Jonathan Needs Help On Wikileaks—A'Ibom Group

Jonathan Needs Help On Wikileaks—A'Ibom Group

A socio-political think-tank group in Akwa Ibom State, Eket Collectives, says the on-going seeming shocking revelations about corruption in Nigeria by Wikileaks, is a clear indication that President Goodluck Jonathan, needs help in his administration’s difficult task of planning to change the traditional way of governing the country.

Wikileaks had recently linked former President Olusegun Obasanjo with alleged theft of $2.8 billion from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) accounts. They also alleged that Federal Government negotiators pocketed $600 million of the loot of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

Though Senate President David Mark has denied it, the whistle blower had alleged that he and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, benefited from a $30 million each as kick backs from the oil sector.

For the Akwa Ibom group, “what these startling revelations portend is that key governance issues in Nigeria, are still weak. They clearly show that governance continues to be dismally poor in spite of the few piecemeal steps being taken by the Federal Government to improve same”.

Spokesman for the group, Mr. Solomon Okpo, in an on-line statement to AkanimoReports on Thursday however, said that Nigerians should not expect good governance as far as public institutions continue to perform below the expectations of citizens.

They argued that if President Jonathan means business with his administration’s avowed transformation, “they should start by vigorously tackling the issues that fuel weak governance in the country. Weak governance has continued to impede Nigeria’s development potentials.

“Government does not seem to be committed in tackling key governance issues such as corruption, impunity, bureaucratic resistance to reform, inadequate transparency, centralization of decision-making authority, and inadequate public awareness of governance standards. There is also lack of public confidence in the integrity of state institutions and lack of opportunity for ordinary citizens to participate in decision-making process. These issues have remained largely unattended to”.

To ensure good governance in the country, the Eket group said there is need for strong leadership at all levels. According to them, “though the political leadership holds the key to all reforms, there is need for Abuja to be helped by champions of reforms in the task of moving the country forward.

“However, the problem with Nigeria as we see it is that government on its own has never felt the need for improving governance. Most of the few moves are always at the instance of the donor agencies. And, most of such moves have failed to deliver results because of government’s lack of seriousness to overcome the resistance to change.

“We have equally noted with sadness that since the inception of the current civil rule in 1999, government has never meant business on dealing with governance issues. It has deliberately made a half-hearted approach to fighting graft and acts of impunity”, they said.

They then queried, “Why has the Federal Government ignored persistent demand for strengthening the local government institutions and giving them decision-making power in the matters of local level development?”

ENDS

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