A recent WhatsApp post I read about someone who lied that his wife had just been delivered of a baby and they had nothing to eat, made me wonder if cheating and dishonesty are not inherently in our blood. Everyone is out to swindle you if they get the chance.
A recent personal experience reaffirmed my way of thinking. There's a small mosque where we pray. So, we contribute the little money we have to run the mosque as it is everywhere else. During this fasting period, the small generator we use for preaching at night knocked. An estimate for the overhaul came to ₦4,500.00. When I was given the estimate, I asked if anyone had contributed anything towards the repair so that I could settle the rest. I was asking the Imam of the mosque and one of the caretakers, who was assigned to take the generator to the mechanic. When the Imam tried to answer me, the other guy immediately prevented the Imam from talking and told me that nobody had contributed anything. I, immediately, sensed that something was fishy, so I told him to shut up and asked the Imam what he was trying to say.
The Imam, being God fearing, told me that, actually, someone had contributed a litre of engine oil to be used after the repair, which cost ₦1,300.00. I instantly realized that the guy wanted me pay the whole amount so that he could go and sell the engine oil and put the money to his personal use. The Imam further explained that the guy had actually told him not to mention the donated engine oil to me so that they could go and sell it later. So, I collected the engine oil and gave the guy the whole amount to go and effect the repair.
When he realized that the game was up, he still did not give up, but changed his tactics. So, he went and paid for the repair but refused to buy the engine oil. Instead, he told the mechanic to put back the dead engine oil.
We didn't know this until the generator knocked again after six days. It was when we went and enquired about what happened that the mechanic told us that it was that guy who told him to put back the dead engine oil after the repair.
So you see, almost everyone in Nigeria from the top down, will cheat if given half a chance. I can write a book on my personal experiences of people I've worked with whom I caught cheating; a cleaner will steal as little as detergent or room freshener in the office; a driver will connive with mechanic to cheat or he will pocket the money when asked to buy fuel… I know a clerk who was asked to purchase a few items for the office, knowing that it was his habit to cheat, another officer was asked to accompany him so that he couldn't inflate the prices. After selecting the items to be paid for, he typed the price he wanted the man selling the items to mention, turning his back to the guy that accompanied him, he asked, "how much?", at the same time pointing at the price he typed on the phone to the guy he was asking, the phone placed against his chest… While his companion couldn't see what he was doing, the retailer saw the price he was pointing at…
Yet, it's these same people you'll hear abusing leaders and calling them thieves.