If not dealt with, Nigeria may lose 30% GDP to corruption - Obasanjo

If not dealt with, Nigeria may lose 30% GDP to corruption - Obasanjo

- Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has raised alarm over corruption in the country

- Obasanjo noted that if not dealt with, corruption will eat up over 30% of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Nigeria's former president Olusegun Obasanjo, on Saturday, June 29, expressed worry that if not adequately dealt with corruption will eat up more than 30% of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, eventually, The Punch reports.

Legit.ng gathered that the former president added that Africans should look inward and anchor on value reorientation, respectfulness, obedience and hard work if the continent must rise above its challenges.

The former president advised that Nigeria must reinvigorate efforts to tackle institutional inefficiency, infrastructural decay and economic transformation through emphasis on integrity.

He said: “The key to Nigeria’s economic transformation is integrity. We must start placing a high premium on integrity. When countries and organisations are managed with integrity, it results in long-term benefits.

“The effect of corruption will cost up to 30 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product by 2030 if not dealt with. As Africans, we need to look inward and anchor on integrity, value reorientation, respectfulness, obedience and hard work. There is a lack of focus; there is political impunity and it is a consequence of lack of transparency and integrity.

“Lack of integrity in our national life is causing us a lot of potential and it is the grandfather of corruption. It is responsible for the high cost of governance. Contract splitting is now the order of the day. Companies doctor their annual reports to suit business purposes.

“Public office holders engage in procurement distortions and these have led to the huge institutional inefficiency, infrastructural and social decay we are experiencing today.”

Legit.ng previously reported that the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, May 21, revealed that the nation’s economy grew by 1.95% in the first quarter of 2018.

NBS said the country’s economic growth slowed to 1.95 percent in first quarter of 2018, Q1’18, from 2.11 percent in fourth quarter of 2017.

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Source: Legit.ng

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