President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said corruption in the country is exaggerated. He was speaking in Cape Town, South Africa, while addressing the Nigerian community in the town.The President is on official visit to South Africa.
He said: “Those who talk about corruption are the most corrupt, we must build strong institutions. Putting heads together along with the heads of the corruption agencies like the EFCC and the ICPC, that what we should do because the perception is so bad and sometimes we also amplify it.
“Sometimes when you look at the figures, somebody comes out with a figure and if you don’t confront it, the recent statistics about funds being moved out of the country is so big and we started asking why is it so and we also realised that there if this policy of regulating the movement of money, and business people like Peter Obi will tell you that the Anambra man will not want to wait; he wants to move his money and go and buy. He did not steal the money. If you ask him to be transferring $10,000 to China, how long will it take him to do that? And so they will find a way of taking the money out and because it is not the conventional way of transferring the money, it all ends up as if all is for corruption. There is element of corruption; I am not saying there is none. In Nigeria now, anybody who wakes up and does not talk about corruption you have not said anything. If somebody is preaching, you must talk about corruption; if you are in wedding, you have to talk about corruption.
“So the perception index is quite high but we all collectively must work to reduce it. I am not saying there is no corruption; there is still some corruption in the country, but we must all work very hard and strengthen the institution to bring the corruption down. And also the issue of security and crime, one of us mentioned the issue of Boko Haram in some parts of the North. We have kidnapping in the Southsouth and the Southeast. This must stop. We will do everything to bring it to an end” he stressed.
