TheCable

The federal government has reacted to the comment made by British Prime Minister David Cameron during a meeting with Queen Elizabeth earlier on Tuesday.

Cameron had referred to Nigeria and Afghanistan as “fantastically corrupt”, categorising them as the two most corrupt countries in the world.

But the ArchBishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, disagreed with the Prime Minister, defending the integrity of Buhari.

However, in a swift response from the Nigerian government, Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, said Cameron’s statement is not reflective of the anti-corruption posture of the current administration.

“It (Cameron’s statement) is certainly not reflective of the good work that the president is doing. The eyes of the world are on what is happening here,” the statement read.

“The Prime Minister must be looking at an old snapshot of Nigeria. Things are changing with corruption and everything else. That, we believe is the reason they chose him as a keynote speaker at the pre-summit conference.”

Shehu also commended the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for admitting that Buhari is not corrupt.

He said Nigeria cherished the good relationship between the two countries and nothing would truncate the relationship.

“Thank you to the Archbishop. We very much cherish the good relationship between our two countries and nothing should stand in the way of improving those relations,” he said.

Meanwhile, Transparency International, has opposed Cameron, saying the government of both countries are doing their best to tackle graft.

Cobus de Swardt, managing director of the organisation told the British Prime Minister that his country has been providing a safe haven for corrupt assets.

“There is no doubt that historically, Nigeria and Afghanistan have had very high levels of corruption, and that continues to this day,” Swardt said in a statement.

“But the leaders of those countries have sent strong signals that they want things to change, and the London anti-corruption summit creates an opportunity for all the countries present to sign up to a new era.

“This affects the UK as much as other countries: we should not forget that by providing a safe haven for corrupt assets, the UK and its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are a big part of the world’s corruption problem.”