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Tag: BUHARI

  • Obasanjo, Buhari, Gowon, others attend Jonathan’s last Council of State meeting

    Obasanjo, Buhari, Gowon, others attend Jonathan’s last Council of State meeting

    … Ex- president arrives 40 minutes behind schedule

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was among former Nigeria leaders that attended Tuesday’s Council of State meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    However, the former president entered the Council Chamber venue of the meeting at 12.10pm, about 40 minutes behind schedule.  The meeting started at 11.30am after the arrival of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Other former Nigeria leaders that attended the meeting are – the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar and Chief Ernest Shonekan.

    Tuesday’s meeting will be the last under the outgoing President Jonathan.

    The state governors at the meeting are – Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Ramalan Yero (Kanuda), Sarieke Dickson (Bayelsa), James Ngilari (Adamawa), Tanko Almakura(Nasarawa) and Gabriel Suswam(Benue).

    Others are – Martin Elechi (Ebonyi), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Jonah Jang (Plateau) Liyel Imoke(Cross River), and Acting governor of Taraba State.

    Kano, Kogi, Oyo and Yobe States were represented by their deputy governors.

    The Senate President, David Mark, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and former Chief Justices of Nigeria including Muhammadu Uwais, Alfa Belgore and Idris Kutigi were also the meeting.

    The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki and the Chief of Staff to the President, Jones Arogbofa also attended the meeting.

    Opening Christian and Muslim prayers were said by the governors of Cross Rivers and Kaduna respectively.

     

  • Buhari and the challenge of unpaid salaries

    Nigeria’s President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, no doubt, has a huge burden upon his shoulder. Nearly every sector throughout the country is threatened and in predicament. The 16 years’ reign of the People Democratic Party, (PDP), has been a matter of one step forward two steps backwards. In particular, the last six years under President Goodluck Jonathan has been a huge disaster. The economy is currently comatose. The nation’s foreign reserve has been recklessly depleted by the spendthrift Jonathan administration. To worsen things, inflation and unemployment is at an all-time high while corruption has become the order of the day in the corridors of power. When the President of a country affirms on national television that ‘stealing is not corruption’, you don’t need to be a prophet to know that such a country is in trouble. The truth, is that Nigeria is actually in trouble.

    This is why I don’t envy General Buhari. The Nigeria that President Jonathan is leaving behind for Buhari is one that is in a complete mess, and we should make no mistake about it. One of the very daunting tasks that Buhari and his team would have to tackle in earnest is that of unpaid salaries raging across the country as this could become a clog in the wheel of democracy. In the last 16 years, the norm in budgetary planning, formulation and execution has been for recurrent expenditure to be excessively higher than capital outlay. This is not, in any way, peculiar to the Federal Government alone as nearly all the state governments in the country operate a similar unproductive budgetary planning.

    The consequence of this is the poor state of social and physical infrastructure across the country. Almost all federal roads are in terrible conditions. The inept PDP-led government, after 16 years in power, could not fix the nation’s refineries as we shamelessly continue to import refined petroleum products from neighbouring countries. This is what happens when a nation fails to prioritize its developmental needs. No nation in the world, not even the almighty United States of America, touted as the number-one economy could develop via the kind of budgetary system we have been operating in the past 16 years.

    High wage bills, as well as escalating cost of governance, remains a major threat to the survival of democracy in the country. Presently, aside the various Federal Government agencies and parastatals that are being owed various degrees of salaries and emoluments, about 26 state governments owe workers salaries in arrears of months. The State of Osun readily comes to mind here as the state has been singled out for target of media attack on this issue. I am piqued about this though since the state is not the only one in this dire financial strait. The Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was, in fact, the first person to call national attention to this financial disaster in 2013, when he alleged that the Federal Government had declared war on the state as allocation dropped to 40%.

    It will be difficult to query his record as a worker-friendly administrator. In some states, in order to ensure workers go home with something; salaries are paid in bits.  Expectedly, in most of the states, workers are threatening to go on strike in a bid to press home their demands for prompt payment of their wages. Things are not looking up at all. At the time of writing this, the April allocation has not been disbursed.

    With the decline in revenue accruing to the Federation Account through the sale of crude oil, some of the states might not be able to pay workers salaries, not to talk of paying arrears of pension and gratuity to pensioners. As things stand, the amount that stands to the credit of each of the states monthly is not enough to pay workers’ wages, and this means all other similar recurring expenditures would suffer. A few of them that try to embark on capital spending do so through loans from banks and bonds earlier negotiated, which must be serviced regularly at huge cost.

    With this stark reality, it has therefore, become highly imperative for the incoming Buhari administration to take a holistic view of the whole issue with a view to saving our fledgling democracy from an imminent collapse. Bureaucracy is meant to help drive the pace of development in a democracy. In any nation where bureaucracy has become the problem rather than the solution, democracy would certainly become endangered. This is where Buhari, and his team need to take decisive steps to save the country from what has become a chronic and nagging problem. As a stop-gap measure, one is actually canvassing that the incoming administration bails out the states that are owing excessive workers’ wages by offsetting such, and give them enough to pay pensions and gratuity. We have done it before.

