TI rating: Corruption fighting back - Magu

Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, weekend said the 2017 low rating of Nigeria by the Transparency International, TI, in the global corruption perception index, was a case of corruption fighting back.

Magu rather boasted that the Muhammadu Buhari administration and the EFCC had done better in the  fight against corruption more than ever before.

Magu spoke in Enugu  during a working tour of the commission’s south east zonal office in Enugu and Anambra states, insisting that Nigeria met all the eight requirements as contained in the nine-point protocol, but only scored low in one point.

Magu said: “We have met almost every demand. So it’s corruption fighting back. You will see them carrying a lot of false information, buying  all the media organisations. I don’t believe in that TI rating, I don’t believe it’s real because from what we have done, we have worked very hard and we have recorded a lot of successes that had never been recorded before in this country; it has never been done so well. I’m not giving the credit for myself.

“We have never done so well like this before. When you go through this list, you will see how they even arrived at the perception, if you go from these variables, all other variables  minus one, the rating of Nigeria compared to 2016 has increased, the only last variable which they gave us low mark is not issue of corruption.”

Magu however said that commission would do everything possible to improve the rating and “not leave it to corruption fighting back.”

He solicited the cooperation of civil society groups, the media and all Nigerians in the fight against corruption, stressing that EFCC cannot do it alone.