Nigeria wasted N60trn in 17yrs – MacArthur Foundation
The John D and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has said Nigerian politicians wasted over N60 trillion budgeted for the country’s development from 1999 till 2018, making corruption to remain the single biggest deficit in the country.
The Foundation’s Country Director, Dr. Kole Shettima said this on Thursday in Abuja while delivering his goodwill message at the public presentation of the 258-page book, “Nigeria, Corruption and Opacity in Governance” written by Mr. Jide Ojo, a public affairs analyst. Shettima, represented by the Deputy Country Director, Olaide Oladayo, said, “Between 1999 and 2018, Nigeria budgeted more than N60trn, the managers are politicians and not development partners. And we have asked what has happened to the N60trn budgeted for the Nigerian public and this is just the federal level.”
Shettima lamented that it is risky fighting corruption in Nigeria because those targeted will mobilise resources to obstruct it.
According to him, as things stand right now many people find
Dr. it difficult to condemn them or even come out in the fight against corruption.
“A significant percentage of Nigerians has shown interest in the fight against corruption, and what that seems to suggest is that a lot of Nigerians when it is their turn to benefit, they don’t talk,” he said.
The author of the book, Mr. Jide Ojo, said the rationale behind the country’s inability to match the rest of the world can be found in lack of accountability.
According to him, the panacea to the country’s underdevelopment can be found in its ability to tackle corruption. “No matter the blame game we do it’s not going to solve the problem. Even if our budget increased ten folds and we don’t solve the problem of corruption, it will be like pouring water in a basket.”
The Director General Technical Aid Corps, Dr. Pius Osunyikanmi blamed the country’s corruption challenges on neo-colonialism.
“President Buhari has taken anticorruption to a level that he is trying to make it one of the economic policies to be able to see that indeed we are able to recover as much as we could recover to be able to emancipate the people,” he said.