How Corruption Ruined Nigeria

lder statesman and an acquaintance of the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, pioneer president of Nigeria, Chief Maximus Ukuta, has proffered solutions on how to make Nigeria great again. The First and Second Republic politician, who was also the National Assistant Secretary of the defunct Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP), as well as a former Commissioner for Industry and Local Government in the old Anambra State, regretted that the country has degenerated so much to the level the founding fathers did not dream about.

Chief Ukuta, who is presently the Chairman of Nsukka Elders’ Forum in this interview with Sunday Sun, however, said that there is still hope to rebuild the country if the necessary steps are taken, one of which being going back to the Republican Constitution of 1963, which he said gave Nigeria peace. He spoke on various national issues and the Nigeria-Biafra civil war.

I wish I could handle it, but things had started getting bad and it didn’t come overnight, it took quite sometime before we got to the present level. This was why I marvelled when some of us challenged President Buhari about his state policy on fighting corruption. I don’t know how corruption could be fought successfully in three years no matter who is trying it. It has eaten deep in our country and it requires all of us, all hands must be on deck; it’s not something you can win just overnight or within three years and we all have to think about our country. We have to think about the welfare of our country, we don’t have to say we are fighting Buhari who is Mr President, we must not destroy our country because we are fighting Buhari because if we destroy our country we have not achieved anything we have rather destroyed everything. So, it’s left for all of us to appreciate the problems we have, to know that the problem lies on all of us to find equitable solution to it. We cannot achieve much by force, it had been tried in many countries and it failed. You succeed by dialogue and by being equitable and applying justice in your policies.

Let me start with appointments. I don’t go out to condemn the president for the lopsided appointments, but I blame his officials, those who are close to him. For you to succeed in government depends on your ability to put up a competent team because as president you are just an individual, you can’t do everything at the same time and remember that some of the issues you are raising now were not even raised in the First Republic. In the First Republic, we had a gentleman, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister, he was the head of the Federal Government, but nobody quarreled. Some of the manifest issues now were non-existent then because he tried as much as possible to be equitable. I remember that there was one particular incident where they wanted to effect an appointment and Alhaji Sule Katango was the Chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission, Balewa was the Prime Minister and a particular candidate over a health position was to be appointed from the North and Sule Katango said in conscience he will not be able to do it after he had looked at Curriculum Vitae of the individuals nominated by the then Western Nigerian government and the Eastern government.

The refusal infuriated the great Sardauna, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, and he flew into Lagos, shook others who were waiting at the receiving party at the airport and refused to shake Katango, and called him ‘Sariki Inbukuru’ and it was alleged that later in the meeting that night in the house of the Prime Minister, he alleged that Sule Katango wouldn’t be the Chairman of the Commission if the high standard he was now trying to maintain were to apply. But notwithstanding, there was room for favours to the privileged and those that were in charge, but it wasn’t manifest; people were working towards the same goal. So, when it comes to President Buhari’s appointments, I blame strongly those top officers appointed by Buhari. Ordinarily, the bulk stops at his doorsteps, but in trying to condemn those things you should try to share out the blame. Today, every other person is complaining; it does not engender peace and good governance and what have you.