The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has, again, narrated how President Muhammadu Buhari began to tackle corruption, on coming to power in 2015, by attacking the system of financial operations of government establishments.
“Before we came in, there were over 22,000 government accounts in various banks. Since we came, we reduced it to one account and from 2015 to date, N8.9 trillion has passed through the TSA which is as a result of transparency and accountability.”
The minister, who spoke to news men today, Monday in Abuja, said that the Buhari government had put in place institutional reforms which had confirmed its sincerity and commitment to fighting the menace.
“It is not about putting people in Jail but what are the things put in place to address this endemic problem.
“Take the example of Treasury Single Account TSA, which was not initiated by this government. It is only the Buhari administration that has the political will to implement it.”
According to Lai Mohammed, even with lean resources, the Buhari administration has spent more on infrastructure than the 16 years of the PDP administration.
The minister, who was reacting to insinuations by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo who said Nigeria “is being destroyed with incompetence, corruption lack of focus, insecurity nepotism and brazen impunity,” said that Obasanjo must not have been properly briefed on the development in the country to have made such conclusions.
“The facts are all there that this government has done more than any other governments in three and half years.
He said that there was no state in the country without one or two infrastructure development being embarked upon by the federal government.
The minister said that the Buhari administration had commissioned the Abuja to Kaduna standard rail gauge while the 156 km Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge would be ready for commissioning in March next year.
He said that the government had made fund available for five critical infrastructure projects including the Mambilla power project, the East-West Road, the second Niger Bridge, the Abuja – Kano and Abuja-Lokoja-Okenne highways.
Lai Mohammed said that the efforts of the administration in diversifying the economy away from oil had yielded fruits with achievement recorded in agriculture, particularly in rice production and solid mineral sectors.
On power supply, the minister said that the administration had improved on generation, transmission and distribution than it met them in 2015, while Nigerians are benefiting from its numerous social investment programmes.
The minister admitted that Obasanjo has the right to support any candidate for the 2019 Presidential election, but reminded him that his endorsement of candidate does not guarantee victory.
“With due respect to former President Obasanjo, it is his constitutional right to support any candidate of his choice and we urge him to go out and campaign vigorously for any candidate he wants to support.
“He has not hidden his preference for the PDP candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and we wish him very best of luck.
“However, I want to assure you that his candidate will be defeated roundly and comprehensively. It is not about endorsement, endorsement does not win election.”
“The facts are all there that this government has done more in three years than any other government.”
