Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to Mexico, Reno Omokri, has argued that the country is not as corrupt as many people around the world believe.
According to him, global corruption rankings do not fully
reflect Nigeria’s culture and realities.
Omokri made the remarks on Channels Television’s Sunday
Politics.
He said the country’s corruption perception rating had
improved under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, abut insisted that
global organisations often judge Nigeria using standards that do not consider
local cultural practices.
“Nigeria is not as corrupt as the world thinks it is because
the metrics they are using to gauge corruption are global metrics and they do
not take into account the particular culture of Nigeria,” he said.
Omokri pointed to the tradition of showing appreciation to
public officials who perform their duties well.
He said that while such gestures could be seen as corruption
by organisations like Transparency International, they had long existed in
Nigeria even before colonial rule.
“When a public official does the job very well in this
country, people show appreciation. Transparency International sees that as
corruption, but it is not corruption,” he said.
Omokri said Nigeria should stop allowing foreign
organisations to define its image and instead tell its own story.
“We have to write our own story. If we allow these people to
continue writing our stories, they will always see us as people who are poor
and backward,” he said.
He also highlighted Lagos State’s economic growth, saying
its Gross Domestic Product had grown significantly under Governor Babajide
Sanwo-Olu.
According to him, Lagos had grown from a GDP of less than
$100 billion six years ago to about $259 billion in purchasing power parity
terms, while income levels had also increased.
Omokri further challenged claims that Nigeria was unsafe,
citing the annual Detty December festivities in Lagos.
“Every year, 1.2 million tourists go to Lagos for Detty
December. That is the biggest single tourism event in Africa, and not one
person has been killed or injured,” he said.
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