Festus Keyamo (SAN)
Corruption: Buhari’s aide, Keyamo, accepts TI rating of US, rejects TI rating of Nigeria
Senior officials in Nigerian government are double speaking over the credibility of the Transparency International 2018 global corruption perception index released on Tuesday.
Spokesperson of President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election campaign, Festus Keyamo (SAN) in one breath said TI is not objective on saying that Nigeria has moved up four places in the ranking of countries on the 2018 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. In another breath, Keyamo accepted TI rating of the United States as credible.
Senior Special Assistant to Buhari on Media, Garba Shehu in an interview also condemned the TI rating of Nigeria.
While Nigeria ranked 148 in 2017, the country moved up four places to 144 in 2018, signifying that the touted fight against corruption in Nigeria is not yielding fruits.
Other countries on the same ranking as Nigeria on the 2018 index are Comoros, Guatemala, Kenya and Mauritania.
TI also noted that the second year of Donald Trump’s presidency slid down the rankings of a global corruption index as America’s system of checks and balances faced growing threats on Donald Trump’s watch.
The US lost four points to score 71 out of 100 on the watchdog’s 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index, sending the country tumbling out of the top 20 for the first time since 2011.
“The low score comes at a time when the US is experiencing threats to its system of checks and balances as well as an erosion of ethical norms at the highest levels of power,” TI said in its annual report.
Reacting to this development, Keyamo twitted and mocked the opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, saying that “Anything that gravitates towards Atiku is always tainted with corruption. Now, the US gives him a ‘special waiver’ as a candidate to come in for a few days and see the result”
According to Patricia Moreira, Managing Director of Transparency International, more needs to be done to “strengthen checks and balances and protect citizens’ rights”.
According to the report, the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index “reveals that the continued failure of most countries to significantly control corruption is contributing to a crisis of democracy around the world”.
“With many democratic institutions under threat across the globe — often by leaders with authoritarian or populist tendencies — we need to do more to strengthen checks and balances and protect citizens’ rights. Corruption chips away at democracy to produce a vicious cycle, where corruption undermines democratic institutions and, in turn, weak institutions are less able to control corruption.” Moreira, said.