Transparency rating: Even Buhari rates Nigeria as very corrupt – HURIWA tells Malami

The foremost civil Rights advocacy group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has backed the current rating by transparency international which rates Nigeria as one of the most corrupt nations globally just as the group challenged the Justice Minister to organise a road show whereby credible civil Rights advocacy groups and government officials will tour all of Nigeria so the Federal Government tell Nigerians how come out of all of the national budgets yearly the critical national infrastructures have remained dilapidated.

The Rights group which reacted to the just released report of the Berlin, Germany based global transparency rating agency- Transparency International also faulted the federal attorney general and minster of justice Alhaji Abubakar Malami (SAN) for denying the corruption status of Nigeria currently on the nebulous ground that there is no evidence to backup the transparency international’s claims just as the Rights group told the justice minister that even president Muhammadu Buhari has in almost all of his public speeches has identified that corruption in public offices is staggering and monumental which is why anti-corruption fight is elevated over and above other critical public services to the citizenry by the current federal administration. HURIWA accused the Justice Minister of living in self denial.

“If the chief law officer of the federation is now denying the obvious and empirical evidence of high corruption as severally claimed by his appointing authority and the president, it means he is disloyal to the principal mandate of his master. If he is a loyal and faithful cabinet level minister under a government that prioritises anti-corruption far and above security of lives and property of the citizenry, then he has no reason remaining in the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration which claims that Nigeria is so corrupt to a level that what matters most to the government is to wage war against corruption and here is he denying what his pay master claims to be self evident. “ “The EFCC acting Chairman only Yesterday told the World that this year many looters hiding in Europe would be brought back. Why is the Justice Minister denying the obvious? Is there no corruption when a serving General Officer Commanding a military location in Sokoto was caught over the disappearance of millions of Naira whose source is unknown and indeed the EFCC recently secured a court order to forfeit over 180 million belonging to an Army General? Is Nigeria not corrupt when the Son of a serving Director General of a Federal Agency was reportedly arrested in Dubai with $5 million USD cash? Is Nigeria not corrupt when nearly $50 million USD was found in a flat kept by one of the top security chiefs who has now been declared wanted by EFCC because he reportedly left Nigeria with his Wife? Is Nigeria not corrupt when the Auditor General of the Federation has for over three years now indicted many ministers and institutions for breach of transparency and accountability laws? Is Nigeria not corrupt when EFCC and ICPC have successfully recovered stolen assets hidden by serving civil servants by way of Real Estates in Abuja? This Justice Minister must be operating from the moon for him to even debate the accurate statistical claim made by Transparency International about the level of lack of transparency and accountability at all levels of government.”

Besides, HURIWA in the statement by Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko the National Coordinator disclosed that corruption amongst federal agencies in the current dispensation is so staggering that most if not all of the essential social services and national infrastructures have all but collapsed even when trillions of Naira of public funds have reportedly been released to fix the broken down critical infrastructures such as federal roads, health institutions, federal schools have all deteriorated and are currently unable to do the basic services for which these budgetary releases were reportedly made.

“How come there is widespread breakdown of law and order and hundreds of Nigerians are becoming crime victims even when billions are released through media announcements for policing duties and for other national security services? Corruption is the reason the prisons have collapsed and we have too many jail breaks and even inmates carry out international Advanced Fees fraud from the Prisons in active collaboration with the top level officials. Corruption is the reason immigration and customs services are so deficient that it took the closing down of all borders for government to insult our sensibilities with the infantile claims that weapons and small arms are being smuggled through the borders even when billions of Naira of public fund are reportedly spent funding customs and immigration yearly?”

The Justice Minister should read the report and look for ways and means of following law based guidelines to wage real war against corruption.

” So Malami says there was nothing that has not been done as a nation in the fight against corruption? Why is corruption so widespread and why are virtually all national infrastructures down and out? Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, has no locus to fault the recently-released annual corruption perception index (CPI) because he is living in self denial and has displayed hypocrisy to claim that corruption has been reduced.”

“HURIWA even thinks that it was their push to sound politically correct that made Transparency International to have exercised a lot of diplomatic maturity by not rating us as The last. The CPI published by Transparency International (TI), ranked Nigeria the fourth most corrupt country in West Africa, and 146 out of the 180 enlisted countries in the world. This rating is a gentleman’s charitable presentation because going by the fact that last year Nigeria became the Country with the largest population of poor people even amidst the fact that we remain the 6th largest World’s exporter of crude oil which has maintained a consistent higher global asking price shows that government officials in the current dispensation are the worst corrupt species of Nigerians created by God. Why is NNPC so filthy and stinks of corruption? Federal Inland Revenue Services and Customs make claims of generating trillions of Naira as revenues yearly since the last five years but Nigeria has gone back to become one of the World’s most heavily indebted nations which Nigeria exited few years back and this in-glorious rating as a heavily indebted nation happened because the current administration borrows from all sorts of places and these borrowed funds are looted and not used to fix the national infrastructures which still remained collapsed even as I write. Where are the big revenues from Customs and FIRS?”

” HURIWA hereby demands the resignation of the justice minister for reacting to the list on Channels TV, Malami and saying that as far as he’s concerned, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has been actively fighting corruption.”

HURIWA quoted Malami as stating thus, “In terms of the fight against corruption, we have been doing more, we have done more and we will continue to do more out of inherent conviction and desire on our part to fight against corruption devoid of any extraneous considerations relating to the rating by Transparency International.
“Our resolve to fight corruption is inherent and indeed devoid of any extraneous considerations, we will continue to do more and we will double efforts. In terms of legislation, we have done more, in terms of enforcement we have done more, in terms of recovery of looted assets we have done more, and in terms of political goodwill, we have demonstrated extra-ordinary political goodwill.”

HURIWA hereby challenges Nigerian government officials to stage a ROAD SHOW TO BE TELEVISED LIVE SO NIGERIANS ARE SHOWN THE INFRASTRUCTURES BUILT WITH THE BILLIONS BORROWED SO FAR BY GOVERNMENT AND ALSO WHERE ALL THE NATIONAL BUDGETS AND REVENUES HAVE GONE INTO.