A renowned constitutional lawyer and Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, has said that corruption is now “progressively worse” in the country.
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Sagay, in a chat with the INDEPENDENT newspaper to commemorate his 80th birthday, said it was not so during the Independence era because then leaders were dedicated and lived modestly
He said now people acquire public fund in a very reckless and thoughtless manner and amass wealth they cannot use in their lifetime when other people are languishing in misery
“Also, there is the issue of corruption which we’ve always had but has now gone progressively worse. This hardly existed at Independence era when we had highly dedicated leaders, politicians who felt that the honour of controlling the levers of powers in this country was their reward, not money. They live modestly and dedicated their lives to serving the country. I talk about Chief Obafemi Awolowo all the time but virtually all the nationalists are like that. They served with diligence and commitment.
“But all that is gone now, particularly with the coming of the military. We have now come to the age where you acquire public fund in a very reckless and thoughtless manner and amass wealth they cannot use in their lifetime when other people are languishing in misery. That has gotten worse and worse. Progressively and with each new change in governance in our political life, from First, Second, Third and Fourth Republic that we are in now, the quality of men running the republic has seriously degenerated.” He said
Sagay reiterated that things have gotten worse as people are now more concerned with amassing wealth at the expense of those who brought them to power.
According to him, leaders don’t care about the masses. He said, “virtually what we have now is about the worst that we’ve ever had in our public life. Many of these present leaders don’t care. All that matters to them is accumulation of wealth without caring about the people who have entrusted them with power.
“Leaders don’t care about the masses and the masses themselves are not better in the sense that these lack of care for others and corruption goes down right to the very bottom. From top to bottom, nobody cares. Nobody has a sense of respect for the lives and dignity of others. Everybody takes advantage of the other at every level.”
However, Sagay said elites are to be blamed for the decadence because they provided an example.
“I blame the elites than the politicians and the leaders because they provided an example; they would have been able to enforce that standard and values that they themselves were espousing. If they themselves are practising at the lowest level of values, then there is nobody to control the rest of the society. Nigerians now relate with each other in a dog-eat-dog and survival of the fittest manner and it is really terrible.” he said
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