Lai: Nigerians not angry about corruption

Lai Mohammed, minister of information, says he is surprised that Nigerians are not angry enough about corruption.

Mohammed, who said this when he visited Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos state governor, denied that the President Muhammadu Buhari, in the fighting corruption, witch hunts certain people.

“We are not witch-hunting any person. We are not out to vilify any person. What bothers us is that Nigerians are not angry enough,” he said.

“Last Sunday, it was reported that N381 million was recovered from the account of the wife of a former service chief. It is surprising that Nigerians have shown no anger about it.

Mohammed expressed the determination of the current administration to stop corruption and appealed to Nigerians to help the government achieve its aim.

“In other climes, you will see people talking about it (corruption) or doing something about it. We must understand that until we kill corruption, we are not going to make any headway.”

He explained that by explaining how resources were allegedly mismanaged in the past, government intends to inform the people the extent of havoc created by past leaders and the cost of corruption.

“The government wants Nigerians to know what we are suffering. When we had a news conference in January and disclosed that 55 people stole N1.343 trillion between 2006 and 2013, what we wanted to emphasise was what one-third of the money would have done to Nigeria,” he said.

“We said the money would be able to redevelop Lagos-Ibadan expressway. It will be able to give us one ultra-modern hospital in each state of the federation.

“In addition, that money would have given 20,000 units of two-bedroom flat. The remaining will still sponsor 3,954 students from primary schools to tertiary level. In addition, it will build 183 state-of-the-art schools.”

Mohammed said corruption prevents development in Nigeria.

“We lose 40% of our infants before they are five years old. It is because of corruption. It is because of corruption we are in darkness all the time. It is because of corruption we needlessly lose lives to road accidents today,” he said.