Corruption: Jonathan govt. stole N100bn, $295m cash in 2015 -Osinbajo

Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s Vice President has said that the massive looting of the nation’s resources by the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan is responsible for the economic crunch the country is experiencing under the present administration.

He specifically said that before the 2015 elections, the government of Goodluck Jonathan, ostensibly doled out N100billion and $295million in cash within two weeks.

Speaking yesterday in Lagos at a ‘Greater Nigeria Pastors Conference’ organised by Rev. Yomi Kasali’s-led Berean Ministers Group, Osinbajo said the Nigerian system was deeply infested with corruption, adding that graft should be pointedly tackled at all levels of institution.

According to him, the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration decided to borrow to fund the budget because the nation’s earning had dropped and millions of Naira are still unaccounted for in the last administration.

He said: “The theft of resources in this country is the first and primary reason for our poverty.

“That is why we have to address the issue of corruption pointedly, not once in a while because the system is corrupt; it is a corrupted system that we are running. This is not a system where corruption is just an exception, corruption is generally the rule in the Nigerian system.

“It is easy to say how come we don’t have money or why are we borrowing money? If you as an individual have N1million and somebody stole N900,000 from it, you won’t ask the question how come I am poor? You will immediately tie the theft of your money to your poverty.

“When we came in, we had a foreign reserve of $32 billion, but there was $15billion used for defence contract that was unaccounted for.

“Weeks before the 2015 elections, the government then, gave out N100billion in cash and $295million in cash ostensibly for security within two weeks. Those are the reasons why we don’t have money.”