Why hardship may increase corruption in Nigeria, by cleric

CALABAR—CURRENT hardship affecting a
large section of Nigerians has the capacity
to increase the rate of corruption as people
become desperate to survive, Bishop
Emmah Isong, Assistant National Deputy
President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of
Nigeria, PFN, South South, has said.
Speaking with Vanguard, yesterday, the
President of Central Christian Chapel
International, noted that those who
ordinarily would have kept away from
corruption could out of desperation to make
ends meet be forced to engage in corrupt
practices just to survive.
He said: “The question is, are we going to
be alive in Nigeria till 2019 with the level of
hardship the people are going through? This
situation has the tendency to make people
who ordinarily would have stayed away from
corrupt practices to engage in corruption.”
He said what the current administration
should do is to draw up an economic blue
print that focuses on increased agricultural
production and rehabilitation of
infrastructure to create jobs for people as
many companies and industries were folding
up and laying off workers which is
exacerbating the hardship in the land.
“I can testify that Nigerians are feeling the
impact of the hardship as 17 of my
members have opted to return to their
villages because they have either been laid
off work or have closed their businesses
and so cannot pay their rents and feed their
families.”
According to Bishop, the fight against
corruption should take into account the
need to address the basic needs of the
people which include good roads, food and
regular payment of salaries.
“Nigerians are very easy people to lead, all
a leader needs to do is to ensure that there
is food for the people, good roads, pay
salaries but if things are allowed to continue
like this, there is a level of hunger which
can cause people to revolt, so the
government should not concentrate solely in
fighting corruption but should endeavour to
create a viable economic atmosphere to
help put food on the table. Source, vanguard