Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday vowed his government would work to harness the huge potential of the oil-rich country, which remains dogged by poverty, corruption and violence.
“I bring you today a message of renewed hope and faith in the immense possibilities that lie ahead,” Jonathan said in a national broadcast marking Nigeria’s 52nd anniversary of independence from Britain. “The baton is now in our hands. Let me assure all Nigerians that we shall not fail,” said Jonathan, who was elected last year after his predecessor Umaru Yar’Adua died in 2010.
While battling insecurity, “the fight against the scourge of corruption is (the) top priority of our administration. We are fighting corruption in all facets of our economy, and we are succeeding,” he said. With 160 million people, Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and its largest oil producer, but corruption is rampant. Despite the abundance of oil wealth, Nigeria has been unable to solve basic infrastructure needs, including a steady electricity supply, and thousands of public works projects remain indefinitely shelved.
“We have exposed decades of scam in the management of pensions and fuel subsidy and ensured that culprits are being brought to book,” Jonathan said.
He vowed not to interfere with the work of the anti-graft agencies to enable them fight the scourge. Some people and companies are facing corruption charges following a parliamentary probe that found Nigeria lost $6.8 billion (5.3 billion euros) through the fuel subsidy programme between 2009-2011. Still, he said Transparency International noted in its latest report that Nigeria is the second most improved country in the effort to curb corruption. Jonathan said his government has dealt a blow to the electoral malpractice and violence that have blighted most of the nation’s past elections, adding that success in this area has been acknowledged globally.
“We have cleaned up our electoral process; our elections are globally acclaimed to be free and fair. Nigeria is now on a higher pedestal regarding elections,” he said.
