Since assuming office on May 29, 2015, President Buhari has lived up to his campaign promise of tackling corruption headlong and providing a fresh template for instilling transparency and accountability. Nigeria could be a model for fighting this monster that gobbles up some $2.6 trillion annually from the global economy.

President Buhari comes across as being credible, with an admirably high level of personal integrity. But given the complex nation he heads and its challenges, his virtues and style should be enriched with a healthy dose of balancing, fairness, compassion and a common touch. Only that way will Nigerians enjoy the benefits of the much-touted change.

It is difficult to fault Chido Onumah’s contention in his new book. It’s no longer news that in Nigeria there is deep and widespread frustration with the conduct of federalism which is easily linked to a federal architecture that is responsible for the multi-dimensional crises of poor governance, ethno-political conflict and socio-economic underdevelopment that the country has been contending with for about five decades now.

Gone – maybe forever – are the days when thirst for knowledge to improve oneself and to contribute to a better society drove young people to seek higher education. These days university students and products of related institutions would only be able to perfectly reel off the names of rappers, footballers and DJs as well as post countless meaningless material on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and the like – with little understanding or interest in the realities of their society.

As this most unfortunate and shameful incident shows, all that talk about the Nigerian military being a disciplined institution is balderdash. What you get, in the end, is a military bursting at the seams with impunity and heavily laden at the top with corruption. This unwholesome, putrid mix is the definite make-up of Nigeria’s military.