FG doing well against corruption despite TI report – APC govs

Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the auspices of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) say the federal government is doing well in the fight against corruption.

Governors Mohammed Badaru Abubakar and Simon Lalong of Jigawa and Plateau State spoke on the issue yesterday at the meeting of the PGF Governance Programme Steering Committee (PGPSC) that was constituted by the APC governors.

Their reactions came after Nigeria scored 26 out of 100 points, falling by one point compared to 2018 in the 2019 Transparency International’s corruption perception index released on Thursday.

Nigeria’s latest placement, which saw the country now ranks 146 out of 180 countries, two places down compared to 2018 results, has raised debates about the success of the current fight against corruption.

Governor Badaru, who observed that the prosecutions of suspects in the war against might have been slowed down due to judicial procedures, voiced belief that the country is still on the right track.

“On corruption, we have to look at the index carefully not the general ranking. In some of the index, the corruption is coming down, while it is going up in other area. So, you have to look at the index.

“When you say corruption, everybody looks at government. There is corruption in the market place. We have to have clear understanding on the indices where we win and where we lose.

“You will also agree with me that the APC government has done so well in bringing up so many cases and prosecutions. APC government as a government is not doing badly on corruption,” he added.

Governor Lalong, in his brief response, said, “I am not sure we will say it (corruption) is rising because sometimes they bring out reports and Nigerians also questioned the statistics.”

On how the APC governors would tackle the security challenges in their various states, Governor Bagudu said various strategies would be deployed depending on the peculiarities.

He said, “Security is peculiar to each state ... what they believe will work for them, some will want Amotekun, some will want dialogue. In Jigawa, we don’t need any. We cannot say it’s a policy that all APC states will take - depends on your peculiarities, what will work for you to protect lives and properties.

“I believe there is a standing Committee that is looking at security that involves not only APC governors but all governors in the federation.