The Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has called for adoption of traditional method of oath taking in governance to curb corruption in the country.
Delivering his lecture at a seminar titled: ‘Promoting Culture, Developing the Economy: A Nigerian Perspective’, Governor Rochas Okorocha explained that it would be difficult for public office holders to syphon public money or abuse their office if they were swore in with their deity, like ‘Ofo’ in Igbo or ‘Ogun’ in Yoruba.
He said people no longer fear Bible and Qur’an that are currently being used, because they knew that God is merciful, and did not kill instantly.
“Our government must begin to adopt our culture in government, if we must succeed. Even in the fight against corruption our (traditional) practices of oath taking should be applied,” he called.
Okorocha also called for the country’s education system to be structured inline with ‘our culture’.
The Governor maintained that instead of celebrating other people’s language and culture, Nigeria should celebrate her major languages to promote its cultural values.
He said conditions given by regulators in the education system with particular reference to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, were major factors for staying at home by some intelligent students.
“JAMB condition that you must have credit in Mathematics and English Language before getting admission to Nigerian Universities. Who told them? Why are they suffering our children? Why not credit in Igbo or Yoruba or Hausa Language or any Nigerian languages?
“Most of our intelligent children cannot go to school because of the JAMB condition and some of them end up doing nothing.
“We must change our orientation and it must start from that. Our education system should be inline with our culture. I believe there is still hope, but we must go back to our culture.
“God has endowed us with brain but the problem is that we left our culture, which is who we are and we are chasing shadow,” he said.
