President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said the anti-corruption crusade in the country will be deepened and institutionalized to last beyond the life of the current administration.
He made the remark while receiving the United States Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, at the State House, Abuja.
The President, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said: “We will insist on the standards we are establishing. We are laying down administrative and financial instructions in the public service that must be obeyed. Any breach will no longer be acceptable.
“We will retrain our staff, so that they understand the new orientation. And those who run foul of these rules will be prosecuted, no matter who is involved.
“But we will be fair, just and act according to the rule of law. Anyone perceived corrupt is innocent till we can prove it. We will work very hard to establish documentation for successful prosecution, and those in positions of trust will sit up.”
President Buhari commended the intervention of the U.S before the 2015 polls.
He added: “America did not do it because of what it stands to benefit from us. You did it for the Nigerian people. It tells so much what the U.S stands for in the world.”
On the Boko Haram insurgency, President Buhari thanked the U.S for both hard and soft military help.
“The training and intelligence that we could not muster ourselves, we received. The training has made Boko Haram less of a threat to Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin region, while the military hardware has given our troops added confidence,” added.