COMMENTARY

Lack of honesty: Why people use money to buy morality

By Odimegwu Onwumere

The disposition to defraud or deceive is tendency that is rife among the Nigerian people. The January 9 to 16 protests by Nigerians over the increment in the fuel price was an expression of accumulated anger in the people. The distrust of the people came as a result of perceived lack of honesty on the side of the government. 

The government spoke from both sides of its mouth and the people did not know which talk was to be taken seriously. The people did not take the government seriously, because who lies for you will lie against you.

Not only in Nigeria, the world over has become a beehive of distrust. The boss and the employee are always suspicious of the other. No one wants to be a victim of the other growing fat to his or her peril. There are dishonestly arrowheads everywhere. People are succeeding financially through dishonest means. They thank their God or whatever for ‘blessing’ them. They amass millions of dollars to themselves while the financially poor people are wreathing in agonies. Companies pay million dollars as bribes to obtain contracts. They see this as ‘business’ and not ‘dishonesty.’
Dishonesty is the bane of nations and peoples of the present world. It does not gladden the heart. It is worsening the problems and troubles of the world, relegating transparency to the background. The level of dishonesty christened corruption is on the increase in our world.
No matter the ‘successes’ people feel that they are making through dishonest means, such wealth is for a while. It does not gladden the heart. The bearer is always subjected to intense pressure and thoughts. The bearer could be building mansions and buying state-of-the-art cars, but not inwardly comfortable. This is why dishonest rich people hardly empower individuals with money privately. But they would donate millions at occasions so as to buy the pity and admiration of the people for societal and political publicity.
No matter all that, a dishonest person is an empty shell of useless memory. All of us, without doubt, crave and enjoy having more money. This indulgence is to enable us have additional enjoyments. But it pays to resist dishonest gains. It is the dishonest means of making money in the government that has made the world to suffer severe financial downgrading in the recent time. There are competitions everywhere. This brews the arch of dishonesty in people.
The elected officials of the world democracies are resorting to dishonest performances. In the developing world, they award contracts they don’t execute, make promises they don’t abide by, and so on. To them, dishonest people, they feel that if they are not dishonest, they hardly can move on; they feel that they will be ruining their lives and their companies; they feel that they cannot mix up with those that matter in the society; they even suggest to those they feel are honest to join them in the execution of their inane way of making money.
How many people are thinking about the aged-long philosophy that one honest man has reduced the number of dishonest people? Rather, people think that there is something like 'a half truth'. What they do not know is that this is a whole lie. People think that it is morally upright to tell white lies. This is why our world is growing blind. Do people still believe that honesty is the rarest wealth anyone can possess?
The dishonest is just afraid. This is the reason he or she tells lies. He or she is afraid of the unknown, what others will think and say. But dishonest makes one to fear most what he or she is telling lies about to defend. People stretch the truth to ruin it. They don’t have respect for the truth. They forgot that lies multiply when truth is divided. It is sad that some public servants feel that it’s a culture to demand for GIFTS before they can carry along with their official duties. They see every transaction to be a way of smiling to the bank, before they could perform. They see dishonest money they made as a ‘tip’, not a ‘bribe’. They give reasons to distinguish the two. They consider their action as normal.
There is nothing good in people ignoring morals to make it to the top. Dishonesty breaks self-image, no matter that people are using money in recent times to buy morality, after years of indulgence in immoral practices. In some towns and villages, the dishonest people have bought their way to become kings, mayors, governors, and so on. They are even bestowed with National Awards. There is no justification for dishonesty. It’s morally offensive. It makes one to struggle with his or her inner being. You may call that God.
Nevertheless, honesty should not be perceived as something that when you win a (dishonest) case in the court of law, then you are honest. Truth is that no matter how honesty is perverted, it will always prevail against dishonesty. It is morally wrong when people advise others to do (evil) others are doing because of the situation of the perilous times wholesomely facing us. How many people are thinking that when people are honest they don’t tend to have reason to compete?

 Odimegwu Onwumere is the Coordinator, Concerned Non-Indigenes In Rivers State.