Oshiomhole expresses worry over corruption

Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said he is surprised that no one is in jail over corruption in Nigeria.

The governor, who was guest lecturer at the 2013 convocation ceremony of Benson Idahosa University, in his paper titled, “Education and National Development,” said instances of corrupt practices abound, yet no one was being held answerable.

Represented by the Secretary to the Edo State Government, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, the governor said, “If with a leadership from the South-South, we have not made appreciable progress on the conditions of the Niger Delta, the East-West Road and the coastal railway, let us continue to hope, because we are used to hoping; the elasticity of hope in Nigeria is limitless.

“Nigerians spend over N80bn annually on medical tourism and treatment overseas just as we put our kids in foreign and African universities and this is with over N2tn lost to the fuel subsidy cartel, not to mention how much is lost annually to oil thieves.

“The list of imperfections, failures, problems and contradictions can go on and on. The important issue today is how we can relate these issues to the importance of education and therefore national development. Things go bad and no one is caught.

“Our idea of development revolves round interest and exchange rates, import-export ratios, GNP per capita, even GDP and foreign reserves. These may show that growth and maybe accumulation are occurring; they do not show that development, which is people-focused, people-based and people-driven, is occurring.

“Major companies like Unilever and Dunlop are closing down, setting up shop in Ghana and throwing thousands of families into unemployment, hunger and social pressures.

Bemoaning the state of education in Nigeria, the governor said, “When education takes citizens in the opposite direction of these values then it becomes dangerous to societal development. In fact, an educational system that produces election riggers, intimidators, looters of the treasury, bad drivers, disregard for communal values, lazy public servants, kidnappers, inefficient and ineffective workers, political opportunists, thugs, and bad politicians that visit pain on the people and contaminate and undermine institutions of society cannot be regarded as positive education.”