Osinbajo blames corruption for Nigeria’s underdevelopment

THE presidential running mate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has identified corruption in high places as the major bane of Nigeria’s socio-economic development and the cause of the myriads of problems Nigerians contend with on daily basis.

     Osinbajo stated this in Ondo town during an interactive session with representatives of various segments of the society at a gathering attended by youth groups, artisans, professional bodies, market women and party faithful to garner support for the presidential bid of the party.

    He however pledged that with an APC government at the helm of affairs at the federal level all the avenues of corruption would be blocked thereby making funds available for the human and infrastructural development of the country.

    According to Osinbajo, “corruption is the major hindrance to Nigeria’s development, pure and simple. If we have a government that spends state money for development, this country will, in a very short time, grow in leaps and bounds.

     “We promised that we are going to introduce afternoon meals in all our public primary schools. The APC government is already doing it in Osun State where we spend N51 per meal for a pupil per day. In a year it translates to N2.6 billion. And here in this country, one minister spent N10 billion on-chartered flights, an amount that can feed these children for four years.

    “If we allocate $1 billion per annum for our healthcare, it is enough to provide good healthcare services for all of us in this country. Yet in this country the Central Bank governor accused government of stealing $12 billion. You can imagine how many years that amount can go to provide quality health services for Nigerians.”

     He said the opposition to the emergence of the Buhari presidency is coming from those who know that it would not be business as usual stressing that “they are afraid of being asked where they kept the peoples’ money. Everybody knows Buhari is clean and that he will stop corruption and arrest corrupt officials.”

     Osinbajo told the gathering that APC Federal Government “would provide funding support for traders and artisans to expand their businesses and decried the prevailing high lending rate in Nigeria’s money market which he put at 30 percent saying, “at this rate, no trader can borrow money and make profit.”