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Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State, says fighting corruption as an economic policy is a waste of time of Nigerians.
Obi’s comment is coming at a time when key appointees of the President is undergoing investigations on corruption allegations.
The suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu was recently grilled by a presidential panel over alleged misappropriation of recovered loots by the anti-graft agency, selling of seized assets to associates as well as refusing to subject himself to the supervision of the office of the attorney-general.
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is also being probed over alleged mismanagement of funds meant for the Niger Delta people.
The former Anambra State governor told The Sun in an interview that fighting corruption, which is a mantra of the current administration, as an economic policy is a waste of everybody’s time.
“What you hear today is not the news we should be hearing. What we hear today should be serious issues on the way we are going to go. We should be talking of a reliable roadmap. It should not be about how, in NDDC, Joy Nunieh slapped Akpabio, Oshiomhole vs. Obaseki, Magu this and that etc,” he said.
“We are preoccupied with travelling in the wrong direction. Just open the newspapers, including your own today and you see what the headlines will be. It is about one rascality or the other. I said even during the presidential election that you can fight thieves, but that should not be the primary focus of a government.
“Fighting corruption as an economic policy is a waste of everybody’s time. You can fight thieves, by what you are doing to salvage, strengthen, and rejig your economy.
Speaking on the arrest and investigation of Magu, the running mate to Atiku Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate during the 2019 polls said, “Let me tell you, what Magu is going through today is hurting the country more than it is hurting Magu, if you don’t know.
“Some people think today that oh Magu is in a mess, that Magu is this and that, but do you know who is in a mess? Nigeria.”
“Newspaper headlines in a serious economy should be that the government, for instance, has decided to support SMEs with this or that quantum of money.”
Obi also spoke on Nigeria’s current debts service level, stating that it is not productive.
He further urged the federal government to think of creative ways to generate revenue.
“Looking at the last budget, we are providing not less than N2.9 trillion for servicing of debt, but our education and health budget combined is about the third of this,” he said.
“I can tell you that in the end, the amount we use in servicing the debt will be more than what is provided because we are borrowing more.
“The reason that is happening is that the debt we are servicing is not productive. Look at our development between 2010 and now.”
