Ismail Omipidan, Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Chinelo Obogun – Lagos
Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Yemi Osinbajo has said that in spite of the objections of opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Buhari administration will continue to talk openly about the scale of corruption perpetrated under the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
He stated this on Thursday at the 10th Bola Tinubu Colloquium in Lagos, to mark the 66th birthday of the former governor of Lagos State.
He said the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was determined to change the narrative of Nigeria, a country infamous for corruption perpetuated with impunity.
Osinbajo, who described corruption as an existential threat to the country, said, “The corruption of the previous five years destroyed the economy.”
According to him, “Let me say that when we began our journey in 2014, our party, the APC, was determined to change the dominant narrative about our country. We were determined to ensure that the notion of a country rich in natural resources and even richer in human capital, but being destroyed daily by grand corruption and the impunity of the looting of public resources, we had to change that narrative.
“We saw a nation where a few in office had so privatized the commonwealth that when oil prices were at their highest and we were getting growth figures as high as 70 percent, majority of the people remained extremely poor.
“In one of our campaign trips in Zamfara state, Mr. President said, “look at the eyes of these people,” of course he saw the poverty and desperation in their eyes, he said, “they expect us to fix their poverty as soon as we get into office.”
For the President on the campaign trail, he emphasized three things: security, the economy and by economy here, in particular, the welfare of the people and corruption.
“To address the question of the welfare of the people, we realize that if we waited for the economy to pick up and then provide jobs for the people, especially young people, many would have given up hope, many people would have ended up in all manner of illegal activities,” Vice President Osinbajo said.
“So we decided on two things. One: to invest heavily in agriculture to create jobs in the hinterland, provide enough food locally and for all in the urban areas, and I’m sure, with our agriculture programme, many will agree is already a success.
“In fact, Mr. President told a story of his own village where people used to lease out farms but now nobody is leasing out their farms anymore, everybody is on his own farms. The most interesting part of that story is that, not only are more people now going to Hajj, they are now marrying more wives.”
The Vice President said the administration decided to embark on what he called “a bodacious social investment programme to the tune of N500 billion,” the largest pro-poor programme in the history of the country and the largest in sub-Saharan Africa, in other to give the people hope.
According to him, “This was despite the fact [that] in 2015 oil prices fell by 50 percent and also our production fell from over 200 million barrels a day to less than 700,000 barrels a day, sometimes even 500,000 barrels.
“We have seen today the empirical evidence of the successes of the programme, and we have listened to several of the testimonies and stories – 200,000 jobs for undergraduates involved in the N-Power [programme], 300,000 more waiting to be employed, 7 million children being fed daily in 22 states so far, beneficiaries of micro credit loans going to about 300,000 and almost 700,000 household benefiting from conditional cash transfer.
“As for our fight against corruption, we realize as Mr. President said that if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us. Corruption is an existential problem for Nigeria.
“Let me pause here to reiterate, that from what I have seen in government in the past few years, the corruption of the previous five years destroyed the economy.
“Every time we talk about corruption, our opponents say ‘don’t talk about it, just do your own, don’t talk about it.’ The Yorubas have an adage: ‘When the conversation comes to a matter of tales, the frog will say let us skip that, don’t talk about it.’ We will talk about it. The reason we will talk about it, is that we must let our people know we cannot afford to go this way again, never again should we allow this system where people take the resources of this country and steal the resources of this country, use the resources against the people and at the same time they want to continue in rulership.
“The second, is that we as a party and as your government must show the difference between us and the previous government that impoverished the nation.
“Let me give you an example. In 2014, when oil was $100 and $114, the actual releases of capital for three ministries – Power, Works and Housing – when they were three separate ministries – in total was N99 million, Transportation N14 million, Agriculture N15 million.
Compare that to the actual releases to the same ministries in 2017 when oil prices were between $50 and $60 a barrel, it was N450 billion, N80 billion for Transportation, N65 billion for Agriculture, totaling N560 billion, at a time where we are earning at least 50 percent less than we were earning before.
“What is the reason why this is possible? It is possible because if you do not steal the resources of the people, you can spend it on projects that concerns the people. It is as simple as that.
“When Mr. President insisted that the TSA must be done, we suddenly discovered that we actually could see how much money was available in the system, and so much money was [made] available. We dug up so much money from everywhere and we found that a lot was available. Then we said that this same government that spent N139 million only on Agriculture, Power, Works and Housing, Transport, etc, between January 2015 and the Elections, the sum of N100 billion in cash and $289 million in cash was released and spent by fiat.
“And this is the point we are making; that there is no country in the world, and we must know this, that will allow its resources to be plundered in a way our own resources are plundered and expect to be economically viable. It is not possible.
“Nigeria is not like any other country because of the corruption that was perpetrated. We must stop that corruption, and that is why we are so committed and that is why when you fight corruption the way we are fighting corruption, corruption is going to fight back. The fight back is taking place everywhere, is taking place on social media. But we are determined. When you listen to the stories of these young people, vulnerable people, disabled, these are the people for whom we are responsible, these are the people who voted for us. We must ensure that we effect their rights.
“It is for the rights of these people that we will put everything out to make sure that those who had taken the resources of these people are made for it.”
He said the same $3 billion that developed wings under the last administration would be used to fix six major federal roads and the second Niger Bridge.
According to Osinbajo, “I will give one more example, $3 billion was lost to something called, the Strategic Atlantic Alliance Contract in NNPC. The people simply took the oil and never paid back. The same $3 billion which is in trillion of naria, the minister of finance sat with us at the Economic Management Meeting, and we were proposing the following roads for the same $3 billion Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road, 2nd Niger Bridge, Enugu-Port Harcourt road, East West Road, Shagamu-Ore-Benin road, Kano-Maiduguri Road, Abuja-Lafia-Akwanga-Keffi Road, Lagos-Abeokuta Road, all for the same $3 billion. That is why the criminal looting of this country cannot be allowed to continue.
“Today, we earn 50 percent less than five years ago and we are investing several times more. In 2017, we spent N1.3 trillion on capital, the largest in the history of this country.
“The majority of our people depend on the integrity of those who governed because they don’t have a voice, they are far too poor, in many cases far too vulnerable to be able to say anything for themselves. It is our historic duty as a party, as a government to provide for all of them, be a voice for them, to make the sacrifices that are necessary even if those sacrifices are costly, we must make that sacrifices for them.
“That is why I am so pleased that the government of Mr. President has chosen the path of the people, to stand for the people, and we will remain taking the side of the people of this country.”