Nigeria seen as celebrating corruption

Posted by admin | 9 years ago | 2,511 times



As Nigeria marks its 54th Independence Day anniversary, a former minister of petroleum, Tam David-West has concluded that there was no reason to celebrate, but that Nigerian rulers will always contrive reasons to celebrate. “If one is to be realistic’ he said ‘there is nothing to celebrate, but Nigerians like to celebrate let them go ahead and celebrate”.

The former minister went on to state that such has always been the case with Nigeria because its rulers were always comfortable celebrating corruption year after year. In an exclusive interview he had with Factnewsonline, David-West described Nigeria as the only country in the world where governments budget for corruption.

Part of his words read: “Nigeria is the only country in the world that makes provision for corruption in its budget. Every year the government put money aside for petroleum subsidy, which does not exist, and that is making provision for corruption. So if they want to celebrate, let them go ahead and celebrate” he said.

However, David-West, who is a Professor of Virology, expressed sadness that corruption and stealing have become the country’s national ethos, and that governments have not shown any interest in combating it. “Stealing is now a national ethos; corruption is a national ethos. Now a country where a president said corruption and stealing are not the same, what do you say about such a country; what do you do about such a country. You can also say that Satan and Lucifer are not the same.”

He lamented how low the country has become in all indices of development and progress. He concluded that all governments in the country, since independence, have failed everyone, even the founding fathers. He explained: “They have desecrated everyone that gave his life to build this country. Government after government has desecrated their memories, even the founding fathers. This is not the kind of country they wanted”.

According to him, things have gone so bad that a rag-tag army of insurgents would kidnap hundreds of girls and government could not do anything about it; the President could no longer visit some parts of the country, and that Independence Day parade could no longer be held in public.

“Boko Haram is so powerful the President cannot celebrate Independence Day at Eagles Square, he had to celebrate it at Aso Rock. He cannot go to Borno State to meet with parents of the abducted girls, he had to invite them to Abuja, and he still says he wants to celebrate. Let him go ahead and celebrate” he said finally.

 


Readers Comments

comment(s)

No comments yet. Be the first to post comment.


You may also like...