President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said that
the fight against corruption is aimed at saving the
soul of the nation. Buhari who was represented by
Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, made this
statement at the second plenary meeting of Catholic
Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), near Port
Harcourt.
He said:
" Our fight against corruption is not just a battle
of virtue and righteousness in our land, but it is a
fight for the soul and substance of our nation.
" Corruption in our country is endemic and it
constitutes a parallel system," he said. According
to the President, corruption has made a
potentially prosperous country struggle to feed
and provide jobs for its people.
" Hundreds of thousands of infants and maternal
mortality statistics, hundreds of thousands
deaths from communicable diseases are
traceable to the greed and corruption of a few,"
he said. Buhari urged Nigerians to think of
resuscitating the nation`s economy because two-
thirds of Nigerians lived in extreme poverty.
"They must be helped, first to survive, and then,
fully participate in the economy of the
nation. "Consequently, we must create tenets for
the very poor and vulnerable, while ensuring that
social spending also resurrects investments in
the economy. "We must invest substantially in
relevant education; teachers training and
vocational and entrepreneurial training," Buhari
said.
The President said a way out, was for all Nigerians to
invest in infrastructure and all crucial components in
the medium and long term means of diversifying the
economy.
He continued by saying:
"Meanwhile, we must block all leakages and
improve on our revenue base," he said. On
insurgency, Buhari said Boko Haram had been
weakened and lacked the strength to occupy the
North-East zone or any part of the country.
He also said the military was using local intelligence
to thwart efforts of Boko Haram to regroup in the
North-East or any part of the country.
He said:
"On security, we are on course to militarily route
Boko Haram and make them incapable of taking
over any territory. "Suicide bombings on some
parts of the North- East are desperate acts of
terrorists to create a sense that they are still in
play.
"But, with vigilance and local intelligence, we will
make these cowardly acts practically impossible,"
he said. Earlier, the President of CBCN, Most Rev.
Ignatius Kaigama, said that the new
administration in the country would recover the
country`s wasted opportunities.
Kaigama, who is the Archbishop of Jos, said the
church will continue to pray for Nigeria. He said:
"The tendency to promote, defend, and protect
narrow personal economic, regional and
religious interests have been responsible for our
unstable national journey of one step forward
and many steps backward," he said Kaigama
expressed optimism that the new administration
would achieve positive change and recover
wasted opportunities.
Vanguard
AbleMoJah® Nigeria.
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