By Hamilton Nwosa(Head, The New Diplomat’s Polling, Research & Data desk)
The Presidency has knocked the latest report of Transparency International (TI) which ranks Nigeria 149 out of 183 countries sampled, stating that the Country has made giant and positive progress since the advent of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Shehu Garba, who faulted the TI report, stressed that reality on ground in the country is based on verifiable facts and data and that any evidence-based analysis would show clearly that there has been great progress under the administration of President Buhari.
According to Shehu, regardless of any objective metrics used or deployed in conducting an empirically verifiable ranking, the result would inevitably show that the present administration has made giant strides whether it is by prevention or punitive measures in recoveries and prosecution of offenders.
According to him, this would naturally rank the country better rather than standing still as the TI report has sought to suggest.
He called on international organizations to be factual in their analysis, reports and surveys, stressing that they should base their findings on factual situations rather than “sensational media reports and age-old narratives” which he noted have changed positively and progressively.
He said Nigeria’s current realities are now remarkably and positively different from what it used to be, urging international bodies to update their databank of information.
He said: “In the existential fight against this multi-pronged malice and manifestations of corruption, President Muhammadu Buhari has avowed that he would take-no-prisoners, guided by respect for the rule of law.
“We invite Nigerians to stand with an administration that has done so much on asset recovery, prosecution, legislation, political will and leadership by example in the fight against corruption.
“Equally, we urge our friends in the media, development partners and the civil society organisations to continue to support efforts to strengthen accountability, transparency, ethical values and integrity in Nigeria’s public sector.
“President Buhari has put his hand to the plough and will not relent in working with those passionate about the welfare, stability and prosperity of future generations to come in Nigeria.”
He added: “A Naira denominated review that excludes recoveries in Dollars, Pounds, Euro shows that a sum of N1.2tn was recovered by EFCC between 2009 — 2019. N939bn of that total was recovered between 2015 – 2019 with less than N300bn recovered in the first six years.
“Additionally, preventative instruments deployed by this administration such as Treasury Single Account, Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System coverage expansion and the removal of 54,000 ghost workers from federal civil service saving us N200bn annually serve as evidence that perception is not reality.”
It would be recalled that Transparency International (TI) had on Thursday released the 2020 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) which indicated that Nigeria has yet again declined in the CPI as it ranked 149 out of 183 countries sampled in the perception polling.
According to the report released by Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Nigeria’s affiliate of TI, Nigeria reportedly scored 25 points out of an obtainable 100 points in the recent Index.
According to CISLAC, Nigeria consequently moved three places down compared to the 2019 results when the country ranked 146. While announcing the outcome of the polling, Auwal Ibrahim Musa, who is the Executive Director of CISLAC, noted that Nigeria’s score has been on the decline by an average of 0.8 yearly in the past four years.
