Source: THISDAY LIVE
President Muhammadu Buhari wednesday met with staff working in the
Presidential Villa and warned them to shun corrupt activities.
He said as long as he remained the president, the fight against corruption would continue.
The president, who restated his resolve to fight corruption in the country headlong, said whoever is found to be corrupt would be charged to court.
The president, who restated his resolve to fight corruption in the country headlong, said whoever is found to be corrupt would be charged to court.
He urged those who might want to try his
resolve to ask those who are currently facing corruption charges in
courts across the country.
Buhari said: “All fraud must stop. If
they don’t believe us, they should try and see those we caught red
handed with public funds. This exercise will continue as long as this
leadership is here.
“Whoever takes anything that does not
belong to him or that he is not entitled to, it will be documented and
the person will be taken to court. This is the only way I think we can
bail ourselves out. I am asking you to dedicate yourselves more to your
country because I said more than 30 years ago, that there is no other
country but Nigeria.” The president said he was determined to
rehabilitate the country for the sake of “our children and our
grandchildren.”
He said: “I have never in my life, from
class monitor to this place, twice in different forms, believed in
corruption. In what we are doing, if we had made mistakes along the
lines, the country would have been further backward than this.
“But we don’t touch anybody who did not
touch public funds. You should behave yourself. If you don’t have houses
in Abuja and the whole of Europe, you will sleep soundly. You and your
family will earn respect. But if you shortchange the treasury, you will
be caught and I pity your family because people will be abusing them.
People will be calling you big thieves that how did you raise money to
build all the houses in Abuja and Europe with your meagre salary.
“I think personal integrity is something
to be encouraged. I assure you that I am absolutely dedicated to serve
Nigeria. Those who behave themselves will never regret, but those who
don’t behave themselves, na their problem.”
Commenting on the state of the nation, Buhari said the economy is in comatose because past administrations refused to save for the raining days even when crude oil sold above $100 per barrel. He lamented that even though several billions of dollars had been invested into the power sector in the last 16 years, there was no appreciable improvement in power.
Commenting on the state of the nation, Buhari said the economy is in comatose because past administrations refused to save for the raining days even when crude oil sold above $100 per barrel. He lamented that even though several billions of dollars had been invested into the power sector in the last 16 years, there was no appreciable improvement in power.
He said: “You know we have gone through a
lot of change over the past year. We met 42 ministries and we found out
the economy cannot take it because of the ineptitude in place.
“We have turned ourselves to a mono
economy depending only on oil. Most people threw away their farm and
solid minerals equipment and rushed to the city to get oil money and
enjoy.
“What used to be an average of $100 from
1999 to 2014 went down to 30 dollars. What should concern out and the
rest of the Nigerian elite is how we can continue to sustain ourselves
in terms of materials and security.
“27 out of the 36 states couldn’t pay
salaries. This is a disgrace to Nigeria. It is a disgrace. Up till now,
most of the states cannot pay salaries. What happened to all we have
gotten over the years? We look up and down, left, right and centre, what
have we saved? There was nothing because we developed a consumption
culture that we were not supposed to develop.“
No comments:
Post a Comment