Nigeria, July 27 -- I watched a video recently. Since it came without a caption, let us simply call it the "inter-generational curse" video. Fortunately, what matters is not the name by which it is called, but the story that it tells. This is the story of a people making the same mistakes over and over again without learning any lesson therefrom, talk less of making amends.

One mistake that has been repeated times without number is the lackadaisical handling of scandals. Since wrongdoers rarely get punished, bad behaviour seems to have become a tradition, if not a badge of honour.

Indeed, no day passes in which ordinary citizens are not regaled with stories of malfeasance in high and low places. The script is by now familiar, with the g...