President Goodluck Jonathan has insisted that he will not fight corruption by jailing people.
He, however, stated that he would build a system that would block people’s direct access to funds.
The President said this at a corporate forum titled, ‘An Evening with Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan’ in Lagos on Sunday.
He said even if five million Nigerians were thrown into jail for corruption, graft would still continue if the system was porous.
He said, “People always say government is not fighting corruption but our position is very clear. We are fighting corruption and our position is that fighting corruption is not all about jailing people and showing them on television sets.
“In this country, we never had armed robbery until the civil war when small arms were being used. Initially, armed robbers were being shot in public and later in secret. But it did not stop armed robbery; so our commitment is in the British law system that states that it is better for nine criminals to go free than for one innocent person to suffer undue punishment. In that case, the concept of beyond reasonable doubt is always difficult to prove in corrupt cases and that is why they even accuse the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) of going for plea bargain.
“In the area of arrest, the EFCC has prosecuted more people and has secured more convictions than before but even if you prosecute 10 million Nigerians and convict five million, it will not stop corruption. Yes, you are fighting corruption which must continue but the most important thing is to block those avenues that corruption can occur.”
The President also promised to bring the fight against insurgency to an end if re-elected.
Earlier, many of his key ministers had spoken about the administration’s achievements.
For instance, the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the recent rebasing of the GDP showed that the Jonathan administration had actually diversified the economy better than its predecessors.
Okonjo-Iweala, however, warned that there would be tough days ahead but maintained that the diversification of the economy would cushion the drop in the price of crude oil.
The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, said there had been giant strides in the oil sector but lamented that pipeline vandalism was affecting both oil production and revenue.
She said over 60,000 barrels of crude were still being lost to the act daily.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said the economy should be diversified such that oil would constitute only about 40 per cent of the nation’s revenue.
Dangote, who called on the government to ensure job creation, said it was unfortunate that within 90 days the price of oil went from $110 per barrel to less than $50..