Bizman Blames Poor Living Conditions For Corruption

A businessman in
Port Harcourt, Paulinus Opara has attributed the poor living conditions of most Nigerians as the major factor that have encouraged several people to engage in corrupt practices and activities.
Opara, who was interacting with The Tide at the weekend, noted that the day-to-day responsibilities of an average worker in Nigeria, particularly the civil servants, for exceeded what his earning could handle.
He said that the ensuing dilemma had compelled the worker to engage in Machiavellian tactics to live up to expectation.
Imagine a situation where a civil servant with an annual salary below N1 million, has to pay up N1.5 million as school fees for each of his three wards in a year.
“Do you think such person, no matter how morally sound he is, will resist an opportunity to make money through illicit mean?
“Imagine a situation where a poor teacher is being offered a sum, which is more than his two months salary, to influence the result of a certain kid from a rich home, will the teacher be able to resist such an offer”, he asked.
Opara, however, said that in spite of all the societal pressure which predisposed people to corruption,  a principled person without greed would always avoid corrupt practices.
It would be recalled that President Goodluck Jonathan, at a recent conference of the Nigerian Economic Society in Abuja, regretted that Nigerians rewarded corrupt practices, but wanted everybody to frown upon people who possessed what they were not suppose to have.

Corlins Walter