Apart from barefaced theft of public funds, corruption has also been
cited as the main reason for poor policy choices, the prevalence of
poverty in the midst of plenty and waste of resources in the country,
according to President Muhammadu Buhari in his Goodwill message to the
Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria earlier today in Port Harcourt.
In a message delivered on his behalf by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo, SAN, the President declared that “corruption in our country is
so endemic that it constitutes a parallel system. It is the primary reason
for poor policy choices, waste and of course bare- faced theft of public
resources.”
While further clarifying his administration’s commitment to the war
against corruption, the President said “our fight against corruption is
not just a moral battle for virtue and righteousness in our land, it is a
fight for the soul and substance of our nation.”
Giving an insight into the way corruption destroys the nation, the
President told the Second Plenary of the Conference that “it is the main
reason why a potentially prosperous country struggles to feed itself and
provide jobs for millions.”
In the same way the President posited that “the hundreds of thousands of
deaths in the infant, maternal mortality statistics, the hundreds of
thousands of annual deaths from preventable diseases are traceable to the
greed and corruption of a few. This is why we must see it as an
existential threat, if we don’t kill it, it will kill us.”
On security, the President disclosed that “we are on course to militarily
rout Boko Haram, and make them incapable of taking and holding territory,
” adding that suicide bombings in some parts of the North East are the
desperate acts of the terrorists to create a sense that they are still in
play.
He assured that “with vigilance and good local intelligence we will make
those cowardly acts practically impossible.”
Briefing the conference on the economy, the President disclosed that “we
must change the paradigm of thinking about our economy and the ultimate
good of the majority. While we create an enabling environment for free
enterprise, we must reason, plan and budget with the understanding that
almost 2/3 of our people are extremely poor, and must be helped first to
survive and then to fully participate in the economy of the nation.”
Consequently, he continued, “we must create a safety nets for the very
poor and vulnerable while ensuring that social spending is also a direct
investment in the economy. We must invest substantially in relevant
education, teacher training, and vocational and entrepeneurial traning.”
The President who had attended the First Plenary of this year’s Conference
in February as the presidential candidate of the APC, expressed a sense of
honour at the invitation, and delivered to the Conference, “warm
felicitations on behalf of the Government and people of our great nation
Nigeria.”
He praised the Catholic Bishops noting that he has “always been impressed
with the social consciousness exhibited by the Catholic Bishop’s
Conference.”
The President praised the Bishops’ Conference that their “bold critical
interventions at various crucial moments in our national journey have
helped to caution, admonish and ultimately stabilize the polity. This is
as it should be. This nation belongs to us all, leaders in every sector
owe it to this generation to contribute in building a good society.”
He concluded by asking for daily prayers while promising that “for us
elected into government we have since set about the daunting tasks before
us, with vigour and commitment in the full assurance that by the grace of
God our country will become safe, secure, prosperous and virtuous.”
In his speech, the President of the Conference, Most Revd Igantius
Kaigama, the Archbishop of Jos commended the Buhari administration’s
commitment to the fight against corruption and praised the formation of a
Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption.
According to him, “the president is dead right that if we don’t kill
corruption, corruption will kill us.” He also prayed that God will give th
citizens of Nigeria a new heart.