11th February, 2016
Lawan said his while speaking with State House correspondents after visiting Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
He was speaking against the backdrop of the perception in some quarters that the Federal Government’s anti-graft posture is lopsided. He, therefore, urged Nigerians to support the President in his quest for a “corrupt-free society’’.
“I think the President (Muhammadu Buhari) is fighting a very good and necessary war and he deserves the support of every Nigerian in this respect.
“Nigeria has passed through a period of corruption like in no other time and the kind of revelations that we have so far heard are mind-boggling
“And we are yet to go into some of the areas that could possibly have even more serious breaches of trust by public officers.
“So, I support the President personally and I will continue to do that because I believe that what he is doing is right and I will like Nigerians to give the President all the support he requires.
“We need to have a corrupt-free society. What we need more is not money that we desperately talk about.
“What we need is prudence, economy and efficiency in the way we use whatever little of the
resources we have and you can only achieve that if you have very little or no corruption in your country.’’
The senator said critics of the present administration were “unfair” in their comments about the ongoing war against corruption.
According to him, it is not unusual for those being arrested to be members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the party ruled for 16 years.
“There is nothing sectional about this. I am praying that as Nigerians we should look at issues very dispassionately and very patriotically.
“I don’t think it is right to reduce this anti-corruption fight to a party or partisan affair’’.
Lawan, who joined the Senate in 2007, urged the government to re-introduce civic education from kindergarten/ primary school levels for proper orientation of young generation on the evils of corruption.
“Corruption is an evil which must be taught as that,’’ he said advising Nigerian to examine the calibre and integrity of persons asking for elective positions before they cast votes for them.
“When you want to elect leaders, please shine your eyes, and elect the right leaders who fear God, people with integrity and history of probity and transparency.
“But I believe it is something that we cannot deal with in one year, two years or even 10 years. So as we continue to fight what is manifest now, we should also be mindful of bringing up our children in the proper manner.’’
On the passage of the 2016 Federal budget, the Senator said he was not sure when it would be ready but added: “Nigerians need this budget now more than any other time; our economy is struggling; people are in difficulties and we are working as committees to ensure that we pass the budget in good time.’’