Nigerians Encourage Corruption -Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has lamented
that in spite of institutional reforms aimed
at fighting corrupt practices, Nigerians,
through their actions encourage graft.

He also said both the public and private
sectors were involved in corruption but
stated that he would not give out their
names "so that I won't be attacked."

The President spoke while declaring open
the 54th annual conference of the Nigerian
Economic Society in Abuja on Tuesday.
The conference, which has as its theme,
"Institutions, institutional reforms and
economic development," is the single
largest gathering of economists in the
country.

Jonathan argued that if Nigerians did not
"reward corrupt practices" through their
actions, those involved in them would
have no need to continue.
He 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,
Jonathan said both public and private
institutions were also involved in sharp
practice.
He advised that the country should stop
creating an environment where people
would be tempted to take what belonged
to the public.
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."
He however said his administration would
continue to focus on how to strengthen all
anti-corruption agencies to enable them
discharge their duties effectively.
Jonathan explained that his
administration's approach to fighting graft
was targeted at building institutions that
had the capacity to overcome corrupt
influences.
This approach, according to him, will use
the rule of law as a framework.
In this regard, he said the leadership of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
and the Independent Corrupt Practices and
Other-Related Offences Commission had
been repositioned to ensure effective,
efficient and transparent way of managing
corruption and corrupt practices.
He said that a major principle underlying
the implementation of his transformation
agenda was the unwavering conviction
that reforms must not be centred on
individuals, no matter how strong they
might be.
Rather, he said his administration
recognised the fact that in order for
reforms to be sustainable, they must be
driven by strong, sound and effective
processes and institutions.
On the management of government
finances, Jonathan said that the nation's
budget was now being managed
electronically.
He said, "For many years, the process had
been manual – government officials
carrying documents and files from one
office to another.
"This manual system created opportunities
for corrupt practices and also introduced
many ghost workers and ghost pensioners
to the payrolls.
"Today, we have put in place computerised
systems and processes to manage the
government payroll and also government
finances."
At the event, the Minister of Finance, Dr
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and a former Minister
of Health, Prof Eyitayo Lambo, were
conferred with a fellowship award of the
NES.
The institute had only conferred its
fellowship award on 38 distinguished
economists in its 56 years of existence.

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