'Judiciary is my main headache in fighting corruption' ----Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, said ongoing fight against corruption in Nigeria could be effectively
tackled with the strong support of the judiciary.
A statement in Abuja on Sunday by the president’s Special
Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, said that Buhari stated this
while speaking at a town hall meeting with Nigerians living in Ethiopia.
The president said that far-reaching reforms of the
judiciary remained a key priority for his administration.
``On the fight against corruption vis-Ă -vis the judiciary,
Nigerians will be right to say that is my main headache for now. If you reflect
on what I went through for twelve years when I wanted to be the president, I
attempted three times.
“At the fourth attempt, through God and the use of
technology, it was possible for Nigerians to elect an APC candidate as
president. In my first attempt in 2003, I ended up at the Supreme Court and for
13 months I was in court.
``The second attempt in 2007, I was in court close to 20
months, and in 2011, my third attempt, I was also in court for nine months. All
these cases went up to the Supreme Court until the fourth time in 2015, when
God agreed that I will be President of Nigeria,’’ he said.
Buhari assured members of the Nigerian community in Ethiopia
that with the support of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, he would continue to do
his best to improve the nation’s judicial administration system.
On urban development and infrastructure, he announced that
the Federal Government had ordered a review of several railway transport
projects signed by the previous administration with the Chinese government.
``The Chinese government was very generous to Nigeria on the
projects signed with the previous government because they agreed to pay 85 per
cent of the project. But, the Nigerian government was unable to meet up with
its counterpart funding of 15 per cent, so the Chinese government was unable to
make any impact on the project,’’ he said.
The president said he had directed the Ministers of
Transportation, Finance, and Power, Works and Housing, to revisit the
agreements and explore ways of re-approaching the Chinese government for
assistance.
He added that the Chinese government had indicated interest
to assist Nigeria on project financing through its Export-Import Bank.
On the proposed N6.07 trillion 2016 budget before the
National Assembly, the president said that for the first time in Nigeria, the
budget would be largely financed from non-oil revenue.
He identified the collapse of the international oil market
and oil theft in the Niger Delta as main reasons for projecting more revenues
to fund the budget from the non-oil sector.
He said that theft of oil by some Nigerians who felt that
the oil belonged to them was irritating to ‘’those of us who participated in
the civil war for 30 months in which at least two million Nigerians were
killed.’’
Buhari explained that the proposed budget would focus on
increasing efficiency and transparency in government operations and the
blocking of leakages from revenue generating agencies.
He added that the recovered assets of the country would also
be used to reduce the budget deficit.
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