The European Union is concerned about the level of corruption in Nigeria. It called for adequate measures to halt the impunity.
The outgoing Ambassador/Head of European Union (EU) Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Dr David MacRea, stated the position of the EU yesterday in Abuja. He spoke to reporters in a valedictory session.
MacRae said: “Nigeria has to deal seriously with what is known as the immunity clause. It seems just few offenders are being punished while the real people who commit the offences get away.
“It is regrettable that corruption in Nigeria is not going down and it is affecting the entire country. I am not saying that Nigeria is the worst country; you still find so many good things in Nigeria.
“I am also happy that the government is taking very serious steps to deal with the issue of corruption”.
The outgoing envoy said he expected better funding for states and local governments “Simply because I want to see that money should be better spent. To make it to be better, it requires other things to be in place and I think we need to make a special effort to ensure that the judiciary is functioning correctly so that court cases can be done speedily and effectively.”
He said too much time is spent on appeals in the courts adding.
MacRea said it would be wrong for anyone to think that all will be perfect with democracy within the short period of 14 years when civil rule returned.
“If we expect to find in Nigeria, everything in a good state as far as governance is concerned, we are not obviously facing the reality.”
He spoke about the diversity and beauty of Nigeria as some of the memories he would be taking away with him.
“I am saying that because there are diversities of people; they say 250 different ethnic groups, languages are quite different, customs are different. You get off the plane in Anambra and you see one situation, it is nothing like when you go to Kano or Jigawa and when you go to Lagos you will see this incredible city. And if you look at the construction taking place around Abuja, it is such an incredible range in Nigeria and it is tremendous in rich culture and it is such dynamism in the business community and these are things that I treasure and will take away with me from Nigeria. I think it is a tremendous country and I know what it takes to be a Nigerian and I can understand why Nigerians are proud to be Nigerians because of all these things.
“The good thing about Nigeria is that despite all these things I have talked about earlier about how people can be very mean-minded, there is also pride in being a Nigerian and that is a good thing and that is what we should build on.
“When I go round the country, some of the states are progressing very well and are very mindful of their responsibility for safe delivery at state level.”
MacRae criticised the early kick off of the 2015 campaign which he decribed as “regrettable.”
“I think it is regrettable that already in 2012, we are talking about the next election which is to be done in 2015. I think may be in the last six or eight months we can start talking about who we want to run but to do it at this time is a little bit of distraction because now is the time when the effort should go into making things happen like delivery services, putting in place infrastructure. We are good people and are making good efforts.
He also decried the lack of internal democracy in the political parties in the country.
MacRae also expressed concern over delay in the execution of EU projects in the country. He said “many projects take too long to execute, because this does not go down well with some of these villagers whom these projects are being targeted for end up waiting for too long.
He described Nigeria’s population as a selling point.
