Prominent Nigerian cleric, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has identified the twin elements of corruption and bad governance as reasons for the economic challenges and hardship the country is currently passing through.
The Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church and former presidential aspirant, who made the observation on Friday in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at a symposium to celebrate the 70th birthday of Pastor Chinedu Ezekwesili, husband to former Minister of Education, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, lamented that the economic hardship was forcing some Nigerians to loot warehouses to avoid going to bed hungry.
Bakare raised concerns over multiple reports of hungry Nigerians and hoodlums breaking into warehouses and stealing foodstuffs and other valuable items and raiding trucks carrying food items in the last two weeks.
Bakare, who blamed the development on bad governance, also described it as a reflection of systemic failure, and warned that a failed institution could not resolve the filth of corruption in any society.
The cleric said it would be ridiculous of Nigerians to expect the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other anti-graft agencies in the country to do it alone.
“Somewhere in the equation, something has to be done, whether in the homes that produce the fabrics or even in the institution of states that have failed to liquidate this criminal enterprise and facilitate alternative pathways for young people.
“Somewhere in the societal equation where corruption and bad governance are crippling the economy, leaving no fewer than 133 million Nigerians in multidimensional poverty and 26.5 million in acute hunger across the country.
“With families going to bed hungry, a citizen is forced to take to the streets and to loot warehouses in their quest for survival.
“It means somebody has failed in his duty. In other words, somewhere in the governance equation is where we have the real issue.
“The good news, however, is that man has the capacity to reverse the situations. With the help of his Creator, man is himself a creator with the ability to recreate his world.
“This is a mission and purpose of every man. No citizen deserves to sleep under the bridge in a nation that has government.
“Until the righteous people are appointed into office, we are wasting time. There is only one antidote to fight corruption. EFCC and ICPC cannot fight it alone. Anybody that sits on the committee to investigate corruption who is corrupt himself can’t fight corruption in Nigeria,” the respected man of cloak said.