Nigerian politicians allegedly stole $6.7 billion in public funds in seven years, information minister Lai Mohammed has said.
An AFP news agency report quoted the minister as saying that state governors, ministers, business leaders, public officials and bankers diverted the money between 2006 and 2013.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in power during the said period, covering the last over one year of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration (1999-2007), that of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who succeeded Obasanjo but died in office in may 2010, and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who was defeated in last year’s presidential election by Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Lai Mohammed, who addressed reporters in the capital, Abuja, said that tackling corruption was central to the Buhari administration but added that it involved everyone.
“This is Nigeria’s war,” he said. “The situation is dire and the time to act is now.”
•Photo shows Lai Mohammed.
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