Nepotism,incompetency are the worst form of corruption in Nigeria – Sanusi II

The 14^th Fulani Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, has identified some factors increasing corruption in the country.

He said corruption will continue to have a field day in Nigeria if incompetent persons are allowed to occupy leadership positions and increasing cases of nepotism in administration.

Malam Muhammad Sanusi II stated this on Friday at a webinar tagged, ‘The sustainability of society’.

The former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor said the application of Federal Character principle enshrined in the Constitution is not bad to give equal opportunities in a federation only if it will be followed appropriately whereby,  the best brains from the different parts of the country should be appointed or elected into public office without bias.

According to him, “Morally and religiously speaking, corruption is a problem.

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Sanusi said “Part of the problem we have is incompetence and that is why I keep saying we must pay attention to merit. We have a system called Federal Character and I believe we should have Nigerians from all over the country in public office, but all those Nigerians must be people that are competent. There must be a merit test; a competence test.’’

“For me, I think the root of corruption is when we begin to de-emphasise merit, competence and performance and so long as we don’t bring the best in this country to do the job and hold them to account, we won’t go anywhere, ‘’Muhammad Sanusi emphasized.

“The worst form of corruption we have in this country is nepotism; when people get into positions by virtue of personal loyalty, friendship and who they know, rather than what they can actually deliver by virtue of their competence for that office. We need people who can deliver for this country, I mean the majority.”