WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION: CRITICISE, BUT DON’T MOCK US, MINISTER CHARGES MEDIA

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has
appealed to the media to fully support the Administration’s fight
against corruption, saying the fourth estate of the realm cannot
afford to sit on the fence as far as the battle to rid the nation of
corruption is concerned.

Declaring open the 68th General Assembly of the Broadcasting
Organizations of Nigeria (BON) in Abuja on Monday, the Minister said
while the media should not hesitate to criticise the government’s
strategy for the war against corruption, when necessary, it should do
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 Buhari
Over Failing Anti-corruption War’. This is sheer mockery. And this war
is not Buhari’s war. It is our war,” he said.

On why all hands must be on deck to fight corruption, Alhaji Mohammed
said corruption is the reason for the many ills being experienced in
the country today, including erratic power supply, poorly-equipped
hospitals, lack of motorable roads, poor quality of life, poor
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 – was
2,690 megawatts. That is due to corruption. After previous governments
budgeted billions for
roads over the years, what we inherited are death traps. That is due
to corruption. Why did Boko Haram thrive for so long? The answer is
corruption, because money meant for the purchase of weapons for the
military were simply diverted. Why did we inherit an economy in dire
straits? It is corruption. For a country that sold oil at over 100
dollars per barrel for years, we simply failed to save for the rainy
day, and when the rain came, it beat us silly,” he said.

The Minister said the war against corruption is the toughest of the
three broad issues that the Buhari Administration campaigned with,
”because fighting corruption anywhere is like walking a lonely
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 were
subsidized by corruption. Now that the gravy train of corruption is
fast derailing, many are finding it difficult to come to terms with
it. That’s the origin of the ‘Bring Back Corruption’ Campaign being
carried out by certain elements in our society,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed said the war against corruption becomes tougher when
the media is not fully on board, adding: ”When the media seizes on
every setback we suffer in prosecuting this war, they give succour to
the corrupt. When the media falls for the distraction tactics of those
who are mortally afraid of this war, they weaken the battle.”

He said the because of the courageous, determined and committed
leadership provided by President Muhammadu Buhari, and despite the
fact that corruption is fighting back furiously, the Administration is
winning the war.

”For our efforts so far, we have so much to showcase: Because we are
tackling corruption, we have succeeded in raising power generation
from 2,690 to an all-time high of 7,001MW. Because we are tackling
corruption, we are saving 25 billion Naira monthly by cutting
unnecessary allowances of officials. Because we are tackling
corruption, we have added 500 million dollars to our Sovereign Wealth
Fund that stagnated at the 1-billion-dollar that was used to set it
up. We have raised our foreign reserves from 23 billion dollars to 35
billion dollars. We stopped the payment of phantom subsidy of between
800 billion and 1.3 trillion Naira annually, yet petroleum products
are available at competitive prices.

”We recovered at least 43 million dollars and 56 houses from just one
former government official. We have recovered 2.9 billion dollars from
looters so far. Our Whistle-blower policy has led to the recovery of
151 million dollars and N8 billion in looted funds from just three
sources,” the Minister said.