Corruption waxing stronger in Nigeria — Akinola

FORMER Primate, Anglican Church of Nigeria and the Chancellor, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, The Most Reverend Peter Jasper Akinola, has lamented that despite the war against corruption being championed by the Federal Government, the monster has continued to wax stronger in Nigeria, leaving the country and its citizens to wallop in the murky waters of underdevelopment in the 21st century.

Akionla stated this on Friday in his address at the 10th convocation ceremony of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, where the institution graduated a total of 287 students in Bachelors’ Degrees with 19 First Class honours; 102 in Second Class Upper division, 133 in Second Class Lower division and 33 in Third Class division while a total of 339 were postgraduate students.

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The clergyman said: “You will recall that my address at the ninth convocation last year dwelt exhaustively on the state of our nation with emphasis on the evil of corruption, not only among the leaders, but also among the led. It is sad to note today that, despite the war against corruption that the Nigerian government claims to be waging; rather than abate, the monster is waxing stronger and stronger.

“Due to the devastating effect of corruption, power supply is never steady, the Nigerian roads are in much worse condition than ever before, pipe-borne water supply remains a dream, prices of essential commodities are galloping, the exchange rate of the national currency to the pound sterling and the US dollar is prohibitive.

“To compound the problem, it’s been suggested that within the next 20 years over 40 percent of the world’s poor will be in Nigeria and the Congo. Alarmingly, the IMF announced last week that the economy is doing poorly.

The Pro-Chancellor of the university, Chief Wole Olanipekun, urged the Federal Government to extend the disbursement of TETFUND to private universities in the country.

He said: “In tow of my previous convocation addresses, I hammered on the discrimination being meted out by the Federal Government against private tertiary institutions in the distribution and disbursement of our commonwealth”.