Nigerian leaders are lazy, says Ribadu

July 21, 2010 04:04AM


Next's Segun Balogun
Nuhu Ribadu, the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday accused Nigerian leaders of intellectual laziness.

Speaking at the 13th annual Wole Soyinka lecture commemorating the Nobel Laureate's 76th birthday, Mr Ribadu said, "I have always believed that to have an economy that depends solely on oil and gas is a sign of lack of economic imagination and ambition. It is a sign of mental laziness."

However, when asked if he will contest for political office next year, Mr. Ribadu, who was recently touted as the presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC) retorted, "To that I say amen. But my expectation in 2011 really is free and fair election." He refused to entertain further questions along this line.

NEXT had on July 9 exclusively reported that Mr. Ribadu has been tipped to be AC's presidential flag bearer in 2011. There are now indications that four other political parties have asked Mr. Ribadu to be their presidential candidate.

According to an AC stalwart, "fruitful discussions are already at an advanced stage with Mr. Ribadu and he is only waiting for the right time especially because he will need the northern consensus."

Nigeria's problem

In his lecture titled "Nigeria at 50: the crisis of nationhood", the former anti-graft czar used the example of Tanzania and Somalia, to disparage suggestions that religion and ethnicity are the bane of Nigeria's progress. "Tanzania in terms of its ethnic diversity has about 175 ethnic groups and its religious pluralism is a good balance between Christians and Muslims. Not to idealize the country, and in spite of the usual strains and pains of nation building, is it not surprising to us that it remains the most stable and peaceful land in that region?" he asked.

"Think, on the other hand, of Somalia, with its homogeneity in ethnic and religious experience...one people, one religion, one language. What has become of it? Somalia is today the poster child of the very example of a veritable failed and rogue state." Quoting Christopher Kolade, former Nigerian high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mr Ribadu said "I have read in the papers that the country might be celebrating its 50 years of independence this year and that we might be spending N10 billion on that. For those of us that are more than 50 years, if we think about what we had in place 50years ago, then we shall be celebrating 50 years of decline."

Youth power is the agenda

Mr. Ribadu who appealed to the country's large youth population to drive national development, said public officials illegally transferred about $10 billion from the country to different foreign bank accounts around the world in 2005.

"Within two to three days after the federal government shared allocation, there is always an outflow of money from the country. But in 2006 when we started working with foreign law enforcement agencies and foreign bank accounts were no more safe, about $15 billion came into Nigeria. That was the money that fuelled the banking and the stock market" he said.

"We did it then, even though they were not happy about our service to the country. We need to do it again for national development." He argued that any argument that Nigeria lacks credible human resource is not rational considering the fact that the country has produced the likes of Mr Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and a host of others, and appealed to the victims of his anti-corruption campaign to turn around and join in the quest to rebuild the country.

He declared, "There is nothing personal. We are all citizens of Nigeria. We can make mistakes due to the fault of the system. But the good thing is that we can also make amends of what we have done wrong. Let us come together and fix our country including those who made mistakes." He disparaged money politics and enjoined Nigerians to shun it because "the work to remake Nigerian federalism and its democracy for the benefit of the majority of our people is not in air-conditioned offices, not in the long stretched limousines, the private jets, or the pent houses on foreign beaches that house the property acquired with resources appropriated by a few of us from our common wealth."

He said that, "It is the boundless energy of our people and the indomitable spirit of our youth. Let us say it bold and clear here today that young Nigerians must take the responsibility and accountability for leadership of this great nation from now on."

The lecture was witnessed by Babatunde Fashola, the Lagos State governor, Segun Olusola, former ambassador, and Kayode Fayemi, the Ekiti State gubernatorial candidate for the AC, among others.