“if God judge count the iniquity of the wicked, who shall stand?”

I seat here watching and listening to intermittently the CEOs of banks in the U.S giving comprehensive account of their transactions with regards to the bailout they got from the government a while ago. I see seated all the CEOs of the big and mightly banks. The JP Morgan Chases, Goldman Sachhs of this world are ably represented as they say what and what they have done with the moneys given to them an what amount of profit or loss they have made.

The idea behind the committee that is holding them accountable is to find out whether the CEOs can be trusted as proper custodians of public funds and whether or not they will sacrifice all that is needed to ensure that Americans have access to proper credit again credibly in the bid to grow the sunken economy.

The last time some of them were told to give account, questions fired at them bothered on their own personal sacrifices and those of the management with regards to crises situations. Questions like “Did you arrive by private jet or did you take the train or did you fly first class?” were thrown at them to see what lengths they were willing to go to indicate their empathy with Americans and the American economy crisis at present. Those whose personal spending habits didn’t reflect what they drafted on paper as reports were seriously reprimanded.

And then suddenly, with tears in my eyes, I ask myself “when will this happen in Nigeria?” When will the Jim Ovias and Tony Elumelus be brought before an equitable committee to give an account of how they have put public funds to use?

When will there be a harmonised financial year end for banks so that all the buffering up of accounts from one bank to another and mistatement of accounts by so-called auditors who have been bribed stop?

When will even the CBN governor be able brought to accountability on his projections, his statements and the state of the economy as a fall out of his policies or inactions?

This hand-in-glove arrangement that the banks have with the CBN governor such that the true state of health of the banks are not disclosed despite the fact that billions of naira of public funds are at risk may have been exposed by then.

When will those who are in charge of leading, driving and growing our economy be brought to accountability in the face of their woeful failures?

I can’t wait. I just can’t. Even the Bank of England governor can attest that the nation is in deep recession. Our own CBN governor can’t even state the banks that are “living dead” and find a solution to rescuing the public’s funds.

Who will bell the banks? and when? In the New Nigeria, I believe all that should be will be.

I got reminded yesterday of a particular time in the Bible days when the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, had a couple of dreams that troubled him but lacke the interpretation of it. In fact, he went to all lengths to get an interpretation. His astrologers and magicians stood a risk of death if they couldn’t produce an interpretation for him. He was so troubled by the dream because he had a premonition that it had to do with the state of his empire. In those days, Egypt was the headquarters of the world.

Anyway, ultimately, a young man who was in prison had the skill and spirit to give an exact and acceptable interpretation to the kings dream. In giving the interpretation, he was also promoted from being a prisoner to becoming a prime minister. Well, the King perceived that only one which such a clear direction on what to do to recover from the looming crises as predicted by the dream could stir the empire on the right path. So he made him ruler of Egypt.

This singular move helped save more than half the world from famine and starvation.

Yesterday, all the world watched in anticipation as two very important and pivotal people in the U.S economic framework spoke on the direction of the economy going forward.

Investor’s showed their lack of trust in the plan rolled out by Secretary of the Treasury, Geithner, as they took drastic risk aversion moves, selling rapidly stocks that they owned and moving into more secure investments like Gold and the U.S dollar. This happened despite the passage of the stimulus plan of $834billion dollars at the senate.

People are not as optimistic as Obama might want them to be especially because the Secretary of the Treasury didn’t delve into details in his provision of the intervention of the Treasury with regards to rescuing the economy. He didn’t say what the public hadn’t known before. Infact, the bailout news seemed only like theory since no clear practical plan on how to effect it followed.

As a result oil prices took a dive and I got my fingers burnt as I had taken a long position on the commodities market and stubbornly refused to shift ground, certain that the market would rebound. Well, rebound it did not. Prices sank to as low as $38 per barrel. Stock prices also took a plunge as investors sought more safe vehicles like gold which rose as a result of the demand it witnessed.

If confidence is low in America with regards to the bailout strategy of the American government, then I’d say there’s a big emergency looming because the only way the whole country can get out of this recession is when collectively, everyone believes in and works towards achieving a financial upturn by following steadfastly an acceptable plan of recovery laid out by the government.

So, responsibility lies with the government or individuals that have influence and the ears of the government to map out clear strategies with actionable steps so that the people can confidently follow those steps on their way to a sound recovery.

But if the government doesn’t know and can’t find the way, who will show it to us?