Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said the Buhari administration, despite earning 60 percent less in revenue compared to previous administrations, has achieved more in terms of infrastructure development.
He said this was made possible because the administration has been able control the corruption and impunity that went on in the previous administration.
Osinbajo said this during an interactive session with the media at weekend in Lagos.
According to the Vice President, in 2017 only the administration spent over N1.2 trillion on capital, the highest in the history of the country.
“We have scaled a good down on grand corruption today despite the fact that we are earning 60 percent less in revenue, we are actually able to spend more than ever before in the history of this country on infrastructure.
“In 2017, we spent over N1.2 trillion on capital. That’s the highest in the history of the country. So we are able to do far more with far less because we have controlled the impunity that went on, the grand corruption, and all of that.
“The national strategy is to ensure that public officers in particular are not able to privatize public finances. And how do we intend to achieve that? We intend to achieve that by ensuring that there is consequence for corruption and also by automating processes, removing discretion from individuals because if you don’t remove discretion from individuals the individuals can have discretion as whether or not they will grant certain approvals through certain processes, then you continue to encourage corruption at one level or the other,” the Vice President said.
On Nigeria’s rating by Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, Osinbajo said, “I think that by even Transparency International’s own assessment, Transparency International uses nine different indexes to come to a conclusion. In four out of those indexes, Nigeria moved up, in another four Nigeria stabilized and dropped in only one index. So in aggregation, it (T.I) then decides that it has fallen in certain number of points below where we were.
I think the important thing to bear in mind about Nigeria’s anti-corruption fight is that the government has done what it ought to do by focusing on grand corruption. Grand corruption is the type we experienced years before when, for example, $15 billion was lost in defence contracts. Two, three weeks to election, N100 billion in cash was taken out, and again $293 million in cash, two weeks, three weeks to election. That’s the kind of impunity. And of course you are also familiar with the scam that went on in the NNPC at the time; the so-called statutory contracts, that’s grand corruption. That is the corruption that crippled the economy of the country.
“Now, how does that translate to perception; because grand corruption is a big aspect of corruption. It’s a big one because if you cannot control grand corruption, you can’t do what you want to do. But then you cannot address the corruption as you go through our airports, our ports, or as you go through government offices, in many cases. That’s where the whole perception emerges.
“We must have a deeper and much wider way of dealing with corruption. How are you going to do that? You must have an efficient way of doing that; like automation, removing discretion from individuals,” Osinbajo said.