People are afraid of going directly to an agency to ask for services they are entitled to simply because they believe they would not get it since they don’t know anybody there, or nobody has asked them to see a person there to help them get the services.
Those that readily come to mind are obtaining an international passport, driver’s licence and getting car particulars that include road worthiness among others.
People doing their jobs may not do so unless being sought out to help as if they are doing a favour and not being paid. And they are paid through the back door by the people seeking their help.
Therefore, corruption is institutionalised and the bosses of those places must know about that, some may even benefit from it, but only show dismay when exposed and say they would investigate. Really? How come they never knew since the deals are so blatant, so glaring?
However, some may be encouraged by some people who demand the services in a hurry, so if they are willing to part with a huge sum of money, they could get it.
One day I went to renew my car papers and before I entered the premises one woman saw me, though she was not wearing a uniform so she was not a staff.
She, however, asked me if I was going to renew my papers, I said yes and she asked, “Do you know anybody?”
I said no, and went ahead. If I showed interest she might have connected me with a staff to help facilitate the process for me.
I got my papers renewed without any problem. Few years later a VIO stopped me, checked my papers and said as they would expire soon when I was going to renew them I should contact him. He gave me his phone number. Needless to say I never called him.
And the annoying thing is when the person that has done the process for you tries to ‘own’ you by telling you that every time you want that service you should go to him, and in the event you have to go through another person, that one would be offended for sidelining him!
Are all these shady deals part of their jobs and the government is looking another way, letting its institutions become a pool of corruption just because some people want to augment their salary? And at the end of the day, they go home with a lot of money not legitimately earned.
There are some jobs that people covet because the salary is high and people get very rich through other means and we take it as normal in those jobs to be rich. The government and the anti-corruption agencies know about it, but the claim is still on fighting corruption. They can start without looking far and make good examples of the culprits and put measures to prevent further occurrence.
But even in the agencies where some are dismissed or demoted when exposed the practice continues.
Other places such as courts and police stations are also where some people need to know somebody if they have cases there, even if they may not have to give money to anybody.
Though, in some instances things might not be as difficult as people assume. There was a time somebody died at home in an estate and they said there must be a police report before an ambulance could take the corpse to the hospital. Everybody was worried and they tried to get a ‘big’ policeman to help them to call somebody at the police station.
But the ‘big’ policeman said there was no problem, they should just go and report the death. They sent their officers and gave the report without any problem and without the name of any ‘big’ police man being bandied.
This may not always be the case and it is why people are afraid of going anywhere to access government rendered services.
We hope to see a day where you can just walk into any office to access services without being intimidated, harassed or belittled. You are entitled to the services, you pay where you should and go your way, happy that Nigeria has done away with the institutionalised obstacles of corruption preventing the country from developing.
