Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Friday, described corruption as a great monster that Nigeria has to conquer before any meaningful achievements could be achieved.
He made this known at the celebration of the life of a former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Justice Olayinka Ayoola (retd.), held at the Methodist Church Nigeria, Diocese of Agodi, Oke-Ado in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Ayoola died on August 20, 2024, at the age of 90.
Speaking further, Obasanjo said, “Corruption is a great monster that is still battling with us in the country. It’s not that ICPC and Ayoola had not done their job or that even. I, who appointed him had not done what I could have done; it was the pressure of this great cancer of corruption.
“Today, I’m standing before you to appreciate the life of this great man, great Nigerian, great African, and man of the world, and what he had done in our midst.”
While giving her tribute, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, said, “I think all of us gathered here should ask ourselves the role we want to play in this place we found ourselves. What will be said of us when the time comes?
“He has left indelible footprints in the sand of time. We treasure him and all the things he had done to give Nigeria a befitting name. In all the places that he worked, he raised the flag of Nigeria high. He would be sorely missed. He left a legacy we should be proud of.”
The Bishop of Diocese, Agodi, Revd Simeon Onaleke, while delivering the sermon entitled, “Serving God’s Purpose in Our Generation,” said there should be legislation that bars all corrupt politicians from re-contesting.
“Do things that will make people remember you. Don’t bother yourself looking for enemies. Ayoola fought many battles, not with guns or swords. He did well.”
Dignitaries at the event were Chief Registrar Supreme Court, Hajo Sarki Bello; Justice Akintola Ladiran; Oyo State Chief Judge, Justice Iyabo Yerima; Justice Ogunwumiju; Justice Adamu Jauro; Justice Chidiebere Uwa; Justice Habeeb Adewale Abiru; and other Justices of the Supreme Court.
Others included Dr Emmanuel Olanrewaju Ayoola; Ambassador Godwin Adama; Dr Wale Babalakin; and Mr Folu Olamiti, former spokesperson of the ICPC.
Russia says it needs migrants to fill labor shortage
Russia needs migrants in order to develop because of its dwindling domestic workforce, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview published on Friday, Nov. 22.
“Migrants are a necessity,” he told state news agency RIA Novosti.
“We have a tense demographic situation. We live in the largest country in the world but there aren’t that many of us,” he said.
Earlier this week, Russia’s parliament approved legislation banning “child-free propaganda”, effectively outlawing any person or organization from encouraging others not to have children.
It was a move designed to help remedy a demographic crisis inherited from the Soviet era and which has worsened since the conflict in Ukraine.
“We need a labour force in order to have dynamic development and carry out all our development projects,” Peskov said.
He said Russian authorities welcomed migration.
Anti-migrant rhetoric is common in Russia, especially towards laborers from ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia who fill key sectors of the economy.
In July, the Kremlin acknowledged the low population was “disastrous for the future of the nation”.
The country’s population has not recovered since Soviet times despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government offering generous payouts and mortgage subsidies to large families.
Recent demographic problems include a low birth rate, large numbers of COVID-19 deaths, and hundreds of thousands of men fleeing the country to avoid being mobilized to fight in Ukraine.
In 2023, the fertility rate was 1.41 births per woman of childbearing age, according to estimates from the national statistics office Rosstat, cited by news outlet RBC.
That is under the 2.0 rate needed to replace the existing population.
Rosstat figures show 920,200 babies were born in Russia between January and September this year, a 3.4 percent drop on the same period last year.
Russian media said that was the lowest number of births since the 1990s.