The Nigerian Government on Wednesday blamed complications in doing business in the country for the low rating by Transparency International (TI) in its latest corruption perception index.
It explained that the issue of TI low corruption perception of the country is not necessary about stealing of public funds., noting that the group’s rating of Nigeria has not correctly reflected the government’s effort to curb corruption in the country.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said this while fielding questions at the end of the 39the Virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa Abuja.
In January, Nigeria dropped three places in the 2020 corruption ranking released by Transparency International (TI), and scored lower in a number of points than in its previous year’s record, leading to the perception that corruption worsened in the country within the last year.
The information minister noted that Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had, consequently, initiated reforms to make it easier and more transparent to do business, especially in the port sector.
He noted the inconsistencies in scoring by TI over the years due to inadequate data, saying that the government is taking necessary measures to communicate relevant data on all sectors.
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Mohammed affirmed that by the time the reform put in place start to yield result, the country’s corruption perception will improve.
