Dr Mike Okonkwo of TREM made the revelations in an interview with The Nation. Below are excerpts:
But people are asking ‘is this is the change we voted for’?
That is the issue I keep talking about. Nigerians are naturally impatient and we chicken out once there is a little pressure. We will say we don’t want again. I read somewhere, a young man who said we should go back to corruption since things appear not to be working out well.
I said so we should go back to the vicious cycle? I replied the young man and said he was talking nonsense. Yes, things are not too stable but that is to tell you the rot the nation has degenerated to. Everywhere you turn, every sector you turn, you find corruption.
The truth is you hardly find anyone that has not been dragged into the industry of corruption. It is as bad as that. Corruption has become the biggest industry in the nation. Now that Buhari is there, it will be foolhardy to say things will change overnight.
Buhari will not completely eradication corruption because it’s been with us for decades. If anyone is expecting Buhari to change this even if he stays for 15 years, the person is not being sincere. The things we are seeing is corruption fighting back. We have saboteurs in the system that will take time to be detected and flushed out.
There are people enjoying where we were. They were making it with the situation we had then. They have a lot of money in their hands so they can do anything; they can create problems. But if we endure a lot, I believe things will be better.
In few weeks, this administration will be one. How do you assess its performance so far?
My performance appraisal is that at least people are running away who stole money. There is an awareness that impunity cannot continue. If nothing, that is a great step forward.
That was what happened with the last administration. The nation just got to a point where it was more or less a banana republic. People could do anything and government cared less. But now, there is a little bit of sanity. There is restraint that you cannot get away with illegalities.”
