At independence in 1960, Nigeria stood tall and proud. As tall as the Iroko and just as towering. After many years of deleterious colonialism, Africa’s most populous economy and democracy was finally able to call its soul its own, deftly spinning away from the deceptive stories spun by the spin masters of colonialism and their paymasters back in the United Kingdom.

However, many years down the line, corruption has brought the country down to its knees thanks to the discovery of oil, and the fake and febrile system suddenly flush with petrodollars.

In more ways than can possibly be healthy, oil has come to exemplify everything that is slippery about Nigeria. Its discovery cast a toxic pall of complacency over Nigerian leaders who suddenly discovered they could get a lot of money in the country every month without doing a lot by way of actual work. This complacency led to the collapse of the famed groundnut pyramids in the North and the cocoa pyramids in the Southwest. It also meant that do-nothing politicians could sneak or steal their way into office and have more than enough to steal while barely lifting a finger.

As oil has squirmed out of the soil of the Niger-Delta devastating all forms of life around it, the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has been the agency tasked with managing it. But even without opening the toilet lid, there is something rancid that seriously rankles about the NNPCL. The company, which was a government parastatal until a few years ago, has been tasked by law to manage Nigeria’s oil resources. While it has largely stuck to its task, what it has found unmanageable is the sheer number of ruthless thieves who have always managed to meander their way through the agency on their way to milking Nigeria dry.

Nigeria’s oil dependency and the extreme depravity of its ruling class has resulted in a colossal mismanagement of its oil revenues over many years. This has yielded a mistral of scorching poverty for everyday Nigerians, with the result present in daily life.

According to the Socio-Economic Rights Project (SERAP), since 2021, some N825 billion and another $2.5 billion earmarked for the rehabilitation of refineries and accruing from oil revenues have mysteriously disappeared from the coffers of the agency. This was contained in a 2021 audit report of the Auditor-General of the Federation.

It is also time that Nigeria gave SERAP its flowers. While Nigerians have become inundated with crooks and charlatans floating dubious NGOs, SERAP has shown over the years that it is as good as gold. The organization is always at the forefront of asking the government to account for its actions or inaction as the case may be.

Nigeria has become a difficult country to live in. A lot of these difficulties can be put down to corruption which has gradually torn down state institutions, turning otherwise decent men into tools of a kleptocracy and turning the system against the very people it is supposed to serve.
Unless organizations like the NNPCL and the EFCC among others who handle considerable responsibilities on behalf of the Nigerian state are themselves made accountable, Nigeria will remain in a lurch.

NNPCL must be made to account for every fund that has passed through it.

*Willie-Nwobu can be reached at ikewilly9@gmail.com