Let’s search our consciences as leaders, Peter Obi speaks on corruption in Nigeria

The 2023 presidential candidate for the Labour Party, Peter Obi has urged leaders across Nigeria to always search their consciences and stay away from corruption.

In a post on X, Obi said Nigeria’s corruption perception index of 145 out of 180 countries measured shows the high level of corruption in the country.

According to Obi, this needs to be fought to a standstill if Nigeria must expect any meaningful development.

The former governor gave this advice while commemorating the International Anti-corruption Day 2024.

He said Nigeria has been, over the years, burdened by a sickening level of corruption at all levels of government and across the different arms of government.

He said, “A few days ago, I read a media report credited to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), which boldly stated that corruption has brought Nigeria to its knees economically and socially, and I could not agree more.

“Corruption is, indeed, the bane of our national development,” Obi stated.

Reeling out some of the issues, the former governor said, from lack of transparency in budgeting and allocation of funds to misappropriation of public funds through mindless looting and budget padding, to abuse of public office for personal gains and the many layers of contract inflation – all are different manifestations of corruption across different levels of government, not to mention the bribery, favoritism and toll-gating that go on in different offices.

“Added to that, we are today ranked among the 11 worst-ruled African nations in the last 10 years. All these have not only continued to discourage good governance but have continued to clog the wheels of our national development,” Obi said.

The 2023 presidential candidate further called on the anti-graft and anti-corruption agencies to step up their fight against corruption and begin to preoccupy themselves with serious issues of national interest.

He said, “Such corrupt practices like oil theft, budget padding, bribery, collection of large sums of money as bribes for political favors or appointments, and misappropriation of public funds should preoccupy our anti-graft agencies. Those  found guilty must face stern justice.

“A day like this provides us the opportunity to search our consciences as leaders and eschew all forms of corrupt practices that pervade every part of our leadership positions. And to us the followers, we must stand against all forms of corruption in our capacities for our national interest.

“I remain committed to contributing to the drastic reduction of corruption in our nation. As I have always maintained, in any organization or nation where the leaders are not corrupt, corruption is reduced by over 60%, and fighting the remaining becomes manageable,” Obi posted.