A former commissioner of information in Kogi state and the Secretary of the Media and Publicity Committee of the APC 2019 Gubernatorial Campaign, Dr Tom Ohikere has accused the PDP of quoting the corruption status report by the National Bureau of Statistics in which Kogi, Gombe, Rivers and Adamawa states were listed as the most corrupt states, out of context.
In a statement made available to journalists in Lokoja on Monday, Ohikere said those pouncing on the report to attack the Kogi state government were the sour losers in the November 16 election.
He said if they had thoroughly scrutinized the report they would have understood its essence, which is an index on the attitudes among the masses in their relationships with public officials.
He said: “The National Bureau of Statistic in collaboration with other international partners recently released The 2nd Corruption Survey Report on Nigeria in Abuja on Friday in which they gave a state-by-state record of corruption prevalence with Kogi State leading as the most corrupt state, followed by Gombe and Rivers.
“But close scrutiny of the report and methods used have led to questions as to the criteria and index used by the agencies as well as discount the sensational and bogus headlines used by some media houses. According to the NBS, the survey contains home-grown data collected from Nigerians by Nigerians and for Nigerians. That is from a total of 33,067 persons in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory through interviews.
“Examination of the report reveals what in the language of the report that the scope of the survey is on petty corruption, not on grand corruption, that is corruption between man to man. Such as how often do you give public officials bribe? And related situations, not the corruption in governmental corridors of power.
“In that regard, we know that Kogi State has long been in the grip of systemic corruption as a result of the inability of previous and succeeding administrations to institute an effective staff screening exercise and rationalization of the state civil service for efficient and effective delivery of public services, which has bred an hydra of undesirable factors but which the current administration has successfully undertaken against formidable odds. So the impact is sure to be felt in the system as time goes on.
“So, on the contrary, the report is not an indictment of any government per se but a call for re-orientation in the relationship with the public, which the government of his excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello has made an integral part of his bureaucratic rationalization and re-election agenda.”
