Ben Murray Bruce - Buhari's anti-corruption campaign scaring away investors

Senator Ben Murray Bruce 

Senator Ben Murray Bruce said that president Buhari's anti corruption campaigns has done more harm than good as it has put fear in the minds of the citizens an buy so doing, scaring away investors.

He said this while speaking at the senate debate on the Economy during plenary yesterday September 22nd.

"If you look at Nigeria today, nobody is buying land, nobody is buying houses. Rent is actually is coming down. The economy has shut down. The reason why this is happening is because of Fear. Everybody is afraid. You cannot run a 21st century economy where everybody is terrified. Everybody is afraid of being arrested. As long as you have fear in the system, you will not invest your money in that economy"he said

Bruce recalled that former PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo also fought corruption but that his anti-corruption fight was not one that put fear in the minds of real investors.

He said that he supported Buhari’s anti-corruption fight but insisted that the approach should be changed to encourage investments.

On the prices of food in the market, he said that poor Nigerians were feeling the brunt far more than the rich.

He said that the prices of bags of rice, beans and garri had risen by over 50 per cent while the retail prices of the same commodity rose by over 150 per cent.

The lawmaker said that while the rich bought the commodities in bags, the poor, whose minimum wage had not changed, had to buy at 150 percent increased rate.

He attributed the increase in retail prices of items to the cost of transportation, and called for a transport policy to check transportation costs.