The Federal Government has berated Transparency International for naming Nigeria as the second most corrupt country in West Africa.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said there was no evidence to back the report by Transparency International (TI), which placed Nigeria at 146 out of the 180 countries on the 2019 corruption perception index.
Malami said TI’s report had no bearing on reality.
He said, “In terms of the fight against corruption, we have been doing more, we have done more and we will continue to do more out of inherent conviction and desire on our part to fight against corruption devoid of any extraneous considerations relating to the rating by Transparency International.
“Our resolve to fight corruption is inherent and indeed devoid of any extraneous considerations, we will continue to do more and we will double efforts.”
Speaking from the perspective of performance, Malami said there is nothing that has not been done as a nation in the fight against corruption.
Nigeria has slipped on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2019, scoring 26 per cent.
Nigeria scored 27 out of 100 in TI’s 2018 report but dropped by a point in 2019, making Africa’s most populous country take the 146th position.