By Frank Tietie
What is wrong in being bankrolled after all? And who is there that is not being bankrolled? It amounts to self-deception to think that any good work of significance is not bankrolled or being bankrolled.
Many civil society organisations, NGOs, political movements, religious activities, media narratives, activisms, advocacies and the list is endless of the large spectrum of human activities that are normally bankrolled to achieve whatever the aims of the originators of the ideas are and that of their stakeholders.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines ‘bankroll’ as _to support a person or activity financially_ . The questions therefore are who bankrolls and for what purposes?
When a journalist asked Femi Fani-Kayode about who was bankrolling his much hyped tour of some southern states, his harsh reaction simply betrayed what he wanted to hide. But he didn’t have to hide the fact that he was being bankrolled and he didn’t need to be angry in the least about the truth that he was actually being bankrolled.
First, let’s stop this wrong impression about a strange but growing brand of altruism that is being bandied all over the place. Much of the good we do is for self and we will ever, by nature, hardly get involved in doing any good act without a sense of self interest. It is important we realize this early and operate sincerely.
I have come to that painful realization that we do everything for reward. We even serve God and do what is right or become righteous in expectation of some reward. So the very brilliant, admirable and debonair Fani-Kayode should have humbly acknowledged that indeed, he was being bankrolled. He didn’t need to say who and for what purpose he was being bankrolled. That is more honourable, dignifying and truthful.
For example, who amongst us does NGO or CSO work for free? So no one should create that impression that some of us are altruists working for charity. And that includes people like me who occasionally run charitable causes many of which are in the public domain.
The other day, I took some of my money and a whole lot more money from my friends, clients and admirers and gathered significant financial resources to give to nursing mothers in order to help feed babies during the 1st phase of the Covid-19 Lockdown. It was apparent to all those who worked with me and to others who read my published reports that I gave out all the money that I gathered, to those women and children. I never kept a kobo for my personal needs or that of my children. In fact I just got paid some small money for a UNDP consultancy job at the beginning of the lockdown so I was a bit above the harsh economic waters of that period.
However still, it will be wrong to describe me as an altruistic or charitable person. Don’t be deceived. When I made all that sacrifice, secretly within me, I cherished the popularity, the goody goody feeling and the positive public perception that the baby feeding cause gave me.
Let’s get this straight. For every good cause that I have done, if at all it was really good, it was paid for or bankrolled mainly by the people around me whether rich or poor, whether in government or in private business and they are people with interests that my causes serve. They know themselves.
Whether in funding the annual Human Rights Fiesta or engaging in one public interest litigation or the other, I and most times, CASER have always been bankrolled. We have nothing to hide. The question is for what have I been bankrolled? It is there in the open. What I do and what CASER does are there for all to judge.
I sincerely wish to be bankrolled in order to do more. I wish CASER is bankrolled to set up a Strategic Public Interest Litigation Secretariat (SPILS) to bring attention to critical areas requiring social change through social engineering in Nigeria. I have submitted many unreplied proposals to that effect.
I wish to be bankrolled in order to occasionally host Chatham House styled debates on issues of human and social development in Nigeria. I also believe in the progressive use of GMO technology to eliminate global hunger, especially in Africa and generally to improve the human condition hence, I will accept to be bankrolled to promote such technology.
The next question is who bankrolls? In all the need to be bankrolled, I will not accept money to promote Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual & Transgender (LGBT) behaviour in Nigeria or any part of the world. So I may not be taking some of those George Soros money to that effect. However, make no mistake about my ever willingness to defend the human rights of LGBT persons, anytime or anyday. In fact, I will always defend the human rights of LGBT persons only just because they are human.
Let’s stop the self-deception. There is nothing wrong in being bankrolled. Only get bankrolled legally for good causes. Don’t be ashamed of it and be ready to acknowledge it, if you must, not by force but freely whenever confronted with it as a question.
To determine what’s a good or bad cause for which to be bankrolled, apply conscience and may be, always with a little jurisprudence.
▪︎ Tietie, Human Rights Lawyer & Executive Director, Citizens Advocacy for Social & Economic Rights (CASER)
writes from Abuja