Gbenro Adesina
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed today affirmed the fact that corruption in Nigeria is monumental and regrettable.
Mohammed, who stated this in Abuja during a press conference on corruption allegations in government agencies, noted that Nigerians have just been recently inundated with allegations of monumental corruption in a number of government agencies.
Among the agencies he isolated being stinking with corruption are The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund.
He stated that the allegations of corruption in NDDC, for example, are not new adding, “What is new is the speed and seriousness with which Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration has tackled, and is still tackling, the allegations”.
Reaffirming the determination of the current administration to fight corruption to a standstill, he stated, “This Administration has recorded over 1,400 convictions, including high profile ones, and recovered funds in excess of 800 billion Naira, not to talk of forfeiture of ill-gotten properties. This is no mean feat… The fight against corruption is not about loot recovery or convictions alone. We are also putting in place enduring institutional reforms that will deter acts of corruption. Here we are talking about the Treasury Single Account (TSA), the Whistleblower Policy, the expansion of the coverage of the Integrated Payroll Personnel and Information System as well as the Government Integrated Management Information System and the Open Government Partnership and Transparency Portal on Financial Transactions, among others”.
“Let me also mention the ICPC’s Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Group, aimed at tracking performance of publicly-funded projects, and the Commission’s escalation of the use of administrative sanctions in the public service by periodically submitting, for sanction, names of public servants who are being prosecuted. There is also the review of the personnel and capital fund expenditure of MDAs”, he added.
He concluded, “Let me end this press conference by quoting what Mr. President said on the fight against corruption in his speech marking the 59th independence anniversary of the country: ”This Administration has fought against corruption by investigating and prosecuting those accused of embezzlement and the misuse of public resources. We have empowered teams of prosecutors, assembled detailed databases of evidence, traced the proceeds of crimes and accelerated the recovery of stolen funds….The policies that we are putting in place today are to ensure such criminal and unpatriotic acts do not go without consequences”.
