President Muhammadu Buhari has told all those who steal from the public treasury that he pities their families because they would face public scorn when they are caught.
President Buhari made the comment yesterday while addressing staff of the presidential villa who had come to greet him on his return from his 13-day medical vacation in London.
President Buhari said it was not easy to preach change as Nigerians are used to the status quo where anything goes. He, however, vowed that change must take place in Nigeria as he reaffirmed his commitment to the change agenda.
This is just as he lamented the inability of most states of the federation to pay the salaries of their workers, describing the situation as disgraceful.
The president warned that all corrupt practices must stop in the country and that those caught in the act of looting the treasury must be made to face the full wrath of the law and public opprobrium.
“All fraud must stop. If they don’t believe us, they should go try and see those we caught red-handed with public funds. This exercise will continue as long as this leadership is here.
“Whoever takes anything that does not belong to him or that he is not entitled to, it will be documented and the person will be taken to court. This is the only way I think we can bail ourselves out.
“If you don’t have houses in Abuja and the whole of Europe, you will sleep soundly. You and your family will earn respect. But if you short-change the treasury, you will be caught and I pity your family because people will be abusing them. People will be calling you big thieves, asking how you raised money to build all the houses in Abuja and Europe with your meagre salary.
“I think personal integrity is something to be encouraged. I assure you that I am absolutely dedicated to serve Nigeria. Those who behave themselves will never regret, but those who don’t behave themselves, there will be problem,” he said.
President Buhari reaffirmed his commitment to rehabilitating the country for the future generations.
“I am asking you to dedicate yourselves more to your country because I said more than 30 years ago, that there is no other country but Nigeria.
“We are determined to rehabilitate our country for the sake of our children and our grandchildren. I have never in my life, from class monitor to this place twice in different forms, believed in corruption,” he said.
On the state governments’ inability to pay salaries, he attributed it to the recklessness of past administrations in managing resources.
According to him, when the price of oil was very high, the previous administrations failed to save for the rainy day.
He stated: “Twenty-seven of the 36 states couldn’t pay salaries. This is a disgrace to Nigeria. It is a disgrace that up until now most of the states cannot pay salaries. What happened to all we have gotten over the years? We look up and down, left, right and centre, what have we saved?
“There was nothing because we developed a consumption culture that we were not supposed to develop.”
He further noted that the army had recorded a remarkable progress in the fight against insurgency in the north east, just as he lamented the rise of militancy in the Niger Delta which is threatening to make the already bad economy worse by their bombing of oil and gas pipelines.
“The army has made a lot of remarkable improvement in the northeast no matter what anybody wants to say. Unfortunately, the other unstable part of the country, the Niger Delta, with their myriad of organisations that are competing over which one can do more damage to the country and the oil companies and oil wells. For how long are we going to do this?
He noted that there was virtually no improvement in power supply from 1999 till now despite the many billions the country has spent on the sector.
“What I am asking Nigerians really is that, what is our alternative? Our immediate alternative is agriculture and solid minerals. That was why we voted a lot of money for agriculture so that we can at least feed ourselves. And once we can feed ourselves, we can say, okay let the struggle continue. At a least we can eat two to three meals per day. We have to quickly go back to the farm. It is too late for this year. But next year, we will make a better arrangement to make sure, next year, we can feed ourselves.”
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