Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said the Federal Government is walking a lonely road in its anti-corruption war, as “most Nigerians,” who are beneficiaries of corruption were fighting back.
Speaking at the 68th General Assembly of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), Mohammed appealed to the media not to “sit on the fence” in the fight against corruption.
“As we have said times without number, this fight must not be seen as the fight of the Federal Government alone. It is our fight.
“Fighting corruption anywhere in the world is like walking a lonely road. While many may join hands with you to tackle insecurity or to revive the economy, you are on your own when you take on corruption.
“Most Nigerians are direct beneficiaries of corruption, hence resist us. The fourth Estate of the Realm cannot afford to sit on the fence as far as this fight is concerned. We are not saying that the media should not criticise us but it should stop mocking us.
When the media is not fully on board, the fight against corruption becomes tougher. When the media sits on every setback we suffer prosecuting this war, they give succour to the corrupt.
“When the media falls to the distraction tactics of those mortally against this war, they weaken the battle,” Mohammed said.
The minister explained that of the three campaign promises of the administration, combating corruption has been the most difficult to accomplish.
He, however, added that despite the setbacks, the war has recorded some progress.
“Yes, corruption is furiously fighting back but it cannot match the courage, determination and commitment of this administration.
“For our efforts so far, we have so much to showcase. From tackling corruption, we have succeeded in raising power generation from 2,690 megawatts of power to 7,001 megawatts. Because we are fighting corruption, we are saving N45 billion monthly by cutting unnecessary allowance of officials, we have recovered $2.9 billionn from looters so far.
“We took Nigeria out of recession without retrenching one single worker even when oil prices were very low.
We have achieved all these and more without having all the stakeholders on board in the fight against corruption. Imagine how much more we would have achieved if all hands have been on deck?”