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CORRUPTION as a recurring factor in
Nigeria again came under focus on Wednesday with former President
Olusegun Obasanjo rapping the President Goodluck Jonathan administration
and the National Assembly for promoting corruption and poor governance.
“For quite some time, the covered and hushed-up corruption has had its toll on the economy,” Obasanjo said.
He said the increasing corruption under
Jonathan had damaged the economy, warning that “in the future, we will
have a budget that cannot be funded.”
“We may have to borrow to pay salaries
and allowances. Revenue allocation to states and local governments has
already drastically reduced. Capital projects at all levels may have to
be drastically cut or stopped,” he added.
The ex-President spoke in Abuja at the
presentation of books by a former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, retired Justice
Mustapha Akanbi. Obasanjo was the chairman of the occasion.
He said, “Nigeria cannot continue to
indulge in disdain of truth, elevation of corruption and incompetence,
reinforcement of failure, condonation of heinous crimes and celebration
of mediocrity, tribal bigotry, fomenting violence and anti-democratic
practices in states and National Assembly.
“Corruption in the National Assembly
also includes what they call constituency projects, which they give to
their agents to execute, but invariably, full payment is made with
little or no job done.
“In all these, if the executive is
absolutely above board, the offending members of the National Assembly
resort to subtle or open threat, intimidation and blackmail of the
executive.”
On the escalating insurgency by the
violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, Obasanjo said Jonathan’s delayed
understanding of the menace posed by the group caused the worsening
insecurity in the country.
He said, “Boko Haram is not simply a
menace based on religion or one directed to frustrate anybody’s
political ambition. It is essentially a socio-economic problem that is
tainted with religion. It is a gargantuan danger to the nation and to
all Nigerians.
“Initially, President Jonathan’s
understanding of Boko Haram phenomenon suffered from wrong reading and
wrong imputation. That is what led us to where we are today.
“It took even the President more than
three years to appreciate and understand that it is a terrible mix of
poor education or lack of education; misinterpretation of what Islam and
the Quran teach and stand for, poverty, unemployment, injustice, drug,
gun trafficking, human trafficking, fallout from Libya, revenge,
frustration, struggle against inequality, imitation of international
terrorism leading to training and part of the absorption by
international terrorist groups and general poor governance, including
corruption. I have always maintained that the solution to Boko Haram or
any organisation like it lies in the application of carrot and stick
approach.”
However, Obasanjo did not go
unchallenged at the forum as the Oba of Lagos, who was also the chief
launcher of the Akanbi books, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu, accused Obasanjo of
failing to account for the barrels of crude oil sales despite boasting
he would do so before he came to power.
Akinolu said Obasanjo, before he assumed
the Presidency in 1999, pledged to ensure transparency in the Nigerian
oil sector “but later reneged on his promise as the oil sector was
besieged with quantum corruption.”
“Obasanjo failed to address the problems
with the number of crude oil per barrel produced daily; how many
barrels are exported for sale as well as the use of the proceeds”, the
monarch alleged.
The ex-President fired back that it was
during his tenure that allocation to states became transparent with the
publication of monthly revenue to the three tiers of government.
He said his government “also worked out modalities to enthrone accountability and transparency in the oil sector.”
Vice-Presient Namadi Sambo, who was
represented by his Senior Special Assistant (Monitoring), Mr. Femi
Oladele, commended Justice Akanbi’s effort on anti-corruption and
commitment to service.
He said by carving a niche for himself
in the fight against graft, the jurist had left indelible footprints in
the sands of time.
In his remarks, Akanbi observed that
although there were allegations of witch – hunt during the Obasanjo
administration, the ex-President never interfered with his job in the
ICPC.
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