The Federal Government
has called on Nigerians not to be discouraged by the recent setbacks in
the war against corruption, promising that the serial negative outcome of
corruption cases that were recorded at the high court level would not
dampen the anti-graft battle, reports ITRealms.
In a statement issued in
Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, assured Nigerians that the government has appealed against all
the negative decisions, and will vigorously canvass its case at the level
of the Court of Appeal.
He also disclosed that
all the judgments are being rigorously reviewed ''to determine whether
there were errors on our part or whether the government is the victim of
mischief''.
''The war against
corruption is going to be long, tough and arduous, but this administration
is equipped, physically, mentally and intellectually, for the long haul.
We must win this war because the law is our side, the people are on our
side and God is on our side. This is only the beginning, so any setback
will not deter or discourage us,'' the Minister said.
He appealed to Nigerians
to continue to identify with what he described as a titanic struggle,
noting: ''This is not Buhari’s war. It is Nigeria’s war of liberation from
poverty, misery, sickness and wretchedness.''
Alhaji Mohammed said
Nigeria cannot afford unnecessary technicalities as far as the war against
corruption is concerned, especially because of the adverse and devastating
consequences of corruption on the polity.
''Nigerians will
appreciate more the grave and dire consequences of corruption when they
consider that the $9.2 million found in a village house in Southern Kaduna
can finance the construction of one health centre in each of the 774 local
governments in Nigeria and fund them for one year.
''Against this
background, one can therefore imagine what Nigeria could have achieved
with the $20 billion that was estimated to have been looted in the last 3
years of the immediate past administration, either in the areas of job
creation or infrastructural development.
''The government is
therefore more determined than ever to recover as much of this plundered
funds as possible and use them to put our youths back to work, fix our
roads and other infrastructure, equip our hospitals and universities and
invest in electricity in order to bring our industries back to life and
bring back some level of comfort to our homes and offices,'' he said.
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