By Ugwu Donald
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said there is great hope that Nigeria will prosper.
Osinbajo made this assertion when he received a delegation of the Northern States Pentecostal Bishops Forum at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday.
According to him, no country can face the kind of stealing that has taken place in Nigeria without having to deal with the consequences, including the current state of the economy.
He, however, gave the assurance that even though the times were hard “there is great hope that this country will become prosperous.”
According to him, this country has been badly governed. We are dealing for instance with the embezzlement of funds to the tune of $15 billion in one sector alone.
Osinbajo observed that there were those who were asking ‘why talking about the past’ and he added “we have to, that is why we are here”.
“We have not turned attention to the oil and gas sector, where the former CBN Governor alleged that $20 billion was stolen.
“We must condemn and stand up against this level of corruption. It is the single most important reason for the current state of the country. We can’t ignore it.”
He called on Christian and religious leaders generally to condemn corruption “openly”, noting “we can’t say because they are Christians or Muslims we won’t condemn those involved in corruption”.
While acknowledging that that members of the forum had been actively involved in the fight against corruption in Nigeria, Osinbajo said indeed the “country has been systematically destroyed”.
“Our currency depreciated because we don’t have the reserves to back it.
At the height of the oil boom, there were no savings.”
In addition to the massive fall in oil prices, he said that the vandalism of pipelines had led to a worsening of the situation with the country losing about a million barrels of oil per day for up to six months.
He said vandalism had equally disrupted power supply since gas pipelines were also destroyed.
“That is the background for the sort of situation we find ourselves,” Prof Osinbajo asserted, while expressing renewed hope that “God surely has a plan for this country.
“We (as a government) are open, honest, transparent and we shall use the resources of this country very well.”
He pointed out that the recent GDP figures released last week indicated clearly there was growth in agriculture and solid minerals.
“Agriculture and solid minerals have witnessed improvements,” he asserted.
He said that the social investment programmes were on course, reassuring the nation “that very soon the 500,000 jobs scheme will take off,” alongside other schemes.
On the recurrent herdsmen/farmers’ clash, Osinbajo told the clerics that President Buhari had given clear instructions to the security agencies to deal with anyone regardless of status who carried arms.
He added that the order was also for the security to also deal with anyone that caused and perpetrated violence of any kind.
“The president has said twice in the past fortnight that anyone who commits atrocities must be arrested and tried and he has demonstrated that resolve,” Osinbajo said.
He, however, added that generally the country’s criminal justice system was rather slow in delivering justice and emphasised the need for justice sector reforms.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Archbishop John Praise Daniel, expressed the support of the forum for the diversification of the Nigerian economy by the Buhari presidency.
Daniel,however, called for access to credit at lower interest rates to enable more Nigerians contribute to the building of a more prosperous nation.
The forum also asked the Federal Government to curb the violence by some herdsmen, create ranches in the states and promote religious harmony.
The delegation also urged the administration to engage economic and financial experts to assist in the country’s economic recovery programmes.
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