Managing Director, Jaiz Bank Plc, Muhammad Nurul Islam, has identified corruption as the biggest obstacle in the way of achieving the country’s economic potentials.

He said: “If you remove this cankerworm out of Nigeria, the country would rival any nation because we have all it takes to be a great nation.”

Speaking in a keynote lecture at a one-day forum of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Abuja, which had as theme “Nigerian Economy: 50 Percent Empty, 50 Percent Full?” Islam said corruption had often given way to a situation where the wrong people have been given leadership responsibilities.

“The biggest problem is corruption,” he declared. “As it is, not only has God blessed us with resources, we also do not face some of the major challenges other countries face-no. Natural calamity and the weather is middle of the course.

“But because of corruption, we put wrong people in the wrong place and we create good policies which we refuse to implement.”

Represented at the occasion by one of the bank’s Executive Directors, Mr. Usman Hassan, the Managing Director stressed that the country would make significant progress in achieving its targets as a nation if the issue of corruption is effectively addressed.

Islam said FICAN had a critical role to play in exposing financial under-dealings, given that corruption is often about finance-people trying to benefit improperly either from the wealth of the nation or helping others to benefit inappropriately.

He added that corruption permeates all the realm of the economy and needed to be defeated in order to liberate the system.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, Chairman, FICAN Abuja, Mr. Cobham Nsa, noted that the aim of the platform was to promote a mechanism for reviewing and analysing activities in the country’s economic sphere.

He said the theme of this year’s forum was apt given the contentious economic statistics bandied by both government and its critics.

Nsa noted that corruption could eclipse the desired impact of the country’s much-touted growth and development if left unaddressed.

•Photo shows Jaiz Bank MD, Muhammad Nurul Islam.

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