Buhari President says fight against corruption is for soul of Nigeria

On insurgency, Buhari said Boko Haram had
been weakened and lacked the strength to
occupy the North-East zone or any part of the
country.
President Muhammadu Buhari said on
Sunday that the fight against corruption was
aimed at saving the soul of the nation.
Buhari, represented by Vice President, Prof.
Yemi Osinbajo, disclosed this at the second
plenary meeting of Catholic Bishops`
Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), at Igwurita,
near Port Harcourt.
Buhari also said that the fight against
corruption was for the substance of the
nation.
``Our fight against corruption is not just a
battle of virtue and righteousness in our land,
but it is a fight for the soul and substance of
our nation.
``Corruption in our country is endemic and it
constitutes a parallel system,`` he said.
According to the President, corruption has
made a potentially prosperous country
struggle to feed and provide jobs for its
people.
``Hundreds of thousands of infants and
maternal mortality statistics, hundreds of
thousands deaths from communicable
diseases are traceable to the greed and
corruption of a few,`` he said.
Buhari urged Nigerians to think of
resuscitating the nation`s economy because
two-thirds of Nigerians lived in extreme
poverty.
He said that efforts should be made to create
an enabling environment for enterprise, plan
and make a budget that would cater for poor
Nigerians.
``They must be helped, first to survive, and
then, fully participate in the economy of the
nation.
"Consequently, we must create tenets for the
very poor and vulnerable, while ensuring that
social spending also resurrects investments
in the economy.
``We must invest substantially in relevant
education; teachers training and vocational
and entrepreneurial training,`` Buhari said.
The President said one way out, was for all
Nigerians to invest in infrastructure and all
crucial components in the medium and long
term means of diversifying the economy.
``Meanwhile, we must block all leakages and
improve on our revenue base,`` he said.
On insurgency, Buhari said Boko Haram had
been weakened and lacked the strength to
occupy the North-East zone or any part of
the country.
He also said the military was now using
vigilance and local intelligence to thwart
efforts of Boko Haram to regroup in the
North-East or any part of the country.
"On security, we are on course to militarily
route Boko Haram and make them incapable
of taking over any territory.
``Suicide bombings on some parts of the
North- East are desperate acts of terrorists to
create a sense that they are still in play.
`` But, with vigilance and local intelligence,
we will make these cowardly acts practically
impossible,`` he said.
Earlier, the President of CBCN, Most Rev.
Ignatius Kaigama, said that the new
administration in the country would recover
the country`s wasted opportunities.
Kaigama, who is also the Archbishop of Jos,
said the church would continue to pray and
preach for Nigerians to be patriotic.
`` The tendency to promote, defend, and
protect narrow personal economic, regional
and religious interests have been responsible
for our unstable national journey of one step
forward and many steps backward,`` he said
Kaigama expressed optimism that the new
administration would achieve positive change
and recover wasted opportunities.