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N300m illegal expenditure: Prosecute indicted officials, business leaders tell Yar’Adua
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Yar’Adua
Cautious optimism, demand for sweeping investigations as well as the imperative to prosecute indicted officials characterised the response of business leaders to the sack of the two ministers of health over their role in the misappropriation of N300-million unspent budgetary allocation in 2007.
Although the decision of the ministers to resign was applauded, respondents to Business Day inquiries said the ministers’ removal should not have been papered over. Rather, they should have been sacked and immediately handed over to the police for prosecution.
Except there is a wholesome approach to the anti-graft campaign that will focus on all levels of public office holders irrespective of their political leanings, the present exercise may be seen as mere window dressing that characterised the previous administration’s efforts.
And for the members of the senate committee on health said to have received part of the largesse as Christmas gifts, the onus is now on the upper chamber to tow the path of honour and mete out appropriate punishment to its members that were named.
Uchenna Ogbu, managing director of Eurocomm Securities, emphasised the need “for more concrete action on the part of government as a means of convincing Nigerians that such isolated action is not mere window dressing.”
“They really need to do more. The government should go ahead to prosecute everybody that has already been linked not just with this scandal but corruption. What happens to the former governors that openly displayed ill-gotten wealth?”
The stock broker also wants the government to prosecute the federal lawmakers mentioned in the scandal, saying that the senators receiving such a gift “shows that the National Assembly also needs to be purged.”
While Henry Boyo, an economist and public commentator, welcomed the resignation of the minsters, he said there was need to look at corruption in other areas where higher amount of money was involved.
To Okechukwu Unegbu, former president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), the ministers ought to be ashamed of themselves.
He however said they should not have been asked to resign their positions, rather they should have been handed over to the police and locked up in cells as thieves.
On the Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello-led committee on health that was said to have received N10-million of the money as Christmas gift, Unegbu said the former president’s daughter’s case was long overdue, and that people like her should be asked to resign.
Wale Kolawole, managing director and chief executive officer, NLPC Pensions, is saddened by the brazenness with which public office holders perpetrate corruption. He said corruption had pervaded all arms of government and would require a concerted approach to stem it.
For Shuaibu Idris, executive director Dangote Four Mills, government has erred by accepting the resignation of the ministers. Said he: “It is not fair to allow them to resign just like that. They should have been dismissed. By its action, what government has done amounts to condoning indiscipline, condoning corruption.
He queried why it took the Federal Government so long to react and accept the ministers’ resignation. To him, government is not matching action with words. It talks of zero tolerance for corruption; we cannot see this in this case.
To Goddy Amalu, “it is a deterrent to other people. The war against corruption is deep rooted in the system. It is the beginning of the fight against corruption. It is good that government should spread the fight to other ministries. It is also an indication that it is no longer easy to take money away from the country.”
Except there is a wholesome approach to the anti-graft campaign that will focus on all levels of public office holders irrespective of their political leanings, the present exercise may be seen as mere window dressing that characterised the previous administration’s efforts.
And for the members of the senate committee on health said to have received part of the largesse as Christmas gifts, the onus is now on the upper chamber to tow the path of honour and mete out appropriate punishment to its members that were named.
Uchenna Ogbu, managing director of Eurocomm Securities, emphasised the need “for more concrete action on the part of government as a means of convincing Nigerians that such isolated action is not mere window dressing.”
“They really need to do more. The government should go ahead to prosecute everybody that has already been linked not just with this scandal but corruption. What happens to the former governors that openly displayed ill-gotten wealth?”
The stock broker also wants the government to prosecute the federal lawmakers mentioned in the scandal, saying that the senators receiving such a gift “shows that the National Assembly also needs to be purged.”
While Henry Boyo, an economist and public commentator, welcomed the resignation of the minsters, he said there was need to look at corruption in other areas where higher amount of money was involved.
To Okechukwu Unegbu, former president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), the ministers ought to be ashamed of themselves.
He however said they should not have been asked to resign their positions, rather they should have been handed over to the police and locked up in cells as thieves.
On the Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello-led committee on health that was said to have received N10-million of the money as Christmas gift, Unegbu said the former president’s daughter’s case was long overdue, and that people like her should be asked to resign.
Wale Kolawole, managing director and chief executive officer, NLPC Pensions, is saddened by the brazenness with which public office holders perpetrate corruption. He said corruption had pervaded all arms of government and would require a concerted approach to stem it.
For Shuaibu Idris, executive director Dangote Four Mills, government has erred by accepting the resignation of the ministers. Said he: “It is not fair to allow them to resign just like that. They should have been dismissed. By its action, what government has done amounts to condoning indiscipline, condoning corruption.
He queried why it took the Federal Government so long to react and accept the ministers’ resignation. To him, government is not matching action with words. It talks of zero tolerance for corruption; we cannot see this in this case.
To Goddy Amalu, “it is a deterrent to other people. The war against corruption is deep rooted in the system. It is the beginning of the fight against corruption. It is good that government should spread the fight to other ministries. It is also an indication that it is no longer easy to take money away from the country.”
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