War Against Corruption: Criticise, But Don’t Mock Us, Minister Charges Media
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, hasย appealed to the media to fully support the Administration’s fightย against corruption, saying the fourth estate of the realm cannotย afford to sit on the fence as far as the battle to rid the nation ofย corruption is concerned.
Declaring open the 68th General Assembly of the Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON) in Abujaย on Monday, the Minister saidย while the media should not hesitate to criticise the government’sย strategy for the war against corruption, when necessary, it should doย so without mocking the government.
”In recent times, it is not unusual to read such headlines as ‘Buhari’s Government Losing Anti-Corruption War’, ‘Buhari’s Anti-Corruption War is Failing’, ‘Arewa Youths Knock President Buhariย Over Failing Anti-corruption War’. This is sheer mockery. And this warย is not Buhari’s war. It is our war,” he said.
On why all hands must be on deck to fight corruption, Alhaji Mohammedย said corruption is the reason for the many ills being experienced inย the country today, including erratic power supply, poorly-equippedย hospitals, lack of motorable roads, poor quality of life, poorย economy, lack of jobs and insecurity
”After previous administrations spent billions of dollars on power, all we inherited – when we took over on the 29th of May 2015 – ย wasย 2,690 megawatts. That is due to corruption. After previous governmentsย budgeted billions forย roads over the years, what we inherited are death traps. That is dueย to corruption. Why did Boko Haram thrive for so long? The answer isย corruption, because money meant for the purchase of weapons for the military were simply diverted. Why did we inherit an economy in direย straits? It is corruption. For a country that sold oil at over 100ย dollars per barrel for years, we simply failed to save for the rainyย day, and when the rain came, it beat us silly,” he said.
The Minister said the war against corruption is the toughest of theย three broad issues that the Buhari Administration campaigned with,ย ”because fighting corruption anywhere is like walking a lonelyย road”.
”While many will join hands with you to tackle insecurity or to revamp the economy, you are on your own when you take on corruption.
Most Nigerians were direct beneficiaries of corruption. Many wereย subsidized by corruption. Now that the gravy train of corruption isย fast derailing, many are finding it difficult to come to terms withย it. That’s the origin of the ‘Bring Back Corruption’ Campaign beingย carried out by certain elements in our society,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed said the war against corruption becomes tougher whenย the media is not fully on board, adding: ”When the media seizes onย every setback we suffer in prosecuting this war, they give succour toย the corrupt. When the media falls for the distraction tactics of thoseย who are mortally afraid of this war, they weaken the battle.”
He said the because of the courageous, determined and committedย leadership provided by President Muhammadu Buhari, and despite theย fact that corruption is fighting back furiously, the Administration isย winning the war.
”For our efforts so far, we have so much to showcase: Because we areย tackling corruption, we have succeeded in raising power generationย from 2,690 to an all-time high of 7,001MW. Because we are tacklingย corruption, we are saving 25 billion Naira monthly by cuttingย unnecessary allowances of officials. Because we are tacklingย corruption, we have added 500 million dollars to our Sovereign Wealthย Fund that stagnated at the 1-billion-dollar that was used to set itย up. We have raised our foreign reserves from 23 billion dollars to 35ย billion dollars. We stopped the payment of phantom subsidy of betweenย 800 billion and 1.3 trillion Naira annually, yet petroleum productsย are available at competitive prices.
”We recovered at least 43 million dollars and 56 houses from just oneย former government official. We have recovered 2.9 billion dollars fromย looters so far. Our Whistle-blower policy has led to the recovery ofย 151 million dollars and N8 billion in looted funds from just threeย sources,” the Minister said.
