Nigeria Corruption Rating Is Political, Overblown – President Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the perception that Nigeria’s corruption has worsened under his leadership is an overblown assessment with political undertones.

The President, who spoke Monday night in an interview with Al Jazeera, said despite the country’s position in the global corruption perception index, the perception that corruption has worsened under his administration is inaccurate.

In 2014, Transparency International ranked Nigeria was ranked 136th out of 175 countries and territories, with a score of 27.

President insisted that even with Nigeria’s dismal anti-corruption record, both globally and in Africa, its perception both within and outside the country was blown out of proportion for political gains.

“Yes, people talk about corruption now, because it has become a political issue,” Mr. Jonathan said. “And when you promote something to the level of politics, normally it is blown out of proportion.

“Yes, we have corruption cases, no doubt about that. Yes, we have cases of people stealing, no doubt about that. I always said call a thief a thief. I am not saying that in Nigeria we do not have these elements of corruption, or stealing.

“If you start from my former CBN governor, who said initially that $49.8billion was missing. $49.8billion is a lot of money. What is the budget of this country for God’s sake? Our federal budget has been three point something trillion, that’s roughly on the average $18 to $20 billion a year.

“And you are saying we lost $49.8 billion. If we lose $49.8 billion, the federal and state governments will not pay salaries. I don’t know how he came by that figure.

“The next moment, he changed from $49.8billion to $12billion. The next day it was $20 billion. Up to this time, I don’t know which is the correct accusation,” he claimed.

“There was no evidence to show that it was stolen, but just that it was not properly balanced,” he declared.

The President had in one of his media chats insisted that stealing is not corruption.

In another outing, he tried to explain further what he meant by “stealing is not corruption”.

He says most of what are perceived to be corruption in Nigeria are mere cases of petty stealing by officials.