In what commentators have described as a "rare" event with the hushed reverence normally reserved for solar eclipses, Nigeria has actually convicted a senior government official for corruption. Saleh Mamman, former Minister of Power, was sentenced in absentia to 75 years in prison for laundering 33.8 billion naira — approximately $24.6 million — before being arrested days later, presumably after someone remembered he still existed.

The conviction has reignited a debate in Nigeria that recurs with the same dependable frequency as the corruption itself: namely, whether the country's anti-corruption apparatus is a genuine law enforcement mechanism or an elegantly maintained stage set used selectively against officials who have fallen from political favour. Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has, over the years, proven remarkably effective at prosecuting yesterday's powerful people and curiously ineffective at disturbing today's.

Mamman served as minister during a period when Nigeria's power sector continued its long and distinguished tradition of consuming enormous quantities of public investment while delivering electricity with the reliability of a coin flip. His 75-year sentence is, theoretically, enough time for Nigeria to finally build a functioning grid. Analysts describe both outcomes as optimistic.