Corruption Is Extremely High In Nigeria – US Deputy Sec.

B. Williams

United States Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, Bisa Williams, who visited Nigeria, said corruption is extremely high in the country.

“If you ask me, I would say that corruption is extremely high in this country; there is no other polite way to say this,” said Williams, who is responsible for West African and African economic policy issues.

She continued: “It is extremely unfortunate, because Nigeria as a country has tremendous intelligent people who do not have to be corrupt, because they have all it takes to be successful. Nigerians are resourceful and they are living in abundance of wealth and to acknowledge the fact that there is corruption in Nigeria is disheartening.

She said Nigerians ought to do something fast about this scourge in order to restore the image of the country.

“They ought to be proud of their country and it is not acceptable for the citizens to say, ‘that is how life is in Nigeria’.”

She expressed hope that President Jonathan would join other African Presidents who have been invited to the leaders summit that President Obama would be hosting in Washington DC.

Williams also spoke on insecurity in the country, among other things, stating that it was important for Nigeria and perhaps other affected countries to get together and map out better strategy to curtail and or sanction the perpetrators and what is happening around Boko Haram.

“Many of them take refuge in neighboring countries and it is worse in the northern part of Nigeria; in our view, there has to be a way for the countries that are affected to come together and solve the problem non-violently,” she said.

She expressed hope Nigeria and its neighbours would discuss on how to cooperate with each other and also look at border security.

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