President Bola Tinubu has disclosed that in the last three months he has fulfilled Nigeria’s financial obligation without touching remittance from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) or exploring Ways and Means from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Speaking during a media chat on Monday night at his Bourdillon residence in the highbrow Ikoyi area of Lagos State, the President said he has met Nigeria’s financial obligations without falling back to the old order.
“Push me to my brag mode, in the last three months, I’ve not taken a penny from NNPC before I meet my other obligations. To me, that is excellent,” a gleeful Tinubu said.
When asked whether he was scoring himself, the President said, “Why not? Will you score me? I should grade myself if I do my homework right”.
‘I Moved Minimum Wage To ₦70,000 To Fight Corruption’ – President Tinubu
Meanwhile, Tinubu on Monday declared that corruption in all its ramifications, is bad for the people.
Tinubu made the declaration while answering a question during his first presidential media chat about the intention of his administration to fight corruption.
The Nigerian leader said increasing the minimum wage of workers in the country to ₦70,000 is part of the measures adopted to fight corruption in the country.
He stressed the need to identify the root causes of corruption and deal with such causes.
“Corruption in all ramifications is bad for the people, but first of all, pay attention to the causes. Why are the people corrupt?
“The lack of social amenities, lack of funds, their children’s education…”
“There are so many anti-corruption mechanisms that can be put in place that will help the people not to be corrupt, paying them good and living wages. I moved from ₦35,000 to ₦70,000; to me, that’s anti-corruption,” President Tinubu said.
The President added that as part of measures towards fighting corruption, he has made more money available to the state and local governments and is always open about how much the government is making on a monthly basis.
According to him, transparency is one of the tools used to fight corruption.
Tinubu noted that it is difficult to eliminate corruption, but it can be reduced to the barest minimum by meeting the people’s needs.
“It’s very difficult to say you will eliminate it (corruption), you will reduce it to the barest minimum, meet the people’s needs,” he said.