Niger Delta speaking from both sides of their mouth—Buhari
(Nigeria) President Muhammadu Buhari has accused ex- militants of the
Niger Delta of sending some conflicting
messages, saying “Some have said they are ready to drop their arms and join the
rest of the nation to build it, bBut part of them are still sabotaging
installations which is making investments in that lucrative area of Nigeria
difficult because nobody will submit his riches to financial institutions, get
money only to suffer huge loss.”
National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting at APC's National
Secretariat in Abuja on Thursday, he said “So, the environment for investment
is being sabotaged by our own selves, Nigerians. We are doing our best with the
military by trying to persuade them to join the rest of the country because in
unity lies our strength.”
Speaking further, he said “We are members of the legacy
party, plus All Progressives Grand Alliance, PGA and Democratic Peoples Party,
DPP. We realized since 2005 that to remove the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP
from power, we must sink our differences, come together and form a party. God
willing, that eventually happened and that is why we are where we are today,
coming together despite our differences, both personal and ideological. We must
not forget that.
“Having identified that as members of the legacy party, we
again identified three fundamental things facing us. First, security, second,
economy and unemployment and thirdly, corruption. We campaigned throughout the
country on these three fundamental issues and nobody successfully challenged us
and these issues remained relevant.
“On security, we have made progress. It was a very
courageous decision that the party took and executed by the Executive by
removing most of the military hierarchy and appointing those to take over from
them, acquiring some new hard and soft ware and raising the morale of the
military to go secure the rest of the country which was then 14 out of 774
local government. I have said it often that as far as I know and the service
Chiefs who are on ground, they are not holding any local government. But they
still have some capability especially on soft targets by using technology.
“For Niger Delta, the militants are sending some conflicting
messages. Some have said they are ready to drop their arms and join the rest of
the nation to build it. But part of them are still sabotaging installations
which is making investments in that lucrative area of Nigeria difficult because
nobody will submit his riches to financial institutions, get money only to
suffer huge loss. So, the environment for investment is being sabotaged by our
own selves, Nigerians. We are doing our best with the military by trying to
persuade them to join the rest of the country because in unity lies our
strength.
“Of course the leadership of Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC has been changed, but I appeal to the leadership of the
military, security agents and INEC that what I want Nigerians to remember me
for, even if I have to leave the Presidency tomorrow is that I respect them. I
want all Nigerians to believe and hold their PVC as personal entitlement as
Nigerians and use it the way the like, and vote for whoever they like at which
ever election. If they voluntarily sold it, it is part of their right and so,
let them sell it and remain at home and not participate in any election. But
let the law enforcement agencies give them the confidence that nobody will come
out who has money to hire thugs, give them drugs and stop them from exercising
their fundamental right.
“I am afraid I did not succeed in the election in Kogi,
Bayelsa, Rivers. I think that more Nigerians are killed or killed themselves in
Rivers than in any particular state. At this stage of our political
development, to remain brutal is shameful and as a government, I promise we
will do something by the next general election.
“On the economy, the fall of oil prices after Nigeria has
made itself a mono economy is a disaster. I wonder why people could not believe
that in Nigeria, about 27 out of 36 states have difficulty in paying basic
salaries of their workers. If from 1999 to at least 2003, oil is above $100 per
barrel and an export of about two million barrel per day, how come Nigeria
failed to make some arrangement to cushion the effect of a probably volatile
oil market? Again, it show failure of the last administration.
“But we are now to pick the pieces as an APC government and
so, there is no need complaining, but let us concentrate and see how much we
can do with whatever remains of the economy. We realized that agriculture and
solid minerals are two areas that can quickly come to help us to recover
economically, at least in terms of employment and feeding ourselves and more
importantly, saving the hard currency to make sure that what is left our
industries remain open, employing Nigerians and producing goods and services
which is very important.
“The policy we are trying to implement is Treasury Single
Account, TSA. When we insist that we have to know what comes in and what goes
out for us to make a comprehensive amendment to the economy. If you go and see
the Central Bank Governor, he will tell you that in the TSA, we have more than
N3 trillion. Where would this money have been if TSA was not in vogue? I was
made to understand that vouchers would have quickly been raised towards the end
of the financial year and checks made. Whether they are going into projects or
private pockets, nobody can prove it to you. But that money is there, it is
identified, if is quantified and when the budget comes back eventually, the
Ministry of finance will see how to allocate it to the rest of the country.
“We have tried to make sure that Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC is reorganised, so that we know how much of our crude is
taken, how much it is sold and to which account the money is going. But I tell
you that up to the time we came, if anybody told you that he knows how much of
crude exchanges hands either on the high sea or reaching their destination and
the accounts the money goes into, that person is not telling you the truth. We
are getting the cooperation of countries that has received this crude. But we
have to be sure of the facts in our hands before we start prosecution so that
Nigerians will believe what we have been telling them.
“Again, I have to repeat myself here for you to appreciate
what I am going through because you are closer to the people than myself. I was
telling a British team that came to supervise the training team they sent, that
when I was in uniform, you took the perceived corrupt ones and put them in safe
custody and quietly told them they were guilty until they can prove themselves
innocent. But now under multi-party democratic system, I see some of them ride
Rolls Royce, some of them have built estates here, but they are innocent until
we can prove them guilty.
“This situation is true and you don't need to stress your
imagination to find out. If you can find out, you discover that a level eight
officer has five houses, while you, as a Permanent Secretary or Commissioner is
still living in a rented house. We have to get credible evidence to carry out
successful prosecution and get judgement from the Judiciary. But effort is
being made to give a list of recoveries in whatever currencies so far so that
Nigerians will know that it is not all about long stories.
“For the party, I will like you to continue to make
sacrifice. I know you are being harassed since the election that they haven't
seen anything on the ground. Well, if you have any explanation that could be
accepted, is that you have three more years to go. When we came in after 16
years of PDP, each government had 42 ministries. We reduced them to 24, removed
21 Permanent Secretaries. We sat down and reflected seriously. We were all in
the process of taking over at a time of national budget. So, imagine the volume
of work and with what happened in the National Assembly, the padding, it would
appear that below the Permanent Secretaries, there are still a lot of
bureaucracies that are still with them.
“So, you have to appreciate the position we are in. Having
cut 42 to 24, correspondingly, the parastatals will be cut down to some size
and realigned and the boards reconstituted. We gave a blanket order which we
had to rescind when we said all boards are suspended or dissolved. We had to go
back and lick our vomit in terms of university boards because we found out that
according to their laws, they cannot choose Vice Chancellors unless the Boards
seat down, interview prospective candidates who wants to be VCs.
“So, there is nothing wrong in saying sorry and going back
on your decision. So, we said sorry and allow all the universities to continue
with their boards. But for the rest, eventually, we will make it. So, please,
try to bear with us as we reflect on where we found ourselves.
“For globetrotting, sometimes, you need to present your case
on personal basis to your economic colleagues and neighbours. Nothing is better
than personal touch and I believe that we are learning a lot and eventually,
the nation will realize so, I don't envy you on the harassment you are going
through from your constituencies. Take it with a lot of determination and we
will be all right, God willing.”
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