The Boko Haram terrorist sect has killed over 20, 000 Nigerians thus far in its campaign to force Islamic rule on the country.
The Acting president, Yemi Osinbajo made the revelation last Friday at the opening session of the Golden Jubilee Conference of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.
He lamented that corruption had led the country to terrible depths of misery, which could have been avoided if the country’s financial resources were judiciously spent.
According to him, “Boko Haram for example could have cost us less-loss of lives of our brave soldiers and over 20,000 civilians- if the government and military authorities had not corruptly enriched themselves with the funds to purchase platforms, equipment, uniforms, and pay allowances.
“About 2.3 million persons in the North East are displaced from their homes and their livelihoods today, thousands of children cannot find their parents”.
He also stated that “In the past two years we have unearthed cases of embezzlement of public funds that show that if we could recover all that was stolen we could easily double our external reserves. That level of corruption is an existential threat to any nation.
“The abject poverty of millions in every zone of our nation, the absence of good roads, schools, hospitals, is largely because some have pocketed the common wealth”.
He further lamented, that “This is why the vast majority of our people are confused about our system of justice especially in its response to the stealing of public resources. How, for example, does it take so long to prove in court that a man earning a civil servants salary has billions in his bank accounts? The gradual loss of confidence in our administration of justice system is a real threat to social cohesion.
“Almost daily you hear on radio and read on social media how easy it is to jail a man who stole a goat or a phone within months and how difficult it is to prosecute a public officer who has stolen billions of public funds.
“Consequently we must redefine the offence of corruption and our approach to its prosecution, taking into account its profoundly destructive impact on lives and property. Such an offence is worse than homicide; it is a crime against humanity. The approach of the trials must be time bound”, he stated.
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