Controversial: US Secretary of State, John Kerry, quotes Lai Mohammed at World Economic Forum

Controversial: US Secretary of State, John Kerry, quotes Lai Mohammed at World Economic Forum
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At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, delivered a speech which sounded like it was coming straight out of Nigeria's presidential villa, but delivered better than the occupants of the villa usually present it.
Talking about corruption, Kerry said, "When Nigeria's President Buhari took office last spring, he inherited a military that was underpaid, underfed and unable to protect the Nigerian people from Boko Haram. And one reason is that much of the military budget was finding it's way into the pocket of the generals. And just this week we saw reports that more than fifty people in Nigeria, including former government officials, stole $9bn from the treasury. Still in the United States, my friends, we continue to prosecute corruption… "
The "reports" which John Kerry was quoting, was a press statement by Nigeria's minister of information and culture last Monday in which he alleged that in the "period 2006 and 2013, just 55 people allegedly stole a total of 1.34 trillion Naira in Nigeria. That's more than a quarter of last year's national budget."
Mohammed alleged that 15 former governors stole N146.84 billion; while 4 former ministers stole N7 billion; 12 former public servants, both at federal and state levels, stole over N14 billion; 8 people in the banking Industry allegedly stole N524 billion; while 11 businessmen allegedly stole N653 billion.
"This is the money that a few people, just 55 in number, allegedly stole within a period of just eight years. And instead of a national outrage, all we hear are these nonsensical statements that the government is fighting only the opposition, or that the government is engaging in vendetta.
"If you have stolen public funds, you must not go scot-free. Everyone and every arm of government must rise up to be counted in this epic war, and defeat is not an option if our country is to survive.
"As President Muhammadu Buhari likes to say, if we don't kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. There is no better way to say it," he said.
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newsnigeria
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.