominable pool of mammon. The fathers have eaten to their fill and they are pregnant with constipation, they will give birth to their kind - abomination. Tomorrow is a follow up of today, tomorrow holds for us what we hold on to today.
Lets get together and build a great future and a greater economy, we are all stake holders, we are all a part of a whole and a whole of a part, it is our duty to build up a kingly domain, where God can say boldly, my boys are in control, we should instigate a revolution which will make Nigeria the envy of the nations. We can turn our disadvantage around like China did, we can touch the world like India is doing, we can strengthen ourselves like Israel did, we can make God beat his chest that ours is a peculiar race, we can make Nigeria a must visit for every human, we can turn the story of this nation around, you and I, yes we can, it all begins with a step, start out now.
Adeola Adeniyi
No comments:
Post a Comment