Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has
challenged the civil society to work with the media and other
stakeholders to ensure that Nigerians never forget, for one moment, the damage done to the country by treasury looters.
The Minister threw the challenge at the launch of the Anti-Corruption
Situation Room (ACSR), which includes civil society organizations,
media groups, government agencies and other stakeholders, in Abuja on
Tuesday.
”Those who turned our treasury to their piggy bank are once again
presenting themselves as the saviours of the nation. They say the best
time for Nigeria was when the proceeds of their corruption subsidized
many and gave the illusion of economic boom. They are so emboldened as
to say Nigerians are earnestly yearning for them. No contrition. No
apologies. No shame. Just sheer bravado. Unbridled arrogance. Revisionism.
”The Civil Society, the media and indeed all stakeholders owe it a
duty not to allow Nigerians to forget, to say ‘Never Again’ to those
who view Nigeria as nothing but a cash cow to be milked to death,” he
said.
Mohammed said the formation of the ACSR could not have come at
a better time, as the Buhari Administration’s fight against corruption
is gaining momentum, ”and the government is winning the war”.
”But there is a challenge: There seems to be a feeling of numbness
among the citizens about the conduct of those whose actions brought us
here, those who looted the national treasury dry. Suddenly, these same
people are engaging in revisionist history and blaming everyone but
themselves for the mess their actions put the country into,” he said.
Reeling out the cost of corruption to the nation, the Minister listed
the conversion to a slush fund of the 2.1 billion dollars meant to buy
weapons for the Nigerian military to fight Boko Haram; the fact that
country could only generate 2,690 megawatts as at 29 May 2015 despite
spending billions of dollars on power and the failure of past
governments to save for the rainy day, even when oil was selling above $100 a barrel for many years.
He listed some of the gains of the anti-corruption fight as raising
the country’s foreign reserves from 23 billion dollars to 38 billion
dollars; stoppage of the payment of phantom subsidy of between 800
billion and 1.3 trillion Naira; and the recovery of at least 43
million dollars and 56 houses from just one official of the immediate
past Administration.
Other gains of the fight against corruption, according to
Mohammed, include the recovery of 2.9 billion dollars from looters so
far; the Whistle-blower policy which has led to the recovery of $151 million and N8 billion in looted funds from just three
sources; the elimination of thousands of ghost workers, which has
saved the nation N120 billion and the elimination of the 108
billion Naira in maintenance fees payable to banks, pre-TSA.
He commended those behind the formation of the ACSR, a platform to
build synergy among anti-corruption CSOs, the labour movement, the law
enforcement agencies, the Parliament and the Judiciary, as well as to
ensure that Nigerians take ownership of the fight against corruption.
