Despite the recent Transparency International’s report which recorded Nigeria’s war on corruption as having regressed between 2016 and 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration is winning the war on corruption in the country.
According to TI, Nigeria regressed from 136 in 2016 to 148 in 2017 in its Corruption Perception Index (CPI), a claim the Buhari administration has pushed hard against.
Speaking with a Qatari business delegation led by the former Emir, Sheikh Hamad Al – Thani , at the Presidential Villa , Abuja, the president said the nation was making progress in the war on graft.
He equally said his administration had embarked on programmes that would help the nation move beyond oil dependence and food importation, according to a statement on the proceedings of the meeting released by his Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.
He said, “ My administration ’ s economic agenda has always been to move away from over – reliance on crude oil and food importation .
“ Nigeria is a blessed country . We have fertile land . We have a young and energetic population and we have a very strong legal and regulatory system that protects capital and investments, both local and foreign.
“ As you are aware , Nigeria just exited its worst recession in more than two decades . We have more than doubled our foreign reserves.
“ We are winning the war against corruption. We are developing our infrastructure and we are enforcing the rule of law.
“ As a result of this , we are seeing significant growth in the non – oil sector which is creating thousands of jobs across the country. ”