Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state, says the ordeal
of Ibrahim Magu, former acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), is hurting the country more than him.
Magu is being investigated by a presidential panel for
allegedly mismanaging loot recovered by the anti-graft agency.
The former acting chairman was arrested on July 6 and
released after 10 days in detention.
In an interview with The Sun, Obi, who was the running mate
to Atiku Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate during
the 2019 polls, said fighting corruption as an economic policy is a waste of
time.
He asked the federal government to focus on revamping the
economy.
“What you hear today is not the news we should be hearing.
What we hear today should be serious issues on the way we are going to go. We
should be talking of a reliable roadmap. It should not be about how, in NDDC,
Joy Nunieh slapped Akpabio, Oshiomhole vs. Obaseki, Magu this and that etc,” he
said.
“We are preoccupied with travelling in the wrong direction.
Just open the newspapers, including your own today and you see what the
headlines will be. It is about one rascality or the other. I said even during
the presidential election that you can fight thieves, but that should not be
the primary focus of a government.
“Fighting corruption as an economic policy is a waste of
everybody’s time. You can fight thieves, by what you are doing to salvage,
strengthen, and rejig your economy. Let me tell you, what Magu is going through
today is hurting the country more than it is hurting Magu, if you don’t know.
Some people think today that oh Magu is in a mess, that Magu is this and that,
but do you know who is in a mess? Nigeria.
“Newspaper headlines in a serious economy should be that the
government, for instance, has decided to support SMEs with this or that quantum
of money.”
Obi said the debts Nigeria is servicing are not productive,
asking the federal government to think of creative ways to generate revenue.
“Looking at the last budget, we are providing not less than
N2.9 trillion for servicing of debt, but our education and health budget
combined is about the third of this,” he said.
“I can tell you that in the end, the amount we use in
servicing the debt will be more than what is provided because we are borrowing
more.
“The reason that is happening is that the debt we are
servicing is not productive. Look at our development between 2010 and now.”
It is just that we have been so unlucky in having leaders that were never prepared nor were the tragedies of the country spurred them to readiness, otherwise Peter Obi's vision is worth trying and voting for.
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