The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed has made a most unbelievable revelation after it was discovered that a whopping sum of N2 billion was spent on roof renovation at the National Theatre.
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka
The Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, has made a shocking revelation of corruption and impunity as he disclosed that a past administration spent N2bn for the repair of a leaky roof at the National Theatre.
The minister made the revelation on Saturday during a courtesy visit to Prof. Wole Soyinka in his office at the Freedom Park in Lagos. While lamenting the poor edifice at the National Theatre, lambasted a past administration that spent a staggering N2 billion to renovate a mere roof. He said he could not say for sure if the money was actually spent. The minister added that the Federal Government was planning to initiate a Public-Private Partnership that would help transform the theatre to become the pride of the nation.
Soyinka, in his speech, said President Muhammadu Buhari was fighting the biggest anti-corruption war in Nigerian history. He also commended the progress the President has so far made in the fight against graft especially in the $2.1bn arms scam.
Speaking on the matter, Soyinka said: “I don’t think that will happen this time and the reason is this: We have not had corruption being exposed on this scale before. We have not had a situation where it is being alleged and increasingly proved that money which was supposed to have been spent on defending our nation, ourselves and our neighbourhood has been shared among individuals.
“We have never had the experience where we were in a state of critical emergency where children were being kidnapped under our noses and we were helpless and our soldiers were being sent to the warfront to defend our very existence and we were not backing them up with conduct that shows integrity and commitment.
“During the civil war, I am not aware, may be it existed on this scale, I am not aware but I am just saying that as somebody that has gone through a civil war, even though some of us spent it in prison, I have not heard such exposé.”
Soyinka noted that the anti-graft war would not be easy because whenever anyone fights corruption, corruption fights back. He, however, said plans by corrupt individuals to frustrate the anti-graft war would only intensify the war.