Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed made the disclosure while addressing reporters in his country home of Oro, Kwara State, yesterday.

Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin

The Federal Government has disclosed that its whistle-blowing policy has raked in N13.8 billion from tax evaders.

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It also said other massive dividends of the policy include N7.8 billion, $378 million and £27,800 recoveries from public officials.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made the disclosure while addressing reporters in his country home of Oro, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, yesterday.

He said: “The fight against corruption has been unrelenting, without fear or favour. The administration has driven corruption under the table. Nigerians no longer celebrate the corrupt. Looters no longer sleep at night, as the long arm of the law closes in on them.

“This administration has embarked on institutional reforms to curb corruption. The diligent implementation of the Treasury Singles Account (TSA) has plugged the loopholes being exploited to steal public funds.”

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Mohammed urged Nigerians to be vigilant and not to yield the space to naysayers.

He said the “gains of the past three years plus must be preserved. Nigeria must continue on its present trajectory to sustainable growth and development. Never again must we go back to Egypt.

“The year 2019 is the year of decision for Nigeria. It is the year that the critical decision will be made as to whether Nigeria will continue along the path of development, in all ramifications (social, economic, political, etc.), that this administration has embarked upon since 2015, or the country will retrogress and backslide to the throes of massive and primitive looting and lack of development.

“As we approach this critical fork on the road, I have no iota of doubt that the good people of Nigeria will choose the path of development, having seen the commitment, sincerity and patriotism of  this administration. It is clear, from all indications that Nigerians are not going back to Egypt. Because of the support of the people, our party will win, even with a wider margin, in 2019, thus, sealing the fate of the naysayers.

“The fear of this impending victory explains why they have been running from pillar to post, desperate to thwart the victory of the APC in 2019. They labour in vain.”

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Reeling out the achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the minister said: “Never in the history of our country has any administration embarked on such a massive  infrastructure development as this administration. The whole country is one huge construction site. Roads are being constructed in all the six geo-political zones. As you all know, I’ve been touring the various infrastructure projects of the federal government across the country, with the media. So far, we have inspected about 10 projects, including the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail project, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, the Oyo-Ogbomoso road, the Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt roads, the 2nd Niger Bridge, the Abuja light rail project and the Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa-Bida road. The administration had built over 700 kilometres of roads and rehabilitated about 650 kilometres.

“In the area of agriculture, it has been a huge revolution. Let’s take one of our national staples, such as rice, as an example. When we came in, there were five million rice farmers. Today, we have in excess of 11 million rice farmers. Our rice import has been cut by over 80 per cent. These didn’t happen by accident. It was a result of our Anchor Borrowers Programme. There are more millionaire farmers today than at any other time in the history of our nation. Today, Nigeria is closer to achieving self-sufficiency in rice than at any other time in the history of our country.”