Thursday 19 September 2013

Jonathan reintroduces car, housing loans for workers

FOR public and private sector workers in the
country, the days may soon be back when they
can walk to their banks, auto shops and drive
away in brand new cars or become house owners
by just filling in a mortgage form. In fact, from next year, this package is part of the
2014 fiscal plan being worked out by the Federal
Ministry of Finance. President Goodluck Jonathan
gave a glimpse into the budget yesterday in
Abuja. Under the plan, a bank named Mortgage
Refinance Company which is being promoted by
the Federal Ministry of Finance with majority
private sector ownership will help to address the
acute housing challenge in the country. The
institution, billed for launch before the end of this month, is to ensure that Nigerians have access to
cheap mortgage funds from housing finance
lenders. Already, the World Bank has offered a soft loan of
$300 million under its International Development
Association (IDA) concessionary lending window. The re-introduction of car and housing financing,
according to the President, is aimed at curtailing
corruption both in the public and private sectors.
He blamed the society for the continuous growth
of corruption in public life because it encourages
it as most corrupt people are being celebrated instead of being vilified. He said that the new initiative would go a long
way in checking the temptation to commit graft
by most workers as they would now have a
minimum level of comfort, the pursuit of which
normally makes them to be corrupt in their
workplaces. Jonathan unveiled the plan while speaking as
guest at the 54th Yearly Conference of the
Nigerian Economic Society (NES) where over 500
economists drawn from within and outside the
country are gathered to discuss this year’s theme
of “Institutions, institutional reforms and economic development: An analytical and policy
perspectives.” The theme is equally centered on reforming
institutions aimed at reducing graft in public life
in Nigeria. The Co-ordinating Minister for the
Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala and a former Minister of Health,
Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, were honoured with the NES Fellow Award. Jonathan said: “Our effort at strengthening the
capacity of state’s institutions to fight corruption
is not limited to granting independence to EFCC
and other anti-corruption agencies. “It extends to developing affordable finance for
housing, car ownership, among others, as we
believe that taking measures to help and realise
aspirations to own their own homes and fund
those things that make life easier, can also aid the
fight against corruption. “In addition to strengthening these institutions,
we believe that we should not create an
environment where people would be tempted to
take what belongs to the public because that is
why even in the fertiliser business we talk about
electronic wallet so that funds are not exposed to corrupt people. “When you talk about corruption, the private
sector is involved; the public sector is involved;
even the individuals, including professional
societies and I, wouldn’t want to mention names
so that I will not be attacked. “But I know that if collectively all of us don’t
reward corruption, people would not be attracted
to corrupt practices. But when we reward
corruption, of course we will be tempted to go in
that direction. I want a society where all of us will
frown at people who come up with what they are not supposed to have. (If) a young man who just
started a job within six months or a year comes
up with a car of N7 million to N15 million and you
clap for him, then you are rewarding corruption. “So, for us as a nation to bring corruption down
in Nigeria, it’s not just blaming government or
blaming police but all individuals must frown at
people who have what they are not supposed to
have, who live in houses they are not supposed to
live in; who drive cars they are not supposed to drive and who wear suits more expensive… And until we as Nigerians are able to do this, then
invariably we are all rewarding corruption and
until we stop that, I don’t think we will get to
where we want to go.” On initiatives by his administration to check
corruption in the country, he said: “Our approach
to fighting corruption has also been the focus of
building institutions that have the capacity to
overcome corrupt influences. This approach uses
the rule of law as a frame-work to fight corruption”. “In this regard, we have repositioned the
leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission and the Independent Corrupt
Practices and other related offences Commission
to ensure more effective efficient and transparent
ways of managing corruption and corrupt practices.” Commenting on the theme of the conference, the
President said it was in line with his
administration’s vision as key reforms had taken
place in several sectors in the country. He said: “It is worthy to note that in every sphere
of our national life, government has enshrined
the reform mechanism aimed at strengthening
national institutions on a continuous basis. These
institutional reforms are aimed at changing
obsolete ways of doing things and engendering modern ideas and processes. “Take the example of public financial
management, that is how we implement our
budget, pay our salaries and pay our accounts. For
many years, the process has been very manual –
government officials carry documents and files
from one office to another. “This manual systems created opportunities for
corrupt leakages and also introduced many ghost
workers and ghost pensioners to the payrolls.
Today, we have put in place modern
computerised systems and processes to manage
the government payroll and also the government finances. In addition, there has been conscious
focus on strengthening the Judiciary and the
Independent National Electoral Commission on
the importance of building strong institutions. “In key sectors such as power and agric, we have
built strong institutions which improved
efficiencies and fostered economic growth. Our
approach to fighting corruption has also been the
focus of building institutions that have the
capacity to overcome corrupt influences. This approach uses the rule of law as a frame-work to
fight corruption.” Earlier, in a welcome address, the President of
NES, Prof. Akin Iwayemi, said the NES decided to
focus on institutional reforms because of the
interrelatedness of the topic with all sectors.

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