President promises to fight corruption

President Goodluck Jonathan has assured Nigerians about his renewed commitment towards fighting corruption in the country.

Jonathan gave this assurance on Thursday, January 1, during a New Year service at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre in Area 1, Garki, Abuja.

The president also acknowledged that the two major problems currently facing the country are insecurity and corruption.

“There are two main problems confronting us as a nation: The issue of insecurity in the North where we have the Boko Haram terrorists and in the South where we have commercial kidnapping. The next thing that people worry about after security is the issue of corruption. We are coming out with programmes and plans to clean up. These are things that you don’t just use a magical wand to wave off, otherwise even before I became the President, there wouldn’t have been corruption in Nigeria. It is not just about shouting corruption. It is not about looking at one person, arrest the person and show him on television,” Jonathan said.

“It is about strengthening institutions and coming up with credible plans to make sure that anybody who gets involved with corruption, the system must have a way of detecting him and punishing him. Until you put such a system on ground, you cannot talk about eradicating corruption, you will just be celebrating corruption,” he added.

Jonathan also stated that his administration is working hard to combat the menace of insecurity which currently plagues the country

“You would have noticed that from Christmas to New Year, at least, it has been calm. It did not happen by accident. It happened because you have been praying for this country and the government has also been doing something. We do not need to announce what we are doing. With your prayers, we will surely get there. We will continue to come up with programmes that will help the ordinary people. The same way we won the war against Ebola, we shall win the terror war,” Jonathan said.

The president also spoke concerning the 2015 elections saying Nigerians must learn to put the well-being of the country ahead of their selfish ambitions.