In ancient Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos a king in Hades betrayed god Zeus by cheating death twice. After betraying Zeus’ secrets and tricking Thanatos to show him how the ‘chain of death’ works, the gods punished him by making him roll an immense boulder or stone up the hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top; repeating the action for eternity. Now, does repeating the same action ring bells regarding life in Nigeria? Are we deep in Sisyphus syndrome?
Lets examine Corruption first. It won’t be far from the truth if we attribute all the woes of this country to corruption of a ‘Pandemic’ proportions. Pandemic in the sense that every facet of our society has been infected. All our institutions in every part of the country are under the heavy weight of corruption.
Education has been dealt a dirty blow by naked corruption for over 50 years, slowly and gradually.
Take courses and curriculum for example.
Whereas every country perfects courses that will help it grow, the opposite is happening in Nigeria. There are no more inspectors for schools, colleges and higher Institutions because bribing them to keep quiet or to stop them from inspecting has become the norm.
Admission to public primary schools, colleges and higher institutions yields millions seasonally for officials, teachers, lecturers, admission officers and even head of “cult movements”.
Examination scandals are gradually becoming normal as few actors get prosecuted.
From the Ministries of Education to examination bodies, the people vested with authority to run them embezzles allocated monies and worse still, receive bribes from school heads, private schools both in cash and kind to buy questions or invigilators.
Our civil service is said to be the most corrupt worldwide. It has proven to be very dangerous to entrepreneurs in practically every state of the federation making ‘ease of doing business’ a myth. It is not about bureaucracy, it is about brazen corruption.
According to Transparency International,TI, top civil ‘servants’ are the richest in the country because every Naira stolen by politicians pass through them for years.
They are mostly extortionist, because if you don’t give them what they demand, they are ready to destroy whatever you are working on. And worse still, there is nobody to report the matter to, because they operate as Mafias.
64 years ago, Ayn Rand a Russian born American writer and philosopher wrote in Atlas Shrugged; “When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing. When you see the money is flowing to those who deal-not in good but in favor, when you see that men getting richer by grafts and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you, when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed”.
If this is not apt in the matters concerning Nigeria, what then is?
The Nigerian Judiciary the Police and other Security agencies are archetypes of Sisyphus precisely because they are deeply and systemically corrupt. They cannot deal decisively with criminals, bandits and corrupt politicians because they receive kickbacks weekly or by weekly. Bad as the Constitution of Nigeria is, the courts are powerless in interpreting and upholding the bits that are useful in it.
Mythologically, Sisyphus was the founder and the first king of Ephyra-{probably Corinth}. He was reputed to be avaricious, deceitful and psychotic. In other to amass wealth, he promoted sea businesses and general commerce with little or no tax. However, he killed guests and traders and stole their goods. A practice which was clearly in violation of Xenia, thus angering Zeus. His servants also, took advantage of Sisyphus corrupt soul and extorted money from citizens of Ephyra relentlessly.
Eventually, he angered the gods. He was captured after cheating death three times and sentenced to eternal punishment.
The philosopher Richard Taylor uses the myth of Sisyphus as a representation of a life made meaningless because it consist of bare repetition. As at today and every day in Nigeria countless number of people are killed for organ harvesting, rituals and wantonly in bid to make humongous money . How can anybody become rich overnight without work and sustain the wealth ?
In a sense, this is a repetition, making life meaningless.
But when you factor the dictatorial tendencies of people in government and the permeation of corruption to all other facets of life; that is, butchers or fish mongers without scales, Petrol stations that has adjusted their pump-readings against motorists, the communication networks that steals ones airtime and even religious leaders whose voracious appetites are only on par with that of Lucifer, you begin to see glaringly, the Sisiphusian curse perching comfortably on the shoulders of Nigeria.
Troubling mental health on a massive scale is the current trend. Could it be the evil emanating from the curse?
Speaking to several women and their husbands, I have found out that a particular Scourge called “easy loan” is a disturbing bane ravaging homes in the Southwest Nigeria. Loan givers {without checks} advance loans of between #20,000 and #200,000 charging interest of between 17% and 25%. The tragedy is that several of these women hardly put the whole loan on their retail business, rather a large percentage goes toward their children’s school fees and hospital bills or house rents. Consequently they enter the rat-race and run round in circle.
Meanwhile because of the aggressive means of loan recovery aptly termed “Gbomulelantan” or “Put your breast on lantern” if you are unable to pay. These women are subjected to harrowing mental distress. Some housewives schemes to have two or more men friends while others engage in illicit or underground businesses. In all, most women and even men are presently in bondage and having mental issues.
Sisyphus was given eternal punishment of pushing a large boulder or stone to the top of the hill and before his very eyes, the stone rolls back only for him to start all over again. These women suffer the same fate as they roll over their indebtedness and remain perpetually in the strangle-hold of slavery.
Whenever and wherever the Security system, especially the Army organization of a country become corrupt, the country will eventually fail as a state. I once witnessed a situation where a young soldier who joined the Nigeria Army two years earlier needed help from a traditional ruler as he was summarily dismissed from the Army for absenting himself for over a month from duty post. On close questioning by the traditional ruler it turned out that the young soldier already built a duplex and has a 2018-2019 Four Runner Jeep.
For over 30 years, the budget of the Nigerian Army has superseded that of key development area of the nation, yet terrorists and bandits are able to overrun a well trained organization. What gives? Corruption and indiscipline.
The myth of Sisyphus is now fully embedded in the security services to the extent that no reformation will be able to redeem the broken structures.
Meanwhile, the hope that was to come with the general election of 25th of February and March 11, 2023 was shattered because corruption was tied to its legs and albatross chained to its neck. Bribery to INEC officials and the Police was perpetrated by all the major political parties. The young ad hoc staff that were made up largely of Youth Corpers wrecked part of the havoc.
One can safely conclude that a lot of party stalwarts, candidates were mostly mentally challenged while the elections lasted. As of fact, a particular governorship candidate used payment solution technology to take corruption to a higher dimension. He had debit cards printed abroad embedding them with about N5 billion to circumvent the hurdle of cashless program thereby deepening corruption.
Stop for a moment. Think about your average vulcanizer, your plumber and vehicle mechanic, your welder and driver. Has anyone of them duped or cheated you? Have you been 419ned by students or youths? What about the girls and ladies and house wives who prowls the elderly men with the aim of draining their pension or life savings?
Visit magistrate courts once in a while and you will quickly observe that majority of Nigerians are neck deep in corruption and suffers mental deprivation. Can you therefore imagine the Sisiphusyian curse perched on the head of many Nigerians with tentacles all over the mind, soul and body?
The stone or boulder that almost reach the top of the hill but fell back to the bottom is the story of Nigeria as well. The question now is: can Tinubu use the opportunity of power given to him by over 8million Nigerians to prove his mettle the world ? And, can he influence legislation and leverage technology to design out systemic corruption and thus make a difference? After all, the idea of ‘Single Treasury Account’ has largely helped revenue drive and seal leakages robustly. The chance to renew our collective hope is now a given. We eagerly await the incoming government to break the Sisyphus curse on Nigeria and l am sure it is eminently doable if willed.
