The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has warned that the prevailing situation in the Niger Delta area was capable of degenerating into a civil war if it was not handled carefully.
Ribadu, who made the assertion while delivering the pre-convocation lecture of the University of Abuja on Friday, said time was running out for the country to address the crisis in the area.
He warned that the country must act quickly to avoid the situation that occurred in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Somalia.
Though he traced the poor economic infrastructure in the area to corruption, he regretted that the country was not paying due attention to the incessant crisis in the region.
He said, �What is happening in the Niger Delta is not being taken seriously. The situation may eventually end up into something bigger if we are not careful.
�If the thing (crisis) is not taken seriously, chances are we may end up like Liberia, Sierra Leone or Somalia. It is clear that the Niger Delta issue is the issue of massive corruption.�
The EFCC boss, who insisted that the country could not afford to condone corruption, said that 1.5 million people died in the Republic of Congo in the last five years due to corruption.
He said that there was no doubt that societies that made progress were those that made positive use of public office.
He said that corruption was the most single damaging factor responsible for the distortion in the country�s development.
Ribadu said that it was unfortunate that Nigeria held a record as the country that produced a president in whose house $6 billion was found when he died.
�A president who did not work, who was never a business man, who was simply a military man but when he died, $6 billion was discovered in his house. It is unfortunate,� he lamented.
He said that the commission was being castigated because �Big men are being called to give account of their stewardship.