A former Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Remi
Babalola, on Tuesday explained why he left the cabinet of former
President Goodluck Jonathan.
Babalola, in a paper presented at the 45th Annual Accountants
Conference and 50th Anniversary celebration of the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Nigeria described the lack of transparency in
the oil sector under Jonathan as alarming.
Babalola, who chaired the Federation Account Allocation Committee
between 2007 and 2010, said he left the previous administration owing to
mismanagement of the nation’s resources.
Continue after the cut...........................
In his paper titled “Achieving the Nigeria of Our Dream: The
Responsibility of Professional Accountants,” he urged the administration
of President Muhammadu Buhari to confront the endemic corruption
whole-heartedly in order to resolve the country’s mal-functionality.
He said, “Our culture of impunity is the bane of the entrenched
corruption in our society. The value destruction and corruption
undermine any economic development or social change we may aspire for
our nation.
“Mismanagement and misallocation of resources, coupled with an
unprecedented level of corruption have been at their highest in the
history of our nation in the last six years.
“Performance or success in public space was measured by the
conversion rate of public funds into private accounts. It looks as if
democracy has been substituted with kleptocracy.”
He recalled, drawing the attention of the nation to the parlous state
of the Nigeria National Petroluem Corporation’s accounts five years
ago, adding that many sympathisers feared for his life as it amounted to
what he described as “stepping on a snake”.
He said, “I was unperturbed and unruffled but ready and willing to
take a walk as a statement of intent that if they wanted to continue in
that decadence of resource mismanagement, I was not going to be a part
of it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment