liver the Keynote address at your annual
congress on the theme ‘Changing Social Values,
Transparency and Sharp Practices: Impact on
Agricultural and Rural Development.’’ The subthemes
of corruption, change, values and
development underpin your conference theme. In
my view, these issues are germane in the new dawn
of change that the Buhari Presidency proclaimed
before and after the administration began officially
on May 29, 2015. I am hopeful that the
conversations in this conference will bring forth the
needed light that is urgently needed to guide the
government and the governed as Nigerians
systematically navigate the journey of the change
process.
The choice of the topic ‘‘The Effects of
Corruption on the Nigerian Agricultural and Rural
Development’’ for this keynote address is
significant for least two reasons. First, the new
administration of President Buhari has made the
fight against corruption a critical pillar of its
agenda. The President has repeatedly said that ‘‘if
Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will kill
Nigeria’’. Hopefully, the paper may offer some
useful insights that may help the government in its
war against corruption. Second, partly due to
corruption, a majority of the urban and rural
population had been excluded from the benefits of
the oil boom and the high growth rates of last
decade. When a majority are excluded, their stake
in the system weakens and when that happens, the
security of the system is threatened. Neither the
included nor the excluded can have sustainable
peace or joy.