Oluwanifemi Ojo
The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed has said that the Federal Government of Nigeria is not fighting corruption to impress the Transparency International, or any anti-corruption group.
Instead, the government is fighting corruption to facilitate the growth of Nigeria across every sectors.
The minister issued this statements while he spoke with the State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Buhari at Abuja.
In his words “We are not fighting corruption because we want to impress Transparency International or any organisation whatsoever.”
The Transparency International has ranked Nigeria 150 on corruption index. Following this ranking, the country still retains its last year’s point of 24 on the Corruption Perceptions Index.
Although the country maintains the same score, it position moved from 154 in 2021 to 150 in 2022.
This information was disseminated by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), TI’s partner in Nigeria, in Abuja on Tuesday morning.
About 180 countries were assessed and Nigeria takes the 150th position in the 2022 index ranking.
According to a statement by the executive director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa,“There has been no change in country scoring between 2021 and 2022. In the country comparison for the 2022 CPI, Nigeria ranks 150 out of 180 countries compared to 154 on the 2021 CPI results”
The basis for which this ranking is done are bribery rate, the embezzlement of public fund, the ability of governments to enforce integrity and combat corruption.
The Federal Government however condemned the template that the Transparency International used in the survey.
It added that the Buhari administration is fighting corruption seriously and encouraged the anti-corruption agency to change its rating template.
In the words of the Minister, “We are not fighting corruption because we want to impress Transparency International or any organisation.
“We’re fighting corruption because we believe if we do not fight corruption, there’ll be no growth either in terms of the economy or even politics.
“Therefore, what we do and what we’re putting in place to fight corruption is not because we want to be rated by anybody.”
“Whatever template they’re using is clearly oblivious of what this administration is doing to fight corruption, ” the minister questioned the basis for which they made their decision.
“Fighting corruption is not just by how many people you have arrested. How many people have you tried? How many people have you convicted?
“So, we are not worried or bothered about the rating of Transparency International because we know that everything we do is to ensure that we fight corruption the best way we know how to do it.
“If they are not seeing this, then I think they have to change their template. But again, we’re not fighting corruption to impress them.”
Mohammed said, “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 make 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 to fight corruption.
“Again, the courage of this administration even to expose high-ranking officials of the administration who have run afoul of the law is evidence of our determination and courage to fight corruption.”
