EFCC, ICPC and our school children

Teachers have a crucial responsibility in moulding children in learning and character. To arouse the interest of learners in a lesson, an educator starts by a fun activity, which could be storytelling. I start my lessons by asking for the latest news and award marks to learners who respond accordingly. They do respond; they all listen to news because of the marks. But one day, one of them declared that there was  a disconnect between what they listen to in the news and what they see or perceive as reality.

The student referred to the arrest of actress Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission on February 1, 2023, and her subsequent handling over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for spraying and stepping on the Naira notes. While the student questioned the arrest and accused the two commissions of corruption, some of her classmates were not aware of anything wrong with spraying money in parties as they had all witnessed at different wedding receptions. One of them asked why only Omoseyin was arrested out of many other cases.

The EFCC last year stormed the venue of the presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress, APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to curb vote buying. Interestingly, no culprit was arrested despite widely reported cases of vote buying at the separate events. This could also be a reason why my SS1 student would see the anti-graft agency as a corrupt body.

Abuse of Naira notes has become an embarrassing culture promoted by the elites and the affluence in our society. It is imperative that parents lead by example and demonstrate respect for our national currencies. Similarly, the anti-graft agencies must remain consistent in their arrest and subsequent prosecution of the abusers of Naira notes. We must not allow school children to see our country as a temporary home riddled with disloyalty and dishonesty.

Uthman Qasim can be reached via  [email protected].