THE Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said on Monday that corruption persisted in the country because those he described as thieves had not been jailed or severely punished.
Also, he disclosed that the Federal Government planned to construct three new seaports across the country.
Amaechi, who spoke while delivering the 2021 Founders’ Lecture at the University of Port Harcourt, urged members of the public to stop celebrating people who enriched themselves by stealing public funds, noting that such actions encouraged corruption.
According to him, “Until we begin to jail thieves, corruption will continue; why corruption is on the increase is because the offenders have not been punished, nobody has been jailed”
The former governor of Rivers State, however, said incumbent regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, was determined to fight corruption and was doing so frontally.
Speaking on the topic, ‘The Role of Transportation in Nation Building’, Amaechi said transportation was logistics as its absence would cripple the nation’s economy, adding that government was giving priority to the sector because of its importance.
The minister said no nation could have an efficient transport system without good sea ports, saying the three new seaports to be established by Federal Government would be located in Onne, Rivers State, Lekki in Lagos and Warri in Delta State respectively.
“This administration wants to do fresh sea ports because the existing ones, even if you dredge it 100 times, give it one month, it will be filled again. So, that’s why we want to do fresh ones,” he said.
He also disclosed that by September this year, a University of Transportation would be constructed in Ubima, Ikwere Local Government Area of Rivers State to further enhance learning and specialisation in the transport sector.
The Chairman of the occasion and former vice chancellor of the university, Prof. S.J. Cookey, lamented that the Bonny seaport was moribund and unutilised, urging relevant authorities to revitalise the nation’s seaports to grow the economy.