Asobie hinges success of transformation on value change

MOVES by the Federal Government to transform Nigeria must be hinged on changing the ways things are done and instilling new values in Nigerians and not by raising committees on almost every sphere of the country, the Chairman, Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Prof. Assisi Asobie, has said.

Speaking yesterday at the first national conference on Extractive Industries’ Transparency Initiative organised by NEITI, Asobie argued that what is urgently needed to turn the country around is the capacity to muster the necessary political will to initiate a change process in the cultural unproductive ways of administering the country.

He added: “A government that is transformative should not say it cannot run the refineries; what it can do is to change the way the refineries have been run in the past. The culture and values of doing things must change and the government must find the necessary political will to make that change happen. Cultures and values are the hallmarks of a transformative government and not a government that derives pleasure in creating committees. Committees will not change the country for the better but taking actions that produce results.

The findings of the committees must be made available to Nigerians who can then use them to ask necessary questions and hold the government accountable”.

On his part, President Goodluck Jonathan reiterated the government’s support for steps aimed at ensuring that Nigeria reaped the full benefits of an oil-producing country’s status.