Rwandan President to Buhari: Fighting corruption shouldn’t take a decade

Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari and other African leaders on their fight against corruption.

He made this known while speaking at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) summit in Abuja,

Kagame advised all leaders present to not only focus on fighting corruption but ti add value and to create wealth.

“There is one of your own [Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala], who wrote a book, titled, Fighting Corruption is Dangerous; so she gave me the book, and as I was looking at the title, I reminded her and said you need to be thinking of writing another book to state that not fighting corruption is even more dangerous.


“This is a fight that can be won; tolerating corruption is a choice, not an inevitability. It is within our power to end it. That is the most important starting point, otherwise, it will be a waste of time to keep talking about it.

“Corruptions does not take decades to eradicate once we decide to break the habit.

“We have to set our sights high, it is not enough to fight corruption just as merely fighting poverty, it is too small an ambition for Africa. We want to create value, we want to create wealth, not merely fighting corruption.”

The Rwanda President also hailed Buhari as an AU anti-corruption champion as he congratulated him on his re-election.

“President Buhari, I wish to give you our very warm congratulations on your re-election and best wishes for the entire Nigerian people, on the road ahead,” Kagame said.

“I also want to mention here, that President Buhari is AU (African Union) champion in the fight against corruption, and we thank you.”

Kagame said corruption must be fought from top to bottom, using four key principles, “culture, responsibility, accountability, and effectiveness”.

“We must discard the myth that corruption is endemic to particular cultures. corruption is a universal weakness, not an African one, and it is not part of our destiny as a continent.