The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said on Thursday President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was doing well in its fight against corruption despite criticisms by Nigerians.
The Transparency International recently ranked Nigeria very low in its corruption perception index.
Mohammed, who stated this at a media briefing in Abuja, noted that the administration had implemented policies to fight corruption and ensure accountability.
He likened the fight against corruption to a marathon, saying graft was one difficult problem the government has been grappling with.
The minister said: “As you are aware, one of the three major policy planks of this administration is the fight against corruption, with the others, of course, being to tackle insecurity and also to revamp the economy. We will be having a series of thematic press conferences on these issues in the days ahead, with this one — on the fight against corruption — being the first one.
“It is common knowledge that one of the most difficult tasks for any government is to fight corruption because when you fight corruption, corruption will fight you back. This explains why naysayers have continued to belittle or dismiss the administration’s anti-corruption efforts.
“Let me say here that fighting corruption is a marathon, and never a sprint. Also, investigations, arrests, prosecutions and asset forfeiture — which are the immediate, visible indices by which many measure success in tackling corruption, constitute as important as they are, just a part of the strategies to combat corruption. There is also a more fundamental strategy, which I will describe as structural and governance reforms or if you like, institutional reforms.
“The Buhari administration has taken bold measures to streamline cumbersome bureaucratic processes in the implementation of government policies, check corrupt practices and ensure accountability in the implementation as well as delivery of these policies.”
