SAN FRANCISCO, February 04, (THEWILL) – Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has declared that pressure from some Nigerian elites to slow down the ongoing fight against graft would not deter the presidency from ridding the country from the problem of corruption.
“We get regular messages from some Nigerian elites saying cool down,” the Vice President during a meeting on Thursday in his office with a delegation from the Moslem Congress of Nigeria (MCN).
“It is a very strange morality that some of those people have, very complicated but cutting across all tribes and religious differences,” he noted.
However, he observed that the masses of the Nigerian people on the contrary have a clearer understanding of right and wrong. According to him, “the masses don’t have that problem.”
“The man on the street is very clear, so whatever some of these elites say, we shall keep our focus on the masses who voted for us. A new tribe of Nigerians who would not compromise their values but would maintain a sense of right and wrong is now emerging”.
He said it was simply unacceptable that in the last 16 years there was not a single federal government completed road project, not to even talk of rail. “The reason is corruption,” he asserts, adding that the cost of projects are often inflated as people entrusted with public trust struggle to enrich themselves at the expense of the people.
He said it was the same inordinate desire for enrichment that explains why money meant to procure arms were being distributed among persons at a time when the territorial integrity of the nation was being attacked. “The insurgency has gone on for 6 years because government could not adequately equip the military,” he stated.
But the Vice President assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari and himself would not relent. He said the president and himself have no other agenda but “the progress of this country.”
“Mr. President and I are extremely focussed on what we need to do. We will focus on critical things, infrastructure and social investments.”
Speaking earlier, the leader of the delegation from the MCN, Imam Abdulahi Shuaib conveyed the support of the organization to the government in its programmes including anti-corruption, and expressed readiness to offer assistance.
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