The minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, has stated that his earnings as a lecturer is more than he makes as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
According to him, he took up the offer to be a minister because of his patriotic zeal to contribute to the country’s development.
He stated this while reacting to a publication by an online publication (not Ripples Nigeria) that he had bought three houses since he became a minister.
The minister in a statement he personally signed and released on Saturday, denied the allegations in the publication, and said one of the houses in question was bought before he became a minister, while denying knowledge of the other buildings.
His statement read in part, “Our attention has been drawn to the grave falsehood Published by controversial online media, @SaharaReporters against the person of Honourable Minister, @DrIsaPantami. The online media, has falsely accused him of procuring 3 houses within the period of his assumption of office.
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For the purpose of setting the records straight, the Honourable Minister has not purchased a single property anywhere In the world, in the period he has been in office as a Minister.
One of the apartments in the images published is one which the Honourable Minister has occupied since January 2017, more than two years before becoming a minister, while the other one is a house he rented since 17th December 2019. Two of the images are not even known to him.
“It is worthy of note that as a serving Minister, Dr Pantami’s salaries and allowances fall below his earnings as a Professor at the International University Madinah Saudi Arabia, where he still holds the record of being the first Nigerian to lecture at that level. He only returned to Nigeria out of the zeal to contribute his quota to national development.
“Dr Pantami is one of the few Nigerians who are driven by nothing, but an unequalled sense of patriotism and selfless service as demonstrated in his act of sacrifice, to answer the call to serve his country as a sign of his patriotism and selfless service.”
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