JONATHAN BLAMES ORDINARY NIGERIANS FOR CORRUPTION

President Goodluck Jonathan has lamented that in spite of
institutional reforms aimed at fighting all forms of corrupt
practices, ordinary Nigerians are encouraging corrupt
practices through their actions.

The President disclosed that both the public and private
sectors were involved in corruption in Nigeria but he refused
to give out the names of those involved “so that I won’t be
attacked.”

Jonathan made the revelations while declaring open the
54th annual conference of Nigerian Economic Society in
Abuja on Tuesday.

He argued that if Nigerians did not “reward corrupt
practices” through their actions, those involved in them would
have no need to continue. “I want a society where all of us
will frown upon people who come up with what they are not
supposed to have.

“A young man who just started a job and within six months
or a year comes up with a car of N7m to N15m and you
clap for him, then you are rewarding corruption.
“So for us as a nation to bring corruption down, it is not just
blaming government or blaming the police, but all individuals
must frown upon people who have what they are not
supposed to have; who live in houses they are not supposed
to live in; who drive cars they are not supposed to drive and
who wear expensive suits they are not supposed to wear.
“And until Nigerians are able to do this, I don’t think we will
get to where we want to go.”