BEVERLY HILLS, February 28, (THEWILL) – The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Monday reasoned that it was corruption that made the prices of commodities to go up.
He added that no economy in the world could survive the blind and reckless looting perpetrated by the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking at a town hall meeting in Umuahia, Abia state capital, he asked, “If one person was found with almost $10 million in an uncompleted house and another with $136 million in fake account and other with N7 billion, how can the economy survive the kind of looting?”
“Naturally the price of commodities will go up. These are funds meant for development of infrastructure and for provision of services.
“That is why you cannot do anything with the economy without first facing corruption squarely.
“But the good news is that the government is doing both together. As we are fighting corruption, we are also making sure that we are ensuring we are out of recession by investing heavily on infrastructure,” he said.
The minister used the town hall to pacify the audience who lamented the spate of attacks on farmers by herdsmen.
He said contrary to the position of some elements who want to destroy the unity of the country, the government was not supporting any section of the country against the other.
Mohammed said it was a purely security issue and it was being handled from both the federal and the state levels.
According to him, “I want to make the appeal that the strength of Nigeria is in its diversity and unity.
“We have been living together peacefully before and we shall continue to live together peacefully.”
