By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja
In the year 2022, Nigerian female singer, named, Lade sang a song whose chorus became a hit: “Adulthood Na Scam”!!!
It is not only adulthood that is a scam in Nigeria, it appears that we as Nigerians have a disingenuous talent to convert the most innocuous of activities into a scam!!!
As Nigerians we seem to have built a reputation for scams, a reputation that is not only limited to the territory of Nigeria but international!!!
We are reputed to have converted the age old habit of “pen pals” into a multi-billion naira scam called “romance mail scam a.k.a “yahoo-yahoo”!!!
Even when COVID-19 was ravaging the world, some opportunist Nigerians saw it as an opportunity to cash out through the “palliative scam” both here in Nigeria and in the United States of America!!!
Apart from the Indians, if there is any international prize for the greatest scammer, it would perhaps be won by a Nigerian.
This article focuses on another form of scam which many Nigerians persons are not aware of.
The scam by officials of the Nigerian Correctional Centres who are employed to keep offenders in custody and off the streets of Nigeria because the courts have pronounced such inmates as dangerous.
Now we are hearing that the officials of the Nigerian Correctional Centres are accepting bribes and unleashing these same convicted criminals back to the streets of Nigeria to commit more crimes as we are hearing in the case of the Delta State Correctional Centres.
When Very Dark Man (VDM) raised this alarm last year, he was summoned by the National Assembly, EFCC and the Nigerian Correctional Centres to provide “evidence” of his claim that BOBRISKY did not spend the period of his/her conviction inside the facility of the Nigerian Correctional Centre at Lagos (but in an hotel)!!!
BOBRISKY’s crime was a “victimless” crime, mutilation of the Nigerian currency (naira) by spraying it, so it is forgivable if such an offender spends the period of incarceration in an hotel room instead of prison. Even if he/she is a repeat offender and commits the same crime again, it is a “victimless” crime. The victim is the naira notes and our national pride and ego.
However, it is altogether a different matter, when those convicted to death for murder and other felonies, who are on death row are allowed to sneak out of the said correctional centres into the cities to commit more crimes and return to the same correctional centres. And then have the effrontery to share their loot with officials of the Nigerian Correctional Centres and fellow inmates.
“There is no fraud worse than a betrayal of trust” is a common saying, as it implies that when someone you trust personally deceives you, it is considered the most egregious form of fraud due to the added emotional damage beyond just financial loss.”
We are going too far, far too far!!!!
Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja,
Executive Director,
Nigerian Law Society (NLS)
