President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Augustine Alegeh (SAN), has identified abuse of office, absence of rule of law, corruption, insecurity and impunity as some of the hindrances that have held Nigeria back since independence.
Speaking at a University of Benin (UNIBEN) event in Benin City, the Edo State capital, the NBA boss noted that governments world over were increasingly engaging in reforms to ignite, support and sustain economic growth and development in their countries, stressing that Nigeria must not be different.
He particularly tackled successive administrations for lacking the needed leadership and vision to ignite economic growth in the country.
Alegeh said though the nation’s crude oil and gas reserves had increased over the years, he, however, lamented that there has not been a significant economic growth and development relative to the enormous resources.
Acknowledging that several programmes had in the past been initiated and sold to the public as policies and programmes designed to boost development and economic growth at all levels, he, nonetheless, regretted that “these programmmes were mere conduits to siphon and loot the public treasury.
“The few of such programmes that worked and impacted positively on the lives of the citizens were later abandoned by successive governments that erroneously thought that these programmes had served their purposes being the initiatives of previous administrations.”
He noted that the attempt by the National Assembly to balkanise the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and pass it piecemeal was unhelpful to addressing the problems confronting the oil and gas sector.
Alegeh reiterated that the piece of legislation aims to address the constant face -off between oil companies and their host communities.
[Guardian]
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