Why Buhari’s Anti-corruption war is insignificant – Badejo dismisses

Chairman of the Wilson Badejo Foundation and former general overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Nigeria, Rev Wilson Badejo, has described the impact of President Muhammadu Buhari’s fight against corruption as insignificant.

Badejo gave his verdict at his residence in Lagos on Sunday as he celebrated the 10th anniversary of the foundation and his 72nd birthday.

Badejo, who is an emeritus General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Nigeria, said, “The impact of the fight against corruption and the recovery of looted funds have remained insignificant as they have not translated into job opportunities or brought about new lease of life for the teeming youths in our society.

“Another sore point is the exchange rate of the local currency to the foreign currencies which remains exorbitant to the disadvantage of the Naira because of the import-dependent economy that we run. The only thing that can bring relief in this regard is a turnaround in our economy such that we can run a productive economy whereby we manufacture locally what we consume.

“The words of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo that if you fail to give education yesterday it would unleash terror on the society tomorrow should inform the new PMB’s administration to invest meaningfully in the empowerment of youths via education. Several parts of the North-East, North-West and the North-Central, which statistics reveal are the least educationally-developed areas of the country, are currently under the siege of bandits who are essentially youths full of energy but because of their lack of education have channelled this energy to crime and destructive activities.”

He added, “We at WBF, as part of our policy advocacy, would counsel that the Federal Government should evolve policies that would ensure that these youths are exposed to Western education that will enable them to be usefully engaged and re-channelled for rapid transformation of our society.”

He said the foundation’s annual scholarship scheme had seen over 235 indigent students through tertiary institutions.

“Apart from the annual award of scholarship to indigent students, there is the WBF Youth Vocational/Skill Acquisition and Empowerment Scheme which involves the realignment of youths, who have been displaced due to neglect and mismanagement of resources by successive administrations, back into the nation’s economic mainstream,” Badejo submitted.