President Muhammadu Buhari has said that corruption is an existential threat to the soul of the nation and if we don’t kill it, it will destroy Nigeria.
The President who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said this at the second plenary of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Buhari noted that corruption is the main reason why a prosperous nation like Nigeria cannot afford to feed itself and provide jobs.
He said Nigeria’s problems can traced to corruption and “this is why we must see it as an existential threat. If we don’t kill it, it will kill us.”
Meanwhile the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), has described the State, Local Government Joint Account as an avenue for state governors to divert local government funds.
While speaking at the protest rally organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), in support of the President Muhammadu Buhari war against corruption, the NULGE president, Ibrahim Khaleel, said “Looking at the people gathered at the rally, we have our unique attire and almost half of the crowd gathered were from NULGE.
“If we are not committed in this fight against corruption, we would not have mobilised to this extent. We are seriously behind the decision of NLC to fight and stamp out corruption completely from our land and we feel we are major stakeholders as far as the fight against corruption is concerned because local governments as the case may be, are mostly at the receiving end.
“A lot had been said about corruption at the local government but we are the people involved in the local government. If we are talking about the funds appropriated from the federation account to the local governments in the country, go and investigate the 36 local govt joint accounts in all the states. You will find out that only peanuts go to the local government and that is why we are calling on this current government to probe the 774 local governments in Nigeria and the operators and managers of this joint accounts.”
“It is only when a thorough investigation is carried out that the truth will be revealed and people will know who are really siphoning or diverting the funds meant for development of the grassroots to their own personal accounts.
“We equally believe strongly in this course in the sense that at appropriate time, NULGE is going to organise similar rally nationwide and we will demand in very clear terms that local government and operators or managers of joint accounts should be probed.
“We believe that any meaningful programme or project of the Federal Government must start from the grassroots. If President Buhari really means business in stamping out corruption from our land, he must start from the grassroots, he must start from the scratch. You cannot build a house from the top, you must have a foundation and that foundation of our governance in Nigeria is the LG.”