The Presidency has issued a strongly worded statement rejecting former
president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s claim that there is more corruption in
the country compared to when he left office.This is absolutely untrue.
The facts on the ground today run contrary to his outlandish claim. The
statement said President Buhari in pursuit of the war against
corruption, has set a number of local and international records, one of
which is to call judicial officers in Nigeria to account. He is the
first to set such a record. Not only that, this is the first time that
top military commanders and Service Chiefs are brought to trial and
convictions were achieved on account of corruption. Read the rest of the
statement below... Also, this is the first time a ruling party is
convicting high profile citizens including former governors, who are
members of same party. This is the first time the international
community is acknowledging the efforts of a government of Nigeria in
this regard as manifested by the selection of President Buhari by the
African Union as the Anti-Corruption Champion of the continent.For the
records, this is the first time a ruling party is investigating ranking
officers of the administration, including some at the very top.In
addition to the many firsts recorded by President Buhari’s
administration, the government has introduced a lot of changes,
considering that the laws relating to the fight against corruption
cannot reasonably be static.In line with its aspiration to be ahead of
the growing sophistication of corruption and financial crimes, the
administration has initiated new legislations and proposed amendments to
different sections of laws, among which are:• The Money Laundering
Prevention and Prohibition Bill 2017;• Anti-Terrorism Prevention and
Prohibition Bill 2017;• Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Bill 2017
(NFIU);• Proceeds of Crime Bill 2017;• Public Interest Disclosure and
Witness Protection Bill, 2017 and• The Mutual Legal Assistance in
Criminal Matters Bill, 2017.Owing to these efforts and support all of
relevant stakeholders, NFIU Act has been passed and President Buhari
gave his assent on July 18, 2018. The administration is currently
working with the legislature for an expedited passage of the Proceeds of
Crimes Bill to make the anti-corruption war more effective.Nigerians
should dismiss Dr. Jonathan’s hollow boast that he, not President
Buhari, introduced schemes such the Biometric Verification Number, VBN,
Treasury Single Account, TSA and the Integrated Personnel and Payroll
Information System (IPPS). Of what use is the announcement of good
policies without the will to implement them?Since President Buhari
assumed office, Nigerians are witnesses to the huge success recorded
through the implementation of the TSA where some government agencies
that had over the years remitted peanut amounts or nothing at all are
now periodically pumping billions into government coffers. Prominent
among these remittances include the ones made by Joint Admissions and
Matriculation Board (JAMB), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal
Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customers Service (NCS) and
Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).While it is
also true that the BVN was introduced in 2014 to ensure that all bank
accounts have biometric identification of their owners, the lack of will
and capacity under Dr Jonathan stalled implementation. Today, BVN
covers nearly all bank accounts. There are still some individuals who
have shielded their identity and are now afraid of enrolling on the BVN
platform as this will expose them and their corrupt actions. The law is
going after them.President Buhari’s administration introduced the
whistle-blower policy as a veritable tool against corruption as it gives
individuals an opportunity to expose corruption, fraud, bribery, looted
government funds, financial misconducts, government assets and any
other form of corruption or theft. Within six months of introducing this
policy, over 5,000 reports were made through various channels, 365
actionable tips were received out of the 5000 reports. So far more than
N200bn has been recovered.As the Minister of Justice and
Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said on
Thursday, the former President does not have the facts to claim that
there was any serious effort on the part of his administration to fight
corruption.As at 29th May 2015, when this administration came into
office, the EFCC recovery account had only N19.5 billion as revealed by
the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General. After one year of the new
anti-corruption drive by the Buhari administration, this figure had gone
up to N279 billion, and since then a lot more has been
recovered.Finally, as evidenced from a fleeting look at the book, the
former President had nothing to say about his own achievements. If there
was a recession, and yes we had a moment in it, was it due to one year
of President Buhari’s government?In his efforts to blame everyone but
himself for his failures, Dr Jonathan heaped the blame for the
predictable economic recession on President Buhari, ignoring the seeds
sown under him through mismanagement and the process set in firm roots
for the decline of the economy. Evidently, he did nothing to avert the
situation.As we have explained over and over, the recession in 2016 was
caused by years of mismanagement and corruption. In the 16 years of PDP
and earlier than that, the country solely relied on oil, the price of
which was as high as 140 USD per barrel under their watch. Government
simply reticulated oil revenue through personal spending by corrupt
leaders, wasteful expenses and salaries; rather than investing in what
would grow the economy. There was no investment in infrastructure as
President Buhari is now doing in seaports, airports, power plants,
railways, roads and housing.The oil windfall for the country was
mismanaged, and Nigeria’s greatest opportunity for growth was turned
into a tragedy. More worrisome, there were no savings. And to compound
the problem and compromise growth of the economy, the previous
government borrowed heavily, owed contractors and international oil
companies. When President Buhari came into power in 2015, the country
had accumulated debt, which took it back to the level it was before the
Paris Club Debt forgiveness. Nigeria did not have fiscal buffers to
withstand an oil shock when oil prices fell to as low as 28 USD.The oil
shock should and could have been foreseen. When visionary Nigerians and
economists foresaw this and warned of the dangers ahead, Dr Jonathan
hounded such men as the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi 11 and Professor
Chukwuma Soludo. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister of the
Economy and Minister of Finance under Dr Jonathan’s administration also
warned and she was rebuffed.The former President and his party have
nothing to say about achievements. They ruled the country for 16 years
and what is their record on jobs, power, rail, seaports, airports and
internal security, including the crippling disaster of terrorism?Goodluck Jonathan should stop playing the ostrich, he and his party have nothing to say about achievements - Presidency
The Presidency has issued a strongly worded statement rejecting former
president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s claim that there is more corruption in
the country compared to when he left office.This is absolutely untrue.
