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I recently read an article on a web forum which was debating the issue of corruption in Nigeria.

 

It sparked off a debate in which one side held that Nigerians as a people …identifiable by tribe and geography,are naturally fraudulent, while the other did not agree; I took the middle road.

 

 I think we are all standing too close to the mirror, so we see our eyeballs but don’t see our faces.

The average Nigerian is human and to the extent that the average human is prone to selfishness and subversion in the interest of self preservation, I would say Yes. the average Nigerian is fraudulent.

 

 

But allow me to qualify that statement. It is not an admission to being an inferior or baser specie of homo sapiens; it is in fact an affirmation of the fact that nigerians are human and will behave as the average human is NATURALLY prone to do, given certain conditions.

Fraud is not the exclusive preserve of my countrymen, but a natural disposition of humanity, so let he who says it in an accusatory tone beware of hypocrisy.

Having said that, let us recall that we are talking about the AVERAGE nigerian. Beyond that, there are not a few of our kind, who have by force of self discipline , committed themselves to a DAILY struggle to do the right thing inspite of the natural proclivity to choose the easy way out.

Crime is crime, fraud is fraud, irrespective of who commits it. Nevertheless, I am yet to hear of fraud that is exclusive to the Nigerian, and has not been committed in history by someone of other nationality.This argument  applies regardless of wether the issue is the nature of fraud..or its prevalence.

You are what you think my people!, nothing more and nothing less. The challenge here is not really whether we are fraudulent or not, but what are we doing to improve our individual and collective disposition as a nation,inspite of the economic & political circumstances we find ourselves facing. Why?, its just a phase, It will pass!

I am PROUD to have been born Nigerian, I am determined to reclaim and  make the most of the heritage passed to me by virtue of my place of birth.

 I am resolved that nothing, human or circumstantial , will prevent me from being all that this Nigerian blood I have in my veins has equipped me to be. And I will do it the right way, want to know how?

 

Watch me as the pages unfold… its almost Dawn!