Who is the victim and who is the culprit?

Here’s a version of a popular story. I picked it up from the car radio on my way to IBB University Lapai on Thursday.

A headmistress commissioned a photographer to take passport photographs of all the children in the school.

The photographer wanted N10 per child. But the headmistress wanted a volume discount and haggled the price down to N8 per pupil. The photographer agreed.

Thereafter, the headmistress went to the teachers to tell them to charge the pupils N15 for the passport. The teachers however told the students that they were to pay N20.

One of the children, Yaro, went home and told the mother that the school wanted them to bring N25 for the passport.

When the father came back home, the mother convinced him that his son was to pay N50 for the passport. The father agreed.

Two questions:

Who is the most corrupt person in the story and why?

   Who is the victim in the story?

Following are the answers of my friends on the social media.

Victor Kulugh:

This story attempts to bring to limelight the reality of the consequences of a corrupt society, it is like a food chain and at some point, the predator becomes the prey and it goes on. All of them are corrupt in equal measure without regard to the value of the amount they added.Tthe victim of course is the entire society which may eventually be unable to carry the weight of the evil it has brought upon itself via corruption. One may be unable to say what the father would have done if he had another person to transfer the cost to. This indeed defines the typical Nigerian society.

MA Salisu:

All are corrupt But the mother of the child is the most corrupt person because she inflated the money exponentially.

The photographer is the victim. But the father is mostly affected and highly victimised.

I give this a circle of corruption. A typical of our society.

Hafiz Isah Chado:

The victim is the Photographer, whose actual worth was not paid and was obviously cheated, however the culprit(s) who are lined in a series of geometric inflation of the actual cost. The headmistress, the teacher, the boy Yaro, and the Mother all were corrupt for their own personal gain.

The father however is willing to pay whatever amount for the child’s education.

This is the situation we live in!

Yunus Abugi:

In the midst of a corrupt society, patriarchy has placed so much burden on most men living in a vicious cycle of guilt.

Wushishi Habibu:

The most corrupt is the mother and the victim is the father.

Abubakar Lamido Abubakar:

1. The most corrupt is the mother, because she increase 100% of what her son told her. The headmistress added only N7 Naira to what the photographer asked for, while the Teacher and his pupil added only N5 naira each.

The Victim is the father, because he holds all the burden from the Headmistress to his wife.

Waziri Mohammed:

They are all corrupt. And for the victim, the father was.

Jamilu Ibn Muhammad:

1. They are all corrupt and the most corrupt to me is the initiator I.e the head mistress and having regards to her role as a teacher.
2. The victim here is the society in general as we all affected and in particular the father.

Bashiru Musa:

1. They’re all corrupt less the father
2. The father is the victim.

Sheikh Sheikh:

The headmistress is the corrupt and the father is the victim.

Ghaniyyah Temitope Jaiyeola:

The most corrupt is the mother while the child is the victim.

Hamza Waziri:

The photographer and the father are the victims, the mother took advantage of the situation, probably, that is the only way she could get money from her husband for her other needs, while, the principal and the teachers are corrupt!

Yakub Muhammad:

The most corrupt is the mother and the victim is the father.

Dr. Maje Abdulhamid:

Culprit: Headmistress, teachers, the student and the mother.

Victim: The photographer and the father.

Manu Haruna Isah:

The father is the victim but from mother down to the headmistress are all corrupt..and more so, the school system has fallen to that extent.

I.H.E Daggash:

The most corrupt person among them all is the headmistress who hiked the price in the first place. If she had not done that she would have quried the teachers for corrupt act but because she was found wanting she couldn’t do otherwise than to allowed them have their way and the victim is the father.

Danbala Garba:

This is almost in ‘pari materia’ with how contracts are acquired. I was told, a contract for the renovation of a house in an army barrack was billed at 25 million by the contractor, the brigade commander however inflated the amount to fifty million and sent it to the GOC for approval, the GOC inturn increased the amount to 100 million then sent it to Abuja for final approval, by the time the approval came back from Abuja it was awarded at 150 million and the contractor was asked to cash and return the money to the brigade commander who takes his cut and return the balance to the GOC who takes his and channeled the balance to Abuja.

They are all corrupt!

Ibraheem Birniwa:

In my own opinion, no one is as corrupt as the Yaro who went home and told his mother that the school wanted them to pay N25 for the passport even though, his mother doubled that as her margin.

A school child who’s referred to as pupil is someone who hasn’t enrolled into Secondary School yet. If such child can develop this dishonest and fraudulent mind at that very tender age, then he would definitely grow up to become someone very corrupt if not criminal.

Muhammad Abubakar Salihu:

The headmistress is the most corrupt and the father is the victim.