FG disputes Transparency International’s corruption ranking, says there is no evidence

The Federal Government has revealed its thoughts on the recently released report by Transparency International which places Nigeria at 146 out of the 180 countries on the 2019 corruption perception index.

In an interview on Channels Television’s LunchTime Politics, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami said the facts on the ground do not correlate with the information dished out by Transparency International, he also said the agency had no evidence.

As far as Mr. Malami is concerned “the empirical evidence” does not support  Transparency International’s report

The Attorney General said in terms of the government’s fight against corruption, more has been done.

“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.

“In terms of legislation, we have done more, in terms of enforcement we have done more, in terms of recovery of looted assets we have done more, and in terms of political goodwill, we have demonstrated extra-ordinary political goodwill,” Malami stated.

The Senior Advocate challenged Transparency International to provide indices and statistics from which the organisation adjudged that Nigeria is not doing enough in its fight against corruption, adding that for a conclusion to be legitimate, then there has to be specific facts and figures to establish a position.