Yakubu Al-Mustapha
Although the unimaginable catastrophe that put the world in jeopardy started last December in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province in central China, but it has later become prevalent and intractable worldwide. Surely, the year 2020 ought to be in the annals of history with respect to chronological account of the pandemics of all-time.
Mankind is facing one of the worst tumultuous in history of his existence, as a result of coronavirus pandemic. The comeuppances of the virus fulminated after it spread across the continents within shortest period.
According to index of the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 4 million people have contracted the disease globally and over 279,000 have died of the disease with United States, Britain, Italy, Spain, France, and other advance countries recorded the highest number of deaths.
That might be the reason behind the decision of United Nations (UN) to describe Covid-19 as humanity’s worst crises since the World War II.
Another unpreventable misery in connection with coronavirus, is that the global economy will nosedive into recession in no time. The manifestation of this prediction appears when US, the world’s largest economy hit by losing about 33 million jobs.
That occurred because all businesses, academic activities, sporting events and large gathering are put in abeyance which spanned all around the world in an effort to curb the spread of the plaque and to mitigate the mortality rate.
Meanwhile, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) appears to be different from the infamous outbreak in Africa, which is normally infects underprivileged persons and spared the ruling class. The novel coronavirus came with new course of action, being it indiscriminately contracts the rich and poor, the famous and unknown person.
Among the public figures that contracted and luckily recovered from the virus is the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, heir to the British throne Prince Charles tested positive and recuperated, the wife of Canadian Prime Minister, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, was also not exempted from the torment of the plague.
Then again, the former Chief of Staff to Nigerian President, Mallam Abba Kyari, had tested positive and eventually succumbed to the pathogen. Moreover, the Bauchi state governor and two of his counterparts of Kaduna and Oyo state were not left out to go scot free by the virus.
So, the calibre of the persons that have been infected indeed speaks volumes that nobody is immune to the dreaded disease, no matter how highly placed the person might be. And only God the omniscient knows who will contract it in the next couple of weeks and who will be safe.
In short, the whole world is currently in a state of trials and tribulations and this should be the perfect time for the corrupt politicians and other government officials, that hid an illegitimate wealth in foreign countries to voluntarily return it into the coffers of the government in the fear of God and for the sake of humanity, as some of them might probably not survive to tell the story.
The stolen funds would help to sustain the country in this critical time, through providing appurtenances that are needed in fighting the pandemic, and relief packages to the poor during the lockdown period as well.
In related development, the federal government are planning to seek a loan of N500 billion to equip the country’s ill-equipped hospitals. For me this decision is uncalled for, and the best for Nigeria, is for President Buhari to act upon the agreement he entered on repatriation of stolen funds rather than recourse to borrowing.
It would be recall that President Buhari has in 2017 signed the recovery and repatriation of stolen funds agreement with Dubai’s authorities, in order to strengthen the anti corruption campaign.
In another point of view, the coronavirus loan plan came at a time when there is widely surmise by the pundits that the funds stashed in foreign countries by unscrupulous politicians were more than what the government are projected to borrow.
A report by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, revealed that 35 Politically Exposed persons have purchased 800 properties in Dubai, which is estimated to be worth well over N146bn ($400 million).
It is pertinent to know that the report didn’t cover the funds saved in Banks across the United Arab Emirate (UAE) which is said to be worth over $200 billion. So, this is an eye opener and a yardstick on how much were pilfered and kept in foreign countries.
The truth is that the revelation made by Carnegie Endowment has no doubt exposed the weakness and insincerity of the federal government in terms of fighting corruption. Because with that revelation in public domain, one would expect the anti graft agency to swing into action by going after the persons mentioned in the report.
I can say without any fear of contradiction that the reluctance of the anti-graft agency to act based on the report, confirmed the remarks of U.S. Senator, Mr. Charles Grassley, who described the role of EFCC as “detaining individuals who have spoken against the Buhari government.”
Al-Mustapha writes from Bauchi
