Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said that the government of Muhammadu Buhari has been quietly fighting corruption as he promised during campaigns not to seek the attention of Transparency International.
Answering reporters’ questions today, February 1 at the Presidential villa, Abuja, the minister said: “our position is the same. We are not fighting corruption because we want to impress Transparency International or any organization whatsoever.
“We are fighting corruption because we believe if we do not fight corruption, there will be no growth either in terms of the economy or even political.
“Therefore, what we do and what we are putting in place to fight corruption is not because we want to be rated by anybody. “If, for instance, what we are doing catches the attention of Transparency International and and it gives us better marks, so be it. However, I can assure you that we do not know what template TI is using.
“Whatever template they are using is clearly oblivious of what this administration is doing to fight corruption.”
Lai Mohammed stressed that corruption fighting is not just by how many people arrested, tried and convicted, saying: “even in that respect, we have a very impressive record.
According to him, the government, through EFCC, ICPC and other relevant agencies, has doing a lot to make corrupt practices almost impossible or difficult.
“For instance, when funds were returned from the Abacha loot and other funds were recovered from the USD, the UK and Europe, what this administration did, was that rather than pay these funds into the treasury and face the possibility of it being stolen or being re-looted, it decided to put the money into a separate account and ask the National Sovereign Investment Fund to manage the funds, and that the money was used for specific projects.
“And some of our legacy projects today actually are being financed from the money that have been stolen, which were returned and which we have kept. To me, this is one example of how to fight corruption. An example of how to ensure that people do not steal what has been recovered again.
“I am proud to say that we have been more proactive in fighting corruption and people are not willing to see what we have put in place in fighting corruption. “And that’s why I gave that example of putting money aside and how those funds were being used.
“Again, the courage of this administration even to expose high ranking officials of administration who have ran foul of the law is evidence of our determination and courage to fight corruption.
“So, we are not really worried or bothered about rating of the TI, because we know that everything we do is to ensure that we fight corruption the best way we know how to do.
“Like I said, if TI are not seeing these, then again, I think they have to change their template. But again, we are not fighting corruption to impress them.”
