Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday explained how the Federal Government arrived at the N1.34trillion stolen public fund it announced last week.
At a media chat with editors and Bureau Chiefs in Abuja, Mohammed, who was challenged to release the list of the 55 looters and how the government arrived at the figure, rather tasked the media to embark on its investigation and add the missing ends.
He noted that within the period the Federal Government reviewed, 2006 – 2013, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed criminal proceedings against 55 persons that held public posts and the total amount involved was the figure the government announced.
Although the minister admitted that most of those accused or charged by the EFCC are still facing trials and the allegations of monies stolen by them not yet proven, he still noted that the revelation was part of the victories the government has gained in the war against corruption.
He also derived validity of the announced persons and money from the popularity of the figures in the media, to an extent that even the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, quoted same as the sign and extent of criminality in Nigeria’s public sector at the just-concluded World Economic Summit (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
He charged the media to sustain the support for the government in fighting corruption, saying the government has made a huge success of positioning anti-crime crusade at the front burner of national discourse awareness.
He said the development is already a big success on its own, even with a vow that the government cannot stop in its efforts.
Mohammed also assured that, “the paid media blackmail, propaganda, attacks and other counter-efforts by affected persons are ways corruption fights back. But all these are not enough to stop the government because that is the most important task the government must sustain.
“The revelation and its popularity all over the world has rattled the enemies of the country involved in theDasukigate scandal into hack writing, media attacks and other antics. We therefore, call on Nigerians not to fall for their tricks and keep supporting the Federal Government in the war against the culture of looting and impunity.
“Another assurance this government will always give the people of Nigeria is that its only focus is not just fighting the few corrupt Nigerians. It has been part of the propaganda of the affected persons that this government has nothing else to offer the people apart from fighting corruption.
“That is not true because the government must keep all its promises to change Nigeria for the better. But it has to start from the most pressing issue, which is corruption and will later touch on all other issues of national importance the same way it fought the insecurity caused by Boko Haram till its present state,” he explained.
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