Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta affairs, says if he is elected president, he will fight corruption in the same way as President Muhammadu Buhari.
On Wednesday, Akpabio announced his intention to contest for president on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking on Thursday in an interview with Channels Television, the former Akwa Ibom governor said he will harness the country’s human and natural resources towards actualising development.
The minister added that corruption and poverty are “twin brothers”, saying Buhari is fighting corruption by using social investment programmes to tackle poverty.
“We will harness the resources that we have in the country. We will take care of the maritime industry. We will also take care of the mineral resources,” he said.
“We will have a better way of controlling the youthful population and giving them hope in order to bring out their intellect and become more resourceful.
“Of course, we must continue the fight against corruption because if we allow it, corruption can kill us and I will continue the same way the president is doing — what he is doing that is right in terms of fighting corruption that was not done in the past.
“Corruption has a twin brother and that twin brother is poverty. You can’t fight corruption without fighting poverty with the social investment programmes put in place to assist the poorest in the country vis-à-vis empowering the people.
“It means that as we tackle poverty, we are reducing corruption because corruption deepens poverty, while poverty leads to corruption.”