Text of The Press Conference By The Honourable Minister of Information
and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Monday, Jan. 18th 2016 at the
Press Centre, Radio House, AbujaPROTOCOL
1. Good morning gentlemen and happy new year to you all. I welcome you
to this press conference, the second of its kind with you since I
assumed office. Recall that during our first meeting last year,
specifically on Dec. 8th, I also addressed a press conference, during
which I intimated you with the huge progress made by the military in
the war against terrorism. On that occasion, I called for the
cooperation of the media in ensuring that the missing link in the war
against terrorism - which is the civilian component - is supplied by
sensitizing Nigerians to support and indeed own the war.2. I am happy to inform you that we have since launched the National
Security Awareness Campaign, and have seen a marked improvement in the
way Nigerians perceive the war. Thanks to the support we have received
from the media, especially in this sensitization campaign, I can now
tell you that Nigerians have taken ownership of the war against
terrorism and are also giving their undiluted support to our gallant
military. I commend the media for heeding our patriotic call to duty
at a critical time in the life of our nation.3. Gentlemen, we are here today because of another patriotic call to
duty. We want the media to once again lead the campaign to sensitize
Nigerians to take possession of another war - the war against
corruption! There is the wrong impression out there that the war
against corruption is being fought only by the President or the
Federal Government or the governing All Progressive Congress (APC).
There is the erroneous impression out there that the war against
corruption is a vendetta against the opposition, and that indeed it is
one-sided. This is not true and indeed very nauseating.4. Let's take the latest issue of the 2.1 billion-dollar arms deal as
an example. One thing is clear: Funds meant to fight terrorism were
deployed to another fight, the fight to keep then President Goodluck
Jonathan and his party, the PDP, in power at all cost. So far, based
on what we know, no one who has been accused of partaking in the
sharing of the funds has denied receiving money. All we have heard
from them are ludicrous reasons why they partook in sharing of the
money. One said he collected 4.5 billion Naira for spiritual purposes,
another said he received 2.1 billion naira for publicity, while yet
another said he got 13 billion Naira to pay someone else for the
Maritime University land.5. Based on these revelations, should we now fold our hands and allow
these people to go away with public funds? Is anyone thinking about
the innocent soldiers who lost their lives just because they did not
get the necessary weapons to fight the terrorists? What about the
families left behind by these soldiers who were sent to their early
graves because of the misappropriation of these funds? What about
those who lost their means of livelihood after the terrorists overran
their towns and villages? What of the millions of Nigerians,
especially women and children, who are now living in IDP camps? Is it
not clear that the cruel fate that has befallen these unfortunate
people is a direct result of the misuse of the funds meant to fight
the terrorists? Are these not the true costs of corruption?6. Talking about the costs of corruption, gentlemen, it is time we
brought into perspective what corruption has done to our nation, our
people and our international image, how corruption stifles economic
growth, hinders the fight against poverty, leads to decay in
infrastructure and reduces educational standards, lowers life
expectancy, stunts the fight against maternal and infant mortality and
impacts negatively on the general livelihood of the citizens. No one
is better placed than you, the media, to lead this charge. And that is
why we have come here today to again rally the fourth estate of the
realm to patriotic action.7. Gentlemen, the situation is dire and the time to act is now. For
example, between the period 2006 and 2013, just 55 people allegedly
stole a total of 1.34 trillion Naira in Nigeria. That's more than a
quarter of last year's national budget! Out of the stolen funds, 15
former Governors allegedly stole 146.84 billion naira; 4 former
Ministers allegedly stole 7 billion naira; 12 former Public Servants,
both at federal and state levels, allegedly stole over 14 billion
Naira; 8 people in the Banking Industry allegedly stole 524 billion
Naira; while 11 businessmen allegedly stole 653 billion naira.8. Now, what does these figures translate to in the actual sense. In
other words, what is the cost of these stolen funds for Nigerians.
Using World Bank Rates and Costs, one third of the stolen funds could
have provided 635.18 kilometres of road; built 36 ultra modern hospitals,
that is one ultra modern hospital per state; built 183 schools; educated
3,974 children from primary to tertiary level at 25.24 million per child; and
built 20,062 units of 2-bedroom houses. This is the money that a few people,
just 55 in number, allegedly stole within a period of just eight years. And
instead of a national outrage, all we hear are these nonsensical statements
that the Government is fighting only the opposition, or that the government
is engaging in vendetta.9. Gentlemen, irrespective of your political, religious or tribal
leanings, and not minding whether you belong to the APC, PDP, SDP or
Labour Party, if you have stolen public funds, you must not go scot-free.
Everyone and every arm of government must rise up to be counted in this
epic war, and defeat is not an option if our country is to survive. As President
Muhammadu Buhari likes to say, if we don't kill corruption, corruption will
kill Nigeria. There is no better way to say it.10. As I said, everyone and every arm of government must be involved
in the fight against corruption, which is one of the cardinal
programmes of the Buhari Administration. Irrespective of what anyone
may say, President Buhari is leading this fight by example and right
from the front. His unparalleled integrity, his uncommon love of
country and his undiluted dedication to service all put him in good
stead to wage this war, and we must all support him and own the war in
order to ensure its success. This is not Buhari's war. This is not
APC's war. This is Nigeria's war.11. Equally critical to the success of the war is the Judiciary.
Unless this very important arm of government fully joins in waging
this war, the pending cases of corruption will just drag on until they outlast this
Administration.12. In the days ahead, we intend to carry this sensitization programme
to all the corners of the country, leveraging on the wide reach of the
National Orientation Agency (NOA). We also intend to partner with
other agencies of government, especially the anti-corruption agencies
and the police, as well as the Presidential Advisory Committee on
Anti-Corruption. As I said earlier, we will be working closely with
the media in this campaign, and we have no doubt that the media will
replicate the support they are giving us in the ongoing National
Security Awareness Campaign. We have no doubt that if Nigerians know
the true costs of corruption to their lives and well-being, they will
be less susceptible to swallowing the frivolous, self-serving and
orchestrated distractions from the corrupt people and their
benefactors and beneficiaries. We must kill corruption before it kills
us.13. Gentlemen, this press conference officially kick-starts our National
Sensitization Campaign against Corruption. The campaign will run all through
the tenure of this Administration. I thank you all for listening.
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