Public office holders steal money in Nigeria, get celebrated: Ndume
Senator representing Borno South Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, Ali Ndume, has decried the level of corruption in Nigeria, saying the trend is a major challenge facing the nation.
Mr Ndume stated this during an interactive session with journalists in Kano on Saturday.
He said, “Our major challenge in this country is corruption. Up till now, we have no law that can proactively or reactively address the issue of corruption in the country. If you see somebody in our system, especially in politics or government and he is not corrupt, then he is lucky to be God-fearing. Otherwise, it is only in Nigeria that you steal money and you walk freely and you are celebrated. If you come into an area like this, people would start lobbying you and prostrate before you even when they know that the money was stolen. It is only in this country that somebody had no money yesterday or last week, but the following week he buys 10 cars; buy jets and his family will celebrate with him.’’
The lawmaker said that in developed countries, people would ask how, when and where such a person made his money, noting that the opposite is the case in Nigeria. .
Mr Ndume said he had made several efforts to pass a law on unexplained wealth in Nigeria, stating that such endeavours never saw the light of the day.
He said he approached a former head of state if he could sign an executive bill to that effect but he declined.
“Up till now, there is no law on unexplained wealth Act in Nigeria and there is no Executive Order on it,” Mr Ndume said.
He expressed concern over the hunger in the country and called for an increased cultivation of food crops to address the problem.
He stated, “There is hunger in the land and up till now, we have not cultivated up to five per cent of our land. Nigeria is blessed with massive arable land.’’
According to him, Nigeria is blessed with cultivable land everywhere that can be used to grow food crops and feed the nation.
(NAN)
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