Vice President Namadi Sambo said on Sunday that nearly N200
billion has been saved by the Federal Government following the discovery of
about 60,000 ghost workers in its employ.He disclosed this while responding to questions on
corruption during the debate organised for the vice presidential candidates of
the 14 political parties ahead of the February 14 election.
The debate, which was boycotted by the vice presidential
candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Yemi Osinbajo, was organised
in Abuja by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, BON.Mr. Sambo, who is the vice presidential candidate of the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was paired with Bello Umar of the United
Progressives Party, UPP, and Seidu Bobboi of the Kowa Party.Stating that corruption was not an event, the vice
president said it had however become a cancer in Nigeria and to treat
a cancer would involve a lot of things.
He noted that before the civil war, there was no armed robbery
in the country but that despite the killing of robbers by firing squad, the
menace did not abate.Mr. Sambo said the Jonathan administration had been able to
put in place measures to stem corruption particularly in the civil service,
among which is the e-payment and the strengthening of government institution.According to him, this approach had yielded result as over
60,000 ghost workers had been discovered and nearly N200 billion had been
saved.He also said the government had stemmed corruption in the
agricultural sector with the reform it introduced in fertilizer distribution.
The vice president said the PDP had transformed Nigeria
since 1999, particularly in the last four years that Mr. Jonathan had been in
power.“Our party has successfully changed Nigeria in the last four
years under the leadership of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. We have been able to
transform this country by having a leading economy in Africa,” he added.He stated that when the current administration assumed
office in 2011, the country was generating only about 2,000 megawatts but that
it had now risen to about 4,500 megawatts.“When we came in as an administration four years ago, power
generation in this country was only about 2000 megawatts but today we are
generating 4,500 megawatts and this will continue,” he said.“There is no doubt that people are already reaping the
effect of this additional power generation in Nigeria. As I speak we have added
10 new power plants in Nigeria and 100 percent has already been completed.
“We have constructed 3,500 kilometers of transmission lines
and also 295 injected substations completed. So by that we have added 4700
megawatts to the existing infrastructure that will come. We have taken the
right direction on power. We are building hydro power plants. People are
feeling the positive change of this transformation.”He said contrary to reports, only about 100,000 barrels of
crude are being stolen in Nigeria, but that government had taken various steps
to ameliorate the problem by liaising with the foreign refineries that buy the
stolen crude.Mr. Sambo said the government had begun the process to
reform the Land Reform Use Act. According to him, a Committee headed by Peter
Adeniyi had already completed a report and presented to the National Economic
Council, NEC, which he chairs.He said the report had been reviewed while inputs from the
state governments were being awaited.
On the security challenge in the North East zone of the
country, Mr. Sambo said the government “will do everything to ensure that we
arrest this problem; we are strengthening the security arms and we are ensuring
that our military personnel are properly kitted and equipped.”Stating that the government was taking necessary actions to
ensure that those affected by the insurgent activities were taken care of, the
vice president said already 12 local governments hitherto under the control of
the insurgents in Adamawa State had been recovered.Mr. Sambo pleaded with Nigerians to vote the PDP in the
election because of the wealth of experience he and Mr. Jonathan had brought to
governance.
Mr. Umar said if elected, the UPP government would focus on
solving the security problem confronting the country. He said the party already
designed policies to achieve this.He disagreed with Mr. Sambo on the economy and insisted that
“the economy of the country is in the state of collapse.”He also faulted the vice president on the state of power
generation in the country, saying the government was not doing enough.Mr. Umar said the UPP government would “go to nuclear to
generate energy in order to put an end to power problem in Nigeria.”
The UPP vice presidential candidate said his party’s
government would initiate land reform, strengthen technical and vocational education,
set up a committee to advise it on the industrialisation of the country and
give anti-graft agencies free hand to fight corruption.
On his part, Mr. Bobboi of the Kowa Party, said the power
situation in the country had not changed from what it was 13 years ago contrary
to Mr. Sambo’s claim.He said if elected Kowa Party would build additional
refineries in the six geo-political zones.“That will reduce the number of pipes and it will reduce the
vandalisation of pipelines,” he said.Apparently referring to the controversial election of the
Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, and the removal of the leadership of the Ekiti
House of Assembly, Mr. Bobboi taunted the PDP government not adhering to the
rule of law.
“Leadership problem is a very critical issue. Leadership
should be seen as servant of the people and not a ruler of the people. We
require purposeful leadership that can work with the people, not centralized
leadership, not leadership that is incoherent, but one that should adhere to
the rule of law, not leadership that says 16 is higher than 19 or seven higher
than 19,” he said.“Kowa believes that leadership should be focussed,
responsible and allow the people to participate.”Mr. Bobboi, whose party’s presidential candidate is a woman,
Oluremi Sonaiya, said there was a need for a paradigm shift from “paternal
system of leadership to maternal system of leadership.”
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