In a delegation of the Northern States Pentecostal Bishops Forum in his office in Abuja, the nation’s capital, Professor Osinbajo said: “There is no country in the world that can face the kind of stealing that has taken place in Nigeria without having to deal with the consequences, including the current state of the economy”. “This country has been badly governed. We are dealing for instance with the embezzlement of funds to the tune of $15 billion in one sector alone,” he told the Bishops.
Many critics have asked the government to focus on the present and the future and stop blaming previous administrations, but Professor Osinbajo said his government would have to consider the past, as it had a lot to do with the current state of the economy. “We have not turned attention to the oil and gas sector, where the former Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor alleged that $20 billion was stolen. We must condemn and stand up against this level of corruption. It is the single most important reason of the current state of the country. We can’t ignore it,” stressed
A statement by a spokesman for the Vice President, Laolu Akande, said that the Vice President had called on Christians and religious leaders generally to condemn corruption “openly”. “We can’t say because they are Christians or Muslims we won’t condemn those involved in corruption. The country has been systematically destroyed.
Our currency depreciated because we don’t have the reserves to back it. At the height of the oil boom, there were no savings,” he pointed out.
Witnessed Improvements
In addition to the massive fall in oil prices, the Vice President stated that pipeline vandalism had worsened the situation with Nigeria losing about one million barrels of oil per day for up to six months now.
The vandalism, according to him, has equally cut power supply short since gas pipelines were also destroyed. That is the background for the sort of situation we find ourselves,” Professor Osinbajo asserted while expressing renewed hope that “God surely has a plan for this country. We (as a government) are open, honest, transparent and we shall use the resources of this country very well”.
He pointed out that the recent GDP figures released last week indicated clearly there was growth in agriculture and solid minerals. According to him “agriculture and solid minerals have witnessed improvements”.
The Social Investment Programmes, according to the Vice President, are on course, reassuring the nation “that very soon the 500,000 jobs scheme will take off,” alongside other schemes.
Slow Delivery Of Justice
On security issues which the bishops also raise, he said that President Buhari had given clear instructions to the security agencies to deal with anyone regardless of status who carries arms and also deal with anyone that causes and perpetrates violence of any kind. The President has said twice in the past fortnight that anyone who commits atrocities must be arrested and tried and he has demonstrated that resolve,” Professor Osinbajo stressed.
In his words: “The justice system is very slow, not just in some cases, but generally extremely slow. For example, it takes for ever before a murder trial gets to court”. Earlier, one of the bishops, Archbishop John Praise Daniel, expressed the support of the forum for the diversification of the economy by the Buhari presidency, while calling for access to lower interest rates. They had also asked the Federal Government to checkmate the violent herdsmen, create ranches in the states and promote religious harmony.
Archbishop Daniel told the Vice President that members of the forum had been actively involved in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
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