President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday
admitted that at a point after he was inaugurated as the President in May 2015,
he felt like running away.
He
said he would have taken the decision because of the myriad of problems his
administration inherited from past governments.
Buhari
said this while addressing 68 Nigerians who participated in the Senior
Executive Course 38 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies,
Kuru, and the institute’s management staff at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The
President said consecutive administrations since 1999 realised what he called
unprecedented resources because of the huge price of oil and the number of
barrels being produced per day and yet the party in government during the
period had nothing to show for it.
He
said, “For 16 years and eight consecutive governments of the other party, you
know that there was unprecedented revenue realised. Oil production, which can
be verified, was 2.1 million barrels per day.
“Between
1999 and 2015, the average cost of each Nigerian barrel of oil was $100 per
barrel. When we came, it fell to less than $30 per barrel and is now hovering
between $40 and $50.
“Actually,
I felt like absconding because 27 out of 36 states in Nigeria cannot pay
salaries and we know they have no other source than to depend on salaries to
pay rent and do other things.
“I
asked if there were any savings and I was told there were no savings. I asked
what they did on agriculture, power, rails and roads. There was nothing.
“You
know more than I do because you move round. I have not been moving round since
after the elections, but you do. How many of the Trunk A roads are still good
enough? How many megawatts do we have although there are some elements of
sabotage?”
The
President added, “I was told the money was used to import food and fuel. I
didn’t believe the answer and I still do not believe it. Up till now, a
substantial number of people in the South-East eat garri and groundnut. In the
South-West, they eat pounded yam, cassava, vegetables. In the North, they eat
tuwo, which is made from any of the grains – millet, sorghum. They eat it in
the night and warm it in the morning and eat it and take fura in the
afternoon. How many of those people can afford foreign food?
“Then,
they said I should check out the petroleum sector. The legislature dedicated
445,000 barrels (of crude oil) per day for internal consumption and that is
just 60 per cent of our requirements. I said okay, what of the 40 per cent? The
marketers that are bringing it just present documents, papers are just stamped
and monies are taken away.
“This
is the type of things that the Nigerian elite are doing to our own country.
When you go back, look at your colleagues and encourage them to be truly
Nigerians.”
Buhari
insisted that the economic recession currently being witnessed in the country
was caused by the mismanagement of the nation’s economy.
“In
the last one and half years of this administration, the economy has experienced
some tough times, particularly with the decline in oil revenues, which has some
harsh impacts on Nigerians at the grassroots.
“It
is also important to note that the economic recession is not the making of this
administration, but rather, a consequence of bad management of the economy in
the past couple of decades. The recession is not limited to Nigeria – there are
far, far worse cases than Nigeria.”
Buhari
said his administration was committed to finding a lasting solution to the
economic structural imbalance, urging Nigerians to have faith that the country
would come out of recession vibrant and stronger.
The
President said, “It is impossible for this administration to ignore the poor
who made great sacrifice to bring us to government.’
“Ours,
more than any other government in the history of Nigeria, is a people’s
government. We therefore must and we will keep faith with the people.
“It
is in this light that I wish to declare the commitment of this administration
to the Sustainable Development Goals, most especially to ending extreme poverty
in Nigeria.
“It
is not going to be easy, but we are committed to dealing with the challenges in
a decisive manner.”
In
his remarks, the acting Director-General of NIPSS, Jonathan Juma, called the
President’s attention to what he described as the precarious financial status
of the institute.
He
said the situation had degenerated to a point that the institute’s creditors
were threatening legal actions.
He
therefore sought for presidential intervention, adding that a decisive
presidential intervention for a sustainable funding of NIPSS was required.
Source:The
Punch
Tags
Politics