President Goodluck Jonathan has claimed he is fighting corruption in Nigeria better than his predecessors. Daily Trust reports.
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, in reaction to the latest corruption perception index by Transparency International which rated Nigeria 136th.
The statement read: “Unlike any previous administration in the country’s history, the present administration has instituted institutional reforms aimed at giving fillip to the anti-corruption war.”
It went further to say since Jonathan assumed the head of government, the fight against corruption has been very active and achieved major successes. It also posited that the latest TI rating was a testament to the fact that the president’s effort in the fight against corruption was gaining grounds.
Leadership reports that the statement noted that the Jonathan administration in the privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) carried out the most efficient and transparent privatization exercise in the history of the country.
Okupe argued that it was more important to develop mechanisms, institutions and the enactment of policies that would plug loopholes and foster transparency.
He wrote:“This is what the Jonathan administration has been doing and this is the template adopted by countries like Denmark and New Zealand, which are at the top of the TI index. Like New Zealand, the Jonathan administration is adroitly deploying Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to tackle corruption head on.”
Continuing, Okupe said it might take time for people“who don’t understand the dynamics of applying creative techniques in up-turning an age-old habit that has cost this country a lot in terms of financial resources, but to those like the officials in Transparency International, knowledgeable in the nuances of fighting corruption, a lot of grounds have been covered.”
“One major area this fight has been visible is the agricultural sector where the administration’s carefully articulated and executed Agricultural Transformation Agenda ended forty years of corruption in the distribution of fertilisers to farmers.
“The same thing applies to the reforms in Ports where we have successfully plugged many loopholes which some corrupt officials had exploited to delay genuine business transactions and harm the Nigerian economy.” He concluded.
It will be recalled that the presidency recently fired back at the opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC) for its claim that President Goodluck Jonathan’s tolerance for corruption is partially responsible for insecurity in the country.
