Posted by By AKEEB ALARAPE, Ibadan on
President, Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, Archbishop Alaba Job, has called on President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua not to spare public office-holders indicted in the Siemens bribe-for-contract scandal.
President, Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, Archbishop Alaba Job, has called on President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua not to spare public office-holders indicted in the Siemens bribe-for-contract scandal.
Job, who is also the Archbishop, Ibadan Archdiocese of the Catholic Church, described the exposure of the scandal and the one that cost the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Patricia Etteh, her coveted seat as divine intervention from God.
He said: 'This is answer to our prayers. The event of the House of Representatives and all these other ones coming up are answers to our prayers. We still have many, many big Nigerians, who should be probed. We do not want all to happen at once. And this is my own personal prayer that more of these will be unveiled so that we can appreciate the evil of corruption. We are praying that the government will deal adequately with this. Our prayers are being answered and I enjoin all to continue saying this prayer against bribery and corruption.
'When the money meant for a local government is siphoned by five people and you know the number of people in a local government, how can there be progress? We know that corruption is not only in Nigeria; and now, like Siemens, we are getting to know the root of who are those corrupting us; of who are those encouraging us to be corrupt."
Siemens bribery scandal
I am happy that finally, we are getting at the roots. We, in the Catholic Church, since 1998, have composed a prayer against bribery and corruption in Nigeria, which we have been saying daily, morning and evening, against bribery and corruption in Nigeria because it has made our people poor, dejected.
When the money meant for a local government is siphoned by five people and you know the number of people in a local government. How can there be progress? We know that corruption is not only in Nigeria and now, like Siemens, we are getting to know the roots of who are those corrupting us, of who are those encouraging us to be corrupt.
You remember that our money was stashed up in some foreign lands. The most notorious of that was Switzerland and God has put it into the heart of the Swiss to begin to demand that their banks must open up and see who is taking money, that they don't want blood money. And all others are following suit.
This is answer to our prayers. The event of the House of Representatives and all these other ones coming up are answers to our prayers. We still have many, many big Nigerians, who should be probed.
We do not want all to happen at once.
And this is my own personal prayer that more of these will be unveiled so that we can appreciate the evil of corruption. We are praying that the government will deal adequately with this. Our prayers are being answered and I enjoin all to continue saying this prayer against bribery and corruption.
For all Nigerians, they should be conscious of the evil of corruption. They should not give bribe. They should not accept bribe. They should not be corrupt with public fund because I know they will not be corrupt with their own fund. It is only other people's fund and God will bless all of us abundantly. We urge that the government, the judiciary, will deal adequately with those who are corrupt.
It is not enough to expose them. What they have stolen should be restored to the use of the people from whom they stole it.
When a governor is caught with so much money and schools in his state are rickety, teachers are not paid, workers are not paid, let that money they should have got and which was stolen from them, let it be paid back to them. It is then they will know and people will stop going into office to loot the public treasury. There are many people, who are still going into public service in order to loot the public treasury.
Look at those who are campaigning now for local government, how many of them have the local government at heart? We do not even ask them what they are going there to do in the local government. We're only talking of voting and the parties are quarrelling about who to send forth because they are all worried about who is going to share the loot. No, that is not public service.
To be a minister is to be a public servant. The word ‘minister' in Latin means servant. One who serves. Our politicians need to be taught some civics. It has been removed from the curricula of primary and secondary schools and we have been pleading that it should be returned. That is, to know how to be good citizens; to have the love of the nation and the people at heart; to be patriotic.
We need to teach it because many people who have been in office and claimed to be leaders have not been patriotic. They have been selfish. Now, we need to teach ourselves some lessons. The government is going to punish them; those who have been unpatriotic. Let the others know they will not take their place and repeat the same thing.
There is still hope
We are saying there is no money, why can't we praise God for the change for good so far? Is there any of our cities that is stagnant? They are all expanding. What we are saying is that we have lost so much, we need to catch up. Since Ibrahim Babangida's time when embargo was placed on employment in the civil service, we are just getting a little bit of opening. But how many years are these? More than a decade. More than 15 years when embargo was placed on employment. Now, things are trying to start.
I know some states are stagnant.
The ‘selected members' who are now ruling them are only looking for what to take before their exit. But there are others that are constantly and systematically working to provide job opportunities for young school leavers. And those who are not schooling, they are giving them training in entrepreneurship. We should praise these ones. There are many who are getting jobs because of that. And we want to say congratulations.
Go to our universities. In one prominent university, if you go in there before this last Federal Government came in, the windows were fallen, even though professors were living in the houses. They haven't earned their own money, not to talk of the university having money to fix these windows. But by the grace of God, all are coming back. Let us acknowledge that. We want to acknowledge those ones. But we are saying that we need more because of the large backlog that needs to be cleared.