- Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has said there is a lot of corruption among the Nigerian elites
- Osinbajo said corruption among the elites is as a result of the importance Nigerians put on wealth
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo said corruption among the political and religious elites of Nigeria should be blamed on the importance Nigerians put on wealth in Nigeria.
Osinbajo made this statement on Tuesday, February 28, while inaugurating the Private Sector Advisory Group for Sustainable Development Goals at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Punch reports that he said some nations were doing better than nations who attach importance to wealth because such nations that do better decided that the value of human beings was in their contribution to the society.
Osinbajo advises Nigerian elites on corruption
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Osinbajo said: “We have decided as an elite in this country that wealth is a measure of worth. It is a decision we made consciously or unconsciously.
“The political elite have decided that wealth is a measure of worth and that is why you find so much corruption among the political elite. Even the religious elite believe that it is a blessing of God.
“There are some societies that have decided that the value of human beings is in their contribution to the society. Those societies, of course, have done better than those who have decided that wealth, no matter how it was obtained, is a measure of worth.
“I think it is important if our elite decide that dealing with poverty is worth the while and that it will measure whether or not we are serious about our society.”
Osinbajo called on the rich and powerful of Nigerian to focus on helping the poor and less privileged people because in the end the lives they touch is what will matter.
He said: “At the end of our lives, the question that will be asked is what is the impact that we made on people’s lives. Nobody will be measured by how much money we made or the positions we held.
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“A lot of our people in this country hang their hopes on us. They look up to us and believe we can do it and despite all the failures and the false starts, our people especially the poor and the vulnerable still believe that these elite will and can deliver.
“Let us therefore take this as a personal responsibility to our people to do something profound that will make a huge difference in the lives of our people.
“This is why I am so excited about this coming together of the public and private sector to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals are realised in our time and that nobody is left behind."
Meanwhile, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has reacted to accusation that President Muhammadu Buhari plans to Islamise Nigeria saying it was totally untrue.
In a video shared by the vice president, he said there has been accusation especially from the opposition party during the campaign period that Buhari was out to Islamise the country.
