Nigerians Need To Join Me And Kill Corruption In The Country – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated his commitment to fighting corruption in Nigeria, explaining that ‘If we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.’”

Buhari explained that his understanding of this fact, is why his administration remains committed to fighting all forms of corruption in Nigeria. He, therefore, called everyone to join him in the fight.

The President made the submission on Monday when he spoke at the second national summit of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the inauguration of the National Ethics and Integrity Policy to mark the commission’s 20th anniversary and Nigeria’s 60th independence anniversary.

He explained that Nigeria must be corruption-free if the country will experience true development.

In his words, “As a military Head of State, I fought corruption headlong and held public officers who abused their office or misused public funds to account.

“Furthermore, I introduced the War Against Indiscipline, one of whose cardinal objectives was promotion of our cherished culture of ethical conduct, integrity and hard work.

“I recognised in 1984 as I do even more now that corruption poses a clear danger to Nigeria, so, we cannot relent in efforts to eradicate it from our society.

“As I have often reminded Nigerians, ‘If we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.’”

Buhari further noted that the fight against corruption can’t be won by only the executive arm of government and therefore called on all arms and levels of government to join hands in the fight against corruption.

“Together as a nation, as a people, the three arms and three tiers of government working together, we can attack corruption and realise the vast potentials of our country,” he said.

He added, “We need a corruption-free public sector to achieve this transformation, we need a judicial system that dispenses justice without undue delay and technicality.

“We need laws and legal system to be reformed to deliver justice to every citizen without regard to status and finally we need ethical re-orientation of the people to achieve this goal.

“When we work together against corruption, we can defeat it.”

The President also listed some of the policies put in place by his administration to fight corruption in the public sector, which he said are all in the best interest of Nigerians.

He listed the Open Treasury initiative, Treasury Single Account, Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, Bank Verification Number, and others.