News By Nigerian Tribune PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, on Wednesday, replied his critics on corruption in the country, saying that such accusers either see themselves as angels or attack him in order to gain credibility.
Speaking in State House, Abuja, after the swearing-in of the chairman and members of National Population Commission (NPC), one commissioner in the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and two special advisers, he directed anti-graft agencies in the country to disclose the number of convictions they had recorded so far.
Those sworn in were Duru Ihuoma, chairman of NPC; Bala Rugbayin and Aliyu Kwali, members; Bako Abdulahi was sworn in as commissioner in ICPC; while Suleiman Makanjuola Ajani and Fidelia Akubata Njeze were sworn in as special advisers on National Assembly and New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), respectively. The president observed that though ICPC was doing a lot, many people did not know about the successes it had recorded, while he stressed the need for the agency to blow its trumpet.
“ICPC and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) must make Nigerians believe that they are working. I know what you are doing, but not everybody knows them.
Ordinarily, these are agencies whose activities are not supposed to be made too loud, because you don’t celebrate a situation where you send 100 or 200 Nigerians to prison.
“But the society is so funny, these days, anybody who wants to claim any element of credibility at all will go to the television and attack government for corruption. The president’s body language shows that he is not fighting corruption or he is not ready to fight corruption.
“Sometimes, it is even the very corrupt people that are making these statements, because if you attack government, you are insulated, you become an angel. If you want to be an angel, just attack the government, then whatever you have done is covered. So, you must prove to Nigerians and show Nigerians that you are working,” he said.The president observed that Nigerians hardly believed that government was fighting corruption, even when the EFCC recently published a list of about 250 people they had successfully prosecuted.
“Recently, the EFCC published the list of about 250 people it has convicted and that is a huge number of people and they said the government is not fighting corruption. How many countries have convicted half that number of people within a space of time. But before the publication, so many people did not believe that the EFCC is even going to work.
“So, in a situation where you secured convictions, you should be able to tell Nigerians from time to time, so that people appreciate that these two agencies are working. I know you are working, but not everybody knows you are working,” he said. Addressing the chairman of the NPC, the president stressed the need for a population census figure which the country could plan with, as he warned him of unguarded utterances capable of affecting the credibility of the commission.
“For the chairman and members of NPC, only yesterday (Tuesday) when we had our Economic Management Team meeting, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and the Finance Minister said well, people talk about the growth of the economy at six to seven per cent, but it is not impacting on the people.
“People say if the economy is growing, it should, in a way, impact on the lives of people like employment, feeding and other things. And she said well, if the economy is growing at a particular rate and our population is growing much more than the growth of the economy, then we have challenges.
“When we relate the two, the economic rate and population rate, then you run at negative and probably these are the issues.
“So, when we have a country that the population is growing than the way the economy is growing, then we must know our population figures, so that government at federal, state and local levels will be able to plan. You cannot plan based on what you don’t know but if you know, you can plan for it,” he said. He admonished the new NPC boss to be careful of his utterances, adding that this was the reason his (Ihuoma) predecessor was fired.
“I dropped your predecessor because of certain statements he made that brought credibility problem to the commission.
“He is a fine gentleman. Everybody knows him, very cerebral. But an institution like the NPC must be one that people will believe in whatever you do.
If you make pronouncements that will create credibility problem to the institution, the best thing is for you to step aside for some other person to step in,” he said.
Jonathan also reminded the newly appointed special advisers that their appointments came at a critical time and advised them to acquit themselves well in their new assignments.
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