The facts on the ground today run contrary to his outlandish claim. The
statement said President Buhari in pursuit of the war against
corruption, has set a number of local and international records, one of
which is to call judicial officers in Nigeria to account. He is the
first to set such a record. Not only that, this is the first time that
top military commanders and Service Chiefs are brought to trial and
convictions were achieved on account of corruption. Read the rest of the
statement below... Also, this is the first time a ruling party is
convicting high profile citizens including former governors, who are
members of same party. This is the first time the international
community is acknowledging the efforts of a government of Nigeria in
this regard as manifested by the selection of President Buhari by the
African Union as the Anti-Corruption Champion of the continent.For the
records, this is the first time a ruling party is investigating ranking
officers of the administration, including some at the very top.In
addition to the many firsts recorded by President Buhari’s
administration, the government has introduced a lot of changes,
considering that the laws relating to the fight against corruption
cannot reasonably be static.In line with its aspiration to be ahead of
the growing sophistication of corruption and financial crimes, the
administration has initiated new legislations and proposed amendments to
different sections of laws, among which are:• The Money Laundering
Prevention and Prohibition Bill 2017;• Anti-Terrorism Prevention and
Prohibition Bill 2017;• Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Bill 2017
(NFIU);• Proceeds of Crime Bill 2017;• Public Interest Disclosure and
Witness Protection Bill, 2017 and• The Mutual Legal Assistance in
Criminal Matters Bill, 2017.Owing to these efforts and support all of
relevant stakeholders, NFIU Act has been passed and President Buhari
gave his assent on July 18, 2018. The administration is currently
working with the legislature for an expedited passage of the Proceeds of
Crimes Bill to make the anti-corruption war more effective.Nigerians
should dismiss Dr. Jonathan’s hollow boast that he, not President
Buhari, introduced schemes such the Biometric Verification Number, VBN,
Treasury Single Account, TSA and the Integrated Personnel and Payroll
Information System (IPPS). Of what use is the announcement of good
policies without the will to implement them?Since President Buhari
assumed office, Nigerians are witnesses to the huge success recorded
through the implementation of the TSA where some government agencies
that had over the years remitted peanut amounts or nothing at all are
now periodically pumping billions into government coffers. Prominent
among these remittances include the ones made by Joint Admissions and
Matriculation Board (JAMB), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal
Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customers Service (NCS) and
Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).While it is
also true that the BVN was introduced in 2014 to ensure that all bank
accounts have biometric identification of their owners, the lack of will
and capacity under Dr Jonathan stalled implementation. Today, BVN
covers nearly all bank accounts. There are still some individuals who
have shielded their identity and are now afraid of enrolling on the BVN
platform as this will expose them and their corrupt actions. The law is
going after them.President Buhari’s administration introduced the
whistle-blower policy as a veritable tool against corruption as it gives
individuals an opportunity to expose corruption, fraud, bribery, looted
government funds, financial misconducts, government assets and any
other form of corruption or theft. Within six months of introducing this
policy, over 5,000 reports were made through various channels, 365
actionable tips were received out of the 5000 reports. So far more than
N200bn has been recovered.As the Minister of Justice and
Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said on
Thursday, the former President does not have the facts to claim that
there was any serious effort on the part of his administration to fight
corruption.As at 29th May 2015, when this administration came into
office, the EFCC recovery account had only N19.5 billion as revealed by
the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General. After one year of the new
anti-corruption drive by the Buhari administration, this figure had gone
up to N279 billion, and since then a lot more has been
recovered.Finally, as evidenced from a fleeting look at the book, the
former President had nothing to say about his own achievements. If there
was a recession, and yes we had a moment in it, was it due to one year
of President Buhari’s government?In his efforts to blame everyone but
himself for his failures, Dr Jonathan heaped the blame for the
predictable economic recession on President Buhari, ignoring the seeds
sown under him through mismanagement and the process set in firm roots
for the decline of the economy. Evidently, he did nothing to avert the
situation.As we have explained over and over, the recession in 2016 was
caused by years of mismanagement and corruption. In the 16 years of PDP
and earlier than that, the country solely relied on oil, the price of
which was as high as 140 USD per barrel under their watch. Government
simply reticulated oil revenue through personal spending by corrupt
leaders, wasteful expenses and salaries; rather than investing in what
would grow the economy. There was no investment in infrastructure as
President Buhari is now doing in seaports, airports, power plants,
railways, roads and housing.The oil windfall for the country was
mismanaged, and Nigeria’s greatest opportunity for growth was turned
into a tragedy. More worrisome, there were no savings. And to compound
the problem and compromise growth of the economy, the previous
government borrowed heavily, owed contractors and international oil
companies. When President Buhari came into power in 2015, the country
had accumulated debt, which took it back to the level it was before the
Paris Club Debt forgiveness. Nigeria did not have fiscal buffers to
withstand an oil shock when oil prices fell to as low as 28 USD.The oil
shock should and could have been foreseen. When visionary Nigerians and
economists foresaw this and warned of the dangers ahead, Dr Jonathan
hounded such men as the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi 11 and Professor
Chukwuma Soludo. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister of the
Economy and Minister of Finance under Dr Jonathan’s administration also
warned and she was rebuffed.The former President and his party have
nothing to say about achievements. They ruled the country for 16 years
and what is their record on jobs, power, rail, seaports, airports and
internal security, including the crippling disaster of terrorism?
