Upwards of 123 private jets have been acquired this
year alone by some rich Nigerians even as the vast majority of Nigerians wallow
in poverty as the economy goes from bad to worse.
Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State made this shocking
disclosure yesterday in his goodwill message during the opening ceremony of the
Second Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) holding in Umuahia, Abia
State capital, South East Nigeria.
Giving indices of corruption in Nigeria, Obi lamented
that this is happening in a country where many go to bed hungry. The governor
declared that those who bought the private jets owe the public an explanation
as to the source of their wealth.
This year alone, 123 private jets have been
registered in this country. Who own them? These are people who are receiving
(oil) subsidy. It is time to stop them, Obi said.
News Express reports
that Nigerians who own private jets include politicians, businessmen and
pastors. Bishop David Oyedepo, Founding Bishop of Living Faith Church
International a.k.a Winners Chapel, is known to have the most number of private
jets in the country. His fourth private jet, a Gulfstream V, is worth $30m and
he has announced plans to buy a bigger one. Governor Obi in his speech also
revealed that Nigerians seeking medical attention in foreign lands and those
sponsoring their wards abroad for schooling spend about $10 billion doing so in
a year.
Remedy to this needless capital flight, he noted, lies
in fixing and handing over schools and hospitals in the country to the missions
with adequate support from governments at all levels.
His words: We have schools in this country but
nearly $6 billion is paid for education outside this country every year. Who
are those paying it?
In this country, we pay over $4 billion for
hospitals in India every year. Who are those paying it. We can fix our
hospitals, let's put in money. Government cannot manage schools, government
cannot manage hospitals. The ones we go to in India are not managed by
government. Therefore, let's give it those who can manage it and support them.
The missions can manage schools, they can manage hospitals.
The schools abroad that we take our children to are
managed by missionaries; the hospitals we go abroad are managed by
missionaries. Let the missionaries here manage our own so that if they fail, we
hold them responsible. That is what we should all work for.
Obi explained that domestic debts portends ill for the
country. What I want Nigerians to do is to resist the level of domestic
debts that is being accumulated in this country by local, state and the federal
governments,â€
he said, adding:
Domestic debt is very dangerous because it is
Nigeria, your pensions, your future that we are burning out. The consequence is
that In future, if they (the governments borrowing the money) can't redeem
it, they devalue the currency and the naira will worth nothing. Let us know who
is borrowing this money and what is it being borrowed for.
We borrow money in this country for consumption and
not for productivity and who are those consuming, the same people who you must
today hold responsible.
Citing the Middle East corruption and bad governance
antidote, Obi said “People are blockading streets in the Middle East, let’s
start doing it here. If anybody is not doing well, let's block his house.
The four-day conference, holding at the Bishop Nwedo
Episcopal Centre, Mater Dei Cathedral, Umuahia, is being attended by Bishops
from the 52 Ecclesiastical Provinces in Nigeria, government functionaries and
the laity.
*Photo shows Bishop David Oyedepo, who owns
the most number of private jets, relaxing inside one of them.