Namino Jonathan was woken one June night by a noise outside the house he shared with his parents and siblings. Startled, the 16-year-old saw a group of armed men stationed around the building. It was two am, and he was sure the family was about to be robbed. But the gang turned out to be a group of policemen. “Where is your father?” one of them demanded. “He is not around,” Jonathan replied. The men immediately stormed into the house, woke everyone and turned the household upside down.They then seized Jonathan and took him to the police station, where he was to spend the next ten days locked in a cell with criminal.
Discussing in class about Africa, I came to understand that in many countries there is corruption that takes place. However, I found it shocking when I read the article about people in Nigeria being arrested for no reason, other than the police wanting money from the families of the people they had arrested. A sixteen-year-old boy was arrested from the police because of this, yet originally it was supposed to be his father that got arrested but he wasn’t home at the time in order for that to happen. There was no trial even given, the police demanded money from the family in order for the boy to be released. I can’t imagine what this boy and many others went through during the time of their arrest. Considering that this country would participate in this injustice, obviously goes to show that it is not only corrupt but also poor. In light of the country not being able to make ends meet government wise, the families that have to pay large sums of money, may first off not even be able to afford bail for their family member, but if they can afford it then it can leave them in debt. It seems to me like a vicious cycle of corruption because if the government has to arrest people illegally to pay for itself, then it leaves the families they take from in debt and not able to make ends meet. Considering that the Nigeria government has to take money from its citizens illegally, I ponder if education there even is a priority. Education for many worldwide is a ticket out of their country, whether corrupt or not. If the government is illegally taking money from citizens, then I can imagine most of it is not going into education. That also leads to corruption in a government, when most of the population is not educated and cannot make a living off a career. There has been a multitude of efforts by countries like the United States to alleviate corrupt African countries through donations made through organizations. Every person deserves justice, so in time I hope to see that African counties that are considered corrupt do not have to worry about a family member taken in the middle of the night for no reason, other than government greed.