The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged that the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration is gradually making the infamous administration of late General Sani Abacha a saint, going by what it called the looting spree that is currently going on.
The party cautioned that unless immediate measures are taken to halt the rising tide of corruption under the Jonathan administration and the government takes concrete measures to reverse the trend, the nation is facing serious financial crisis of large magnitude.
In a statement in Port Harcourt by the Rivers State Interim Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, the party said: “Going by the rate of looting currently going on at the centre, Nigerians should not be surprised if the present administration completely runs the economy aground before leaving office after the 2015 elections.
“With no trace of the whopping sum of $29B which the NNPC–which has become a conduit pipe and the ATM Card of key actors of this administration–as it has not been remitted to the Federation Account; with no trace of the N24B Police Pension Fund and the inability of the Head of Service of the Federation to count for N340M, the fuel subsidy scam revealed by the defunct Farouk Lawan’s Committee, the non-remittance of billions of Naira that accrued to NLNG Bonny to the Federation account from 2004 till date that has badly affected all critical sectors of the Nigerian economy and constitute an economic crime; N10b allegedly wasted by Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deziani Allison-Madueke for maintenance of an aircraft, a Challenger 850 Aircraft and its crew in the last two years while millions of Nigerians go about without employment or means of livelihood, the nation is doomed.
“These looting sprees continued while we are inundated on daily basis of scarce national resources, and public finance is shrinking in the face of ever increasing national needs such as roads, health, education and power. In recent times, most states of the federation have been facing acute shortage of allocations due to the dwindling national revenue which has reduced the quality of governance and deprived Nigerians of dividends of democracy.”
The party asked Nigerians to rise and fight corruption, adding that they should not continue to watch while their common patrimony is being looted with impunity on daily basis.
APC Rivers however commended the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) for the strong position it took against the country’s worsening corruption situation during its Third Retreat held last week in Lagos. It described the retreat as an eye opener and that it demonstrated how a visionary and patriotic pressure group should conduct itself. “The issues of corruption, the menace of insecurity and unemployment ravaging our nation were put in the front burner by the NGF and solutions proffered to them. Unfortunately, we have an inept administration at the centre which will not likely to consider these revolutionary strategies advocated during the retreat.”