Baku-APA. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday made a strong response to the U. S. charges of massive corruption in the West African country, dismissing them as misplaced and over-amplified, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
The Nigerian leader made the response at the presidential power reform transactions signing ceremony held at the Presidential Villa in the capital Abuja.
A recent report submitted to the U.S. Congress by Secretary of State John Kerry alleged massive corruption at all levels of the Nigerian government.
President Jonathan said contrary to such reports his administration had curtailed corruption and was working hard to carry on the fight against the menace.
"Let me continue to assure Nigerians that yes there are issues of corruption in this country but somehow it has been over amplified, people should watch how we've been conducting government business. We've been bringing down the issues of corruption gradually," he added.
"If you look at the fertilizer sector, you will agree with me that if government actors are interested we would have continued the same story of buying all kinds of things, awarding all kinds of contracts in the name of fertilizer. But, we are not doing that, we have sanitized that sector," the president said.
"Look at the power sector, when we started initially there were stories in the papers but at the end, even when I went to the U.S., companies from there that participated said publicly that the process was transparent and issues of corruption were not there," he added.
The president said he was happy about the comments from the private sector that the process of privatization of the power sector was transparent and devoid of corruption.
He reiterated the government's commitment to transparency and renewed emphasis on inclusiveness in core transactions in the power sector.
The president noted that the ceremony signaled a major step in the implementation of the power sector road map.
He re-assured of his administration's commitment to ending inadequate power supply in Africa's most populous country.
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