The “doom and boom” of Nigeria’s oil industry continues to hamper the country’s economy as the discovery of reserves set in motion a culture of corruption, its former president believes.
Speaking at an International Labour Conference in Geneva, the former head of Nigeria singled out systemic corruption as the main impediment to economic progress, with the hydrocarbons industry at the core of the problem.
"The discovery of oil in Nigeria was a doom and boom, and as a result entrenched corruption that sparked off as the major impediment to the growth and development of the country,” news website AllAfrca.com quoted Obasanjo as saying.
"We were thinking oil, we were sleeping oil, we were almost drinking oil and that was as bad as it was.
"Then we developed this oil mentality which was not in the best interest of Nigeria. We didn't see beyond the oil," he said.
Obasanjo said he had established two anti-corruption institutions when he took office, but that the problem persists under the current regime.
"I haven't seen that will of persistency and consistency by the leaders for now because people that are involved in corruption are strongly entrenched in it.
"And unless you are ready to confront them at the point of even giving your life for it, then you will give in and when you give in, that is the end of it."
Local newspaper Nigeria Tribune quoted Obasanjo further: “Corruption that came in came in initially with politics at independence. When our politicians gave a contract to you, [they would demand] 10 per cent. They thought that, that was the way to make money for their party.
“Ten per cent of that contract was taken to develop the party, for the party fund and all that and then, of course, it went beyond 10 per cent to 20, to 25 and, at times, it grew so large that in fact, when you were given a job, you wouldn’t just care to do it. You would share the money or whatever they called it.”
Obasanjo's comments will lend some weight to arguments from militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which recently issued a new threat to companies operating in the country's oil and gas industry.
MEND, and other militant groups like it, have long claimed that money garnered from the industry was not being distributed fairly in the country.
Eoin O'Cinneide & news wires
Well, the General said it well. He knew what the problems were but did he do enough to stem it otherwise, why are we still in this mess, even today. Case in point is the inbroglio of Bankole and his deputies. These guys pretty much came up during the regimes of the General but see what we have going on, EFCC Vs the duo.
ReplyDeleteAs I can discern from a line of his statement,"And unless you are ready to confront them at the point of even giving your life for it, then you will give in and when you give in, that is the end of it." Wasn't the general opining on what he thinks ought to happen in a runaway state like Nigeria, whereby the watchmen were in fact the ones carting away the goods. Wasn't he suggesting outright revolution or some sort of general uprising, or am I reading him wrongly.