It is no longer new that the reason many Nigerians are poor and the country’s infrastructure in a state of disrepair can be traced to the unprecedented level of corruption under the Peoples Democratic Party administrations.
While the All Progressives Congress administration has been in power for barely three years, it has been a herculean task cleansing the augean stable of corruption left behind by the successive PDP administrations. It is still a wonder how they managed to condone corruption at the level the Buhari/ Osinbajo administration met it.
It is also not surprising that Vice president Yemi Osinbajo did not hesitate to raise alarm about the huge disparity between the paltry financial commitment of the previous PDP administration to the actual development of the country and her citizens to the humongous sums of money which were frittered away on the eve of the 2015 presidential election.
As a conscientious leader Professor Osinbajo could not comprehend in his greatest imagination how an administration will pay so little attention to the welfare of her citizens while huge resources are being stolen to ensure the retention of political power. Obviously this is a disservice to the people, and for the vice president it was condemnable, despicable and punishable.
The difference between the past PDP administrations and the current APC –led administration is that President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice Professor Yemi Osinbajo are determined and committed to rescue Nigerians from the pangs of poverty and privation to which the prevalent corruption of the PDP era had plunged the country.
Lest we forget, it was corruption that resulted in the huge infrastructural deficit which the Buhari/Osinbajo administration is trying to fix today. It was also corruption that allowed the orgy of violence being witnessed today in some parts of the North East to fester and degenerate. Gladly President Muhammadu Buhari has utilised his wealth of experience to curtail the nefarious activities of the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists.
Professor Yemi Osinbajo as the vice president has a moral responsibility to seek solutions to the causes of corruption in Nigeria, but this cannot be achieved without a ‘forensic audit’ of the past. Perhaps his courage to avail Nigerians with the facts as far corruption is concerned has attracted erasers from certain quarters, yet the sad reality remains that you cannot successfully tackle corruption and its consequences of underdevelopment without tracing the origin and causative factors.
As a matter of fact, Vice President Osinbajo will be failing in his duties if he failed to draw the attention of Nigerians to the original source of their predicament. It is however consoling that the Buhari/Osinbajo administration has undertaken to redress the situation by embarking on several programmes aimed at ameliorating the socio-economic plight of Nigerians.
Suffice it to say that the administration is intervening in several areas towards bringing succour to the average Nigerian. For example, there are several rail and road projects being executed across the country simultaneously, while attention is being given to the adequate provision of power to Nigerians.
Under the watch of the vice president, such interventionist programmes like N-Power, School Feeding programme, Anchor Borrowers programme and other economic initiatives are being diligently implemented to impact directly on Nigerians. This is a departure from the rent seeking approach of the past PDP administrations where influential individuals are given unrestricted access to the national treasury all in the name of political patronage.
By Chukwudi Enekwechi (JP)
An Abuja Based Journalist and Politician
