The former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has identified the reason why corruption in Nigeria has become pervasive and seemingly incurable.
For her, the discretionary allocation of oil blocs is responsible for the high level of corruption in the country.
Ezekwesili spoke in Lagos on Monday, at the Oil & Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) National Educational Summit, urging the Federal government to adopt right policies in the oil and gas sector and diversify total dependence on the sector, to eradicate corruption.
She said: “The discretionary allocation of oil blocks led to massive and grand corruption in Nigeria. So, to this end, we entrenched the system of licensing and marginal fields allocation in order to encourage local players.
“But I guess politicians assumed marginal fields would be distributed to them without due process.
“Right policies need to be put in place in the oil and gas sector to avoid political sentiments.
“With the development of human capital and local content, Nigeria’s vast natural resources would amount to nothing when put at par with developed countries of the world.
“It doesn’t matter what quantity of oil and gas, and minerals still existing in our grounds, without developing human capacity and local content, we might as well as we are heading for collapse.
“Oil and gas is a means to an end. The end is about the development of human capital.”