The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, on Thursday, said he will continue to fight corruption like President Muhammadu Buhari if elected as President in 2023.
Although the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is yet to conduct its presidential primary to pick its flagbearer, Akpabio is one of the presidential aspirants under the party.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, the minister praised the current administration’s anti-graft war, saying that corruption must be fought so that poverty will not kill the masses.
“We must continue the fight against corruption because if we allow it, corruption can kill us. I will continue the same way the President is doing,” he said.
“What is he doing that is right in terms of fighting corruption? Corruption has a twin brother – poverty. We cannot fight corruption without fighting poverty.”
Akpabio, also a former governor of Akwa Ibom State as well as ex-Senate Minority Leader, identified three major issues affecting the nation.
The issues, he stated, are insecurity, national integration, and the economy, vowing to tackle them to ensure Nigeria’s greatness in the comity of nations.
On how to achieve that, he recalled how he was able to plunge leakages as well as embark on capital projects during his sway as governor in Akwa Ibom State.
“In my state, I was the only governor in Nigeria that was able to do 80 per cent of capital allocation on a yearly basis and 20 per cent recurrent. I plunged the loophole of leakages in the system and that is why you have the outflow of capital projects.
“The maydays of what you used to hear some people said uncommon transformation in Akwa Ibom State and Nigerians are not wrong urging me to come out. I am convinced within me that based on the love I have seen this current President show to Nigerians, Nigerians will go higher than where we are.”
