Magu, Ambode, Onu blame corruption, reliance on foreign goods for falling naira

Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu and wife of the Lagos State Governor, Bolanle Ambode, yesterday, has disclosed that corruption was responsible for the country’s current economic recession and the falling value of the Naira.

They spoke, in Lagos, at the southwest project rollout of the Nigerian Women Against Corruption (NWAC). While Magu maintained that the country’s socio-economic problem and falling value of the Naira emanated from the long years of corruption, Mrs. Ambode stressed that it was one of the major factors responsible for the current state of the economy.

Magu insisted that if there was one enemy that should be urgently confronted, it is corruption because it has eroded almost all the benefits that the citizens should have been enjoying from the country’s natural resources.

“But we cannot continue to sit and watch as our country drifts into intolerable poverty. It is time to act. The times we are in call for broad national consensus and unity of purpose to defeat a common enemy. Corruption is not only a threat to our survival as a nation but an issue of human rights as it threatens our collective existence,” Magu said.

On her part, Mrs. Ambode, who said the cost and effects of corruption are very clear to everyone, stated that the fight against corruption must be seen as a priority which everyone must be involved to successfully address the issue of poverty and make the economy work again for everyone.

“It is a fact that women account for almost half of the Nigerian population, it therefore follows that such a huge population must be carried along as critical stakeholders, on issues bothering on national development.

She urged women to start the fight against corruption from the home by discouraging any acts or behaviour that aid and abet it. “If we succeed as individuals in our various homes, there would be no room for corruption and corrupt practices in the lager society,” she added.

Also, the Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has explained that the country’s over-reliance on foreign products was responsible for the weakness of the naira.

Onu disclosed this when the President of the Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), Ugochukwu Chime, visit him at the ministry’s headquarters yesterday in Abuja.

He said: “If most of the imported goods were locally- produced in the country, there would not have been any pressure on the local currency.

“China today has no pressure on its currency because it is capable of developing its infrastructure and train its citizens, which ought to be Nigeria’s position.”

He promised to use the upcoming expo on technology innovation to demonstrate that scientific approach could be used to drive the country’s economy.

Chime disclosed that his visit was to solicit the ministry’s support in its coming fair, adding that over 350 corporate agencies and companies have indicated their interest to participate in it.