Omokri Slams DG VON, ‘Buhari’s Presidency Hasn’t Improved Nigeria’s Corruption Perception Index’

Reno Omokri has slammed the Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, over his disapproval of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

Okechukwu had earlier said Jonathan failed “woefully” to combat corruption during his tenure.

But Omokri, a former media aide to Jonathan described Okechukwu’s allegations as lacking in merit.

He recalled that Nigeria’s best Transparency International rating was recorded under the Jonathan administration.

Omokri noted that President Muhammadu Buhari, since assuming office in 2015, has failed to achieve that feat.

He went on to remind the DG VON that unlike as seen with the Buhari administration, ministers accused of corruption under Jonathan ‘were fired’.

Omokri also recalled that the current administration has failed to either ‘fire, arrest or prosecute’ Babachir David Lawal, the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, even though the latter “was caught red handed looting funds meant for IDPs.”

“It may surprise Mr Okechukwu and his boss to know that the last time Nigeria made progress on Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perception Index was in 2014 under former President Jonathan when we moved eight places from number 144 to number 136 under Goodluck Jonathan,” he said.

“That year marked the most improvement Nigeria has ever made since Transparency International began publishing the annual Corruption Perception Index in 1995.

“Transparency International took note of the Jonathan administration’s e-wallet system that cut out the corruption in Nigeria’s fertilizer procurement system, the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) which weeded out 50,000 ghost workers from the Federal civil service, the cashless policy and the fact that the Jonathan government promptly fired two ministers (Professor Barth Nnaji and Stella Oduah) mentioned in corruption scandals.

“Ever since 2014, Nigeria HAS NOT improved in Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perception Index ranking and has remained 136 in 2015 and are still 136 on the latest CPI ranking released in 2017.

“In the most recent CPI Transparency International said and I quote “some other large African countries have failed to improve their scores on the index. These include South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania and Kenya.

“With a minister of transport that admitted to spending $500,000 on a one day dinner for Professor Wole Soyinka in your government, with a suspended secretary to the government of the federation who was caught red handed looting funds meant for IDPs and who has not been fired, arrested or prosecuted and with a padded budget scandal that spends borrowed monies on luxuries for favored individuals, you can’t pull the wool over the eyes of Transparency International.

“Did President Jonathan ‘railroad’ CNN Money? Or did he also railroad the former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, who said on October 12, 2012 as follows “yes, we’ve been hearing about China and India for years …but it’s hard to believe what’s happening in Brazil, in Indonesia, in Nigeria too.

“The fact remains that under Jonathan, Nigeria experienced unprecedented growth. I leave it to Nigerians to determine what they are experiencing today,” said Omokri.