The waiting was getting too long. Patience became tasking. Mr President had been promising few weeks since month of May, and it seemed the few weeks would never come. At long last the reel starts rolling. The vault, as big as Israel’s ark, appeared on the screen. The vault was constructed inside the Office of the National Security Adviser. Even with the vaults bigness, the cash overflowed. The problem of the nation was religious insurgency and the solution was ‘oil money’. America and Europe would not sell ammunition to Nigeria, yet the solution was ‘oil money’. Boko Haram kept on annexing and planting their flags in communities, yet the solution was ‘oil money’. Military personnel were dying like poisoned rats in the hands of Boko Harams, yet the solution was ‘oil money’. With all the oil money in the vault, Mr President even requested for borrowing of $2 billion for the prosecution of the insurgency, since it was raw cash that was the bullet being used by the vulnerable soldiers, and the Senate approved expressly. Hunf! The interesting film titled by me ‘Prosecution of War of Insurgency, A Festival of Prodigality’.

As a film critique, my criticism of the film is the absence of arraignment of the chief spender of the time, that is, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, whom many of the accusers said had his approval. Oh maybe, because, according to him, “stealing is different from corruption.” Even if he would not be taken to court in hand cuffs, let him have the privilege of proving to the judiciary that corruption is different from stealing. Maybe, his postulation would earn him Ph.D in Criminology, aside his Ph.D in Zoology that lacked any course in public administration.

Meanwhile, may I tell you that I might have found the film very interesting, however, I am not amused. Neither am I carried away nor sedated, as the film exhibitors want it to be. Corruption is globally known as a synonym of Nigeria. Nigeria has been a personification of corruption overtime. Corruption has been the cancer ravaging the economy of Nigeria since decades. My concern is not how corruption was perpetrated, neither how it is being perpetrated. My concern is how we will eradicate corruption in Nigeria. How Nigeria will wear a globally-recognised beautiful look: cloth of integrity, respectable productive economy and a potent leader of black race?

Let me say it once again that corruption is the headache of Nigeria, while unitary political structure that Nigeria is running is the hypertension. Without curing the hypertension, one million packets of analgesic will not stop the headache. Those who claim that they’re fighting corruption and has no plan to put Nigerian political structure into right perspective are mere pretenders and enemies of the country. It is not possible. It has not even been practised in any part of the world: a multi-lingual and multi-cultural nation adopting unitary system of government?

Let me divulge a little result from my international historical, political, economic research. That is, political structural philosophies are definite and distinct despite vagaries of tributaries. Political philosophies are derivable of economic principles. Since he who speaks English Language before his in-laws is obliged to interpret, what I am saying, invariably, is that unitary system of government is derivable of regulated form of economic structure attributable to communism, also referred to as socialism. While federal system of government is derivable of private enterprise made popular by the United States of America as capitalism. It would be a grievous mistake to discountenance these principles of governance.

Since the intervention of the military in Nigerian politics in 1966, Nigeria has been in amorphous political structure, so derivable of amorphous economic policy called Mixed- Economy. That is: zero + zero =zero; which means that since 1966, the advent of military in governance, till today, that we have not appropriately structured our political system, despite two-time oil-boom windfall of long tenure each. Nigerian economy is nothing to write home about. Nigerian economy is not outstanding.

Nigeria has to decentralise power and responsibilities to states. What should only be the concern of the central government are the matter of security and international affairs. All the infrastructures should be privatised. I’ve never heard of University of America, but I know all the states in America own university institutions. I don’t know federal roads differently from state roads in US, but I know major roads are tolled and managed by the private companies. Oil exploration in US is between states and private sectors. It is very obvious that some states are richer than the others in US, and it is not a sin or reason for quota system.

I’ve dilated my eyes and could not see prosperity in the offing. Provision of water, housing, agriculture should be responsibility of the states, while social programmes like food for pupils, stipends for the jobless should be responsibility of local governments.

As far as I am concerned, there will be many films to watch in many years to come. It is change of environment that can change attitude and what would bring change of environment is structural change.

•Oyeleye, whose photo appears alongside this piece, is an Ibadan-based poet and writer.

Update news