Posted by Michael Faloseyi, Abuja on
THE Paris Club of creditor nations demanded the prosecution of corrupt public officers before granting Nigeria $18billion debt relief, President Olusegun Obasanjo revealed on Thursday.
THE Paris Club of creditor nations demanded the prosecution of corrupt public officers before granting Nigeria $18billion debt relief, President Olusegun Obasanjo revealed on Thursday.
He told a delegation of eminent citizens from Kwara State, who paid him a courtesy call in Abuja, that the Federal Government had in the last two years sacked or dismissed some top government officials to satisfy one of the conditions set by the Paris Club.
Some of the top public office holders removed from office in the last two years include the late Minister of Internal Affairs, Chief Sunday Afolabi, and his junior Minister, Dr. Mohammed Shata, and the then permanent secretary in the ministry.
Others who have suffered similar fate include the former Minister of Education, Prof. Fabian Osuji, and some directors in the ministry, and former Senate President, Senator Adolphus Wabara.
A dramatic case is that of the former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, who is currently standing trials before an Abuja High Court over allegations ranging from embezzlement to money laundering.
Obasanjo told the delegation led by the Kwara State Governor, Mr. Bukola Saraki, that the debt relief was secured only after serious negotiations and that Nigerians should be proud of that effort.
'We must realise that this debt relief did not at all come easy. They had shown me some of our highly placed people who are still misbehaving by siphoning money out of the country," he said.
While indicating that more government officials might still be prosecuted to satisfy that condition, Obasanjo said that if the government was given more information it would work on it.
He said that Nigerians should be proud that the government was able to get the relief.
The president noted that as soon as the details had been worked out, the National Council of States would meet over how to source the fund to pay off the debt so that the country could shake off the debt burden.
He said that savings from the debt relief would be used to implement welfare programmes for the masses under the New Economic Empowerment and Development Strategic.
The President told Saraki to make similar effort in his state because that would save it about N150million usually deducted from its monthly allocations.
The Punch, Friday, July 15, 2005