President Muhammadu Buhari should admit, today, not tomorrow, that his so-called war against corruption is unserious, tiresome, illegitimate, hypocritical, and a waste of Nigerians’ time. Right away, he ought to end the charade that claims to be a war. And then he should seek the best help he can find to focus on Nigeria’s grave economic and political crises.

One significant reason for the administration’s ineffectual war is a crisis of conception. The soundest, most enduring move against corruption is to facilitate a society built on the stalwart foundations of the rule of law. A government that disdains the law, that is selective in its adherence to court orders, is itself corrupt and, know it or not, fertilizes corruption. An administration that discovers corrupt people only in opposition parties, seldom in the ranks of its own political affiliates, is hypocritical. Such an administration may declare at the top of its lungs that it’s warring against corruption, but such protestation amounts to little more than lip service.

Mr. Buhari has long lost the moral capital to wage a serious anti-corruption war. An administration that has invited questionable characters to serve in its inner chambers, and one that looks the other way when legitimate questions about the financial assets of its functionaries are raised, such an administration can hardly be taken seriously when it proclaims itself a foe of corruption. As the Nigerian parlance goes, such a government is engaged in war “for mouth.”

Last week, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that 4.58 million Nigerians had lost their jobs since President Muhammadu Buhari’s inauguration. I’d suggest, in fact, that the picture of job losses is much worse than the NBS’ statistics suggest. As we know, the majority of state governments and local government councils are delinquent in paying their employees. The chief executive of a medium-level firm told me his company has had to lay off half of its workforce- more than 70 people. And it’s a struggle each month to pay the salaries of those who remain on the roll.

One sees little evidence that Buhari’s team has viable answers. I’d suggest, for a start, that it abandon the farcical pretense of fighting a war against corruption. Cut that drama that has produced no conviction of consequence in more than a year. Just stop it, period! And then, urgently, seek the help of knowledgeable people with expertise in steering an economy out of a stormy recession.