Oluwole Farotimi
AS incidents of building collapse continue to take its toll on the nation’s environment, the Chief Executive Officer of Titanic Global Limited, Dr. Jerry Nwakobi, has blamed the frequent occurrence on corruption.
Nwakobi, who said this at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, when the European-American University, Africa Regional Operations conferred on him an honorary doctorate degree in real estate management, said the honour was triggered by his imputes in the development of the real estate sector in the country.
He expressed deep concerns over the cankerworm called corruption that has eaten deep into the Nigerian system.
Nwakobi said: “Even though we have well-meaning people who occupy important positions in this country, the system has made it difficult for them to stand tall among the bad heads.’’
He emphasised that the collapsed buildings in Lagos were due, mainly, to corruption.
“Government set up committees to investigate col- lapsed buildings and nobody to monitor the activities of the committee, so, they get to the field and collect bribe. Again, when the job is not appropriately done, nobody is penalised. There is need to investigate the investigators.’’
Harping on his political botched ambition that saw him stepping down from contesting election for a senatorial seat, under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress, Nwakobi said he backed down after due consultations with relevant stakeholders.
“I was not pressurised to step down by my party or any- body contrary to speculations; I always evaluate and critically re-evaluate whatever I want to do that is important to me. It was in the process of my evaluation to run that I discovered I was not fully prepared yet, hence, I stepped down, but, I’ll definitely run for the seat again.”
He said vote-buying still remains a menace the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the government need to pay serious attention to.