Dr.Goodluck Jonathan, the President of
Federal Republic of Nigeria, while declaring open the 54th annual conference of
the Nigerian Economic Society in Abuja on Tuesday said, “I want a society where
all of us will frown upon people who come up with what they are not supposed to
have.
“(If) a young man who just started a
job and within six months or a year comes up with a car of N7m to N15m and you
clap for him, then you are rewarding corruption.’’
“So for us as a nation to bring
corruption down, it is not just blaming government or blaming the police. but
all individuals must frown upon people who have what they are not supposed to
have; who live in houses they are not supposed to live in; who
drive cars they are not supposed to drive and who wear expensive
suits they are not supposed to wear.’’
“And until Nigerians are able to
do this, I don’t think we will get to where we want to go.”
Advising that the war against
corruption should not be left to the government alone’’.
The President said “ When you
talk about corruption, the private sector is involved; the public sector is
involved; even individuals. But I wouldn’t want to mention names so that
I will not be attacked.
“But I know that if
collectively we don’t reward corruption, people would not be
attracted to corrupt practices but when we all reward corruption, then of
course, we will be tempted to go in that direction.” Said the President,
This address by the President, shows
that both private and public sectors are the main perpetrators of fraud and corruption
in Nigeria.
On
Friday,September 20,2013,in Lagos,The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, told Justice Lateefa Okunnu of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja that
Prof. Pat Utomi, the first defence witness in the trial of a former Managing
Director of BankPHB, now Keystone Bank, Francis Atuche and two others, took
loan facilities to the tune of N59million at different times from the bank during
his tenure as the vice chairman of the bank.
Kemi Pinheiro, SAN.the EFCC counsel, said
while cross-examined that ‘’Utomi took facilities worth Fifty -Nine Million
Naira from the bank during the tenure of Atuche. He said a forty million naira
facility was granted to the witness on July 3, 2008, and another draft of ten
million naira was also raised on September 23, 2008 in favour of the witness.
He said the witness, through a company, U R Maintenance Limited, took another
facility of five million naira. Pinheiro also said one Emmanuel Utomi; a
relative of the witness received a cheque of four million naira allegedly on behalf
of the witness from Clairemount Management Services, a company in which Atuche
is alleged to be the sole signatory.’’
With this revelations,
it is now crystal clear that we do not have any man or woman of integrity in
Nigeria.
No comments:
Post a Comment