    Unpaid salaries have always plagued civil administration in Nigeria. Military takeover, had always been the quick-fix, but with its recurring nature, it’s obvious we have not found the solution. Yes, government is always the biggest employer of labour; we cannot continue to bring idle hands into governments without a commensurate analysis of what is actually needed. This is to avert undue labour disputes that could cause needless troubles in the land. A sound employment policy would still address the problem of unemployment.

    Equally, the idea of the Federal Government entering into wage negotiations on behalf of the state governments should be discarded. Since the revenue base of each state differs, it would be inappropriate for both the Federal Government and the labour unions, to force state governments to pay their worker’s wages being paid by the Federal Government. Each state ought to employ and pay according to its capacity. Equally important is that labour unions must desist from the incessant act of demanding for an arbitrary wage increase. While the work force deserves better pay packages, government has responsibilities to the larger society through the provision of social amenities and infrastructures.

    In the same vein, governments across the land need to cut all avenues that open the door for wastes in governance. We have taken the issue of taxation too lightly in this country. No nation attains greatness without the adequate contributions of the citizens in the forms of taxes. We must start emphasizing our tax systems to make governments and citizens more fiscally responsible. Democracy is about bringing development to a greater number of the people. It is about human and capital development. It ceases to be democracy when just a few individuals or groups corner the commonwealth while the rest of the society languishes in abject poverty. Now that change has come, it is indeed the right time to get things done in the right way in order to get the right result.

    ‘Democracy is about bringing development to a greater number of the people. It is about human and capital development. It ceases to be democracy when just a few individuals or groups corner the commonwealth while the rest of the society languishes in abject poverty. Now that change has come, it is indeed the right time to get things done in the right way in order to get the right result’

     

    • Raji is Special Adviser, Information & Strategy, Lagos State.

     

     

  • What Buhari needs to do on power

    SIR:Now that the elections have been won and lost, the time for rhetoric is over; it is time for the winners to get into the serious business of governing and uniting Nigerians. It is gratifying to note that the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in his acceptance speech, hit the right tone by saying “You are all my people, I will treat you all as mine…..I pledge myself and our in-coming administration to just and principled governance. There shall be no bias against or favouritism for any Nigerian based on ethnicity, religion, region, gender or social status”. He also promised to ensure “equity, fairness and justice for all Nigerians”. These are encouraging words and statements meant to heal the wounds caused during the electioneering Campaigns.

    The energy crisis in Nigeria is real and for Gen. Buhari to be successful, he has to tackle the problem of power deficits seriously and transparently. Reliable and uninterrupted electricity supply is the key to industrialisation and sustainable development. It is the engine that drives all other segments. Increasing access to electricity in Nigeria’s urban and rural areas will jump-start our economy, help in job creation and improve the living conditions of the Nigerian people. After swearing in, Gen. Buhari should declare an emergency on the Power Sector, organise workshops both on national and zonal levels, invite  stakeholders and prospective investors, lay down his plans and policies and provide enabling environment as well as incentives.

    There are large coal deposits at Enugu which are untapped and can be used to generate electricity.  Some Nigerian companies have been granted licences to mine and use coal for power but until now, nothing has been be done by these companies. I assume that their delay in taking off,  may have to do with their inability to source the huge funds needed to build modern coal fired power plants and getting capable technical partners with the necessary know-how and technologies.

    In today’s business world and in such capital intensive project like power, small companies have little chances of funding or access to credit facilities and in order to be successful and sustainable, they are merging and forming partnerships, therefore all those that obtained licences to build and operate power plants in different cones but have challenges should be made to pull their resources together as to build bigger and modern plants. In the case of Enugu Coal, a modern 2000 MW capacity coal fired power plant cost about €2 billion Euros.

    The proposed coal and/or gas plants are critical and essential infrastructures, which Gen. Buhari´s administration needs to show serious commitment to as project financing shall not pose much problems. A German Consortium is ready to partner the Federal Government and/or Nigerian Consortium /Investors in this area and act as both co-financing and technical partners. The consortium requires at least 25% counterpart funding from the Federal Government and/or Nigerian Investors, while they provide the rest 75% of the Project Budget in form of  Equity and Loan with 2% interest rate.

    The job before General Buhari as the Nigeria’s next President is enormous and challenging, therefore there is no gain-saying the fact that he needs the support of all Nigerians both home and abroad as well as the meaningful contributions of all those who can help him fulfil his campaign promises. He needs technocrats as well as people who are practically oriented and can produce immediate results.

    • Chief Joe Mmeh,

     Germany

     

  • Cross River APC, Ndoma-Egba bicker over visit to Buhari

    Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River  have accused Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba and his group of trying to lay political land mines for President-elect Muhammadu Buhari and “stampede him into taking decisions that will satisfy their selfish desire”.

    The APC leaders said they would revisit any attempt by the Senate Leader and his group to impose themselves on the party.

    In a statement in Abuja, the APC leaders, under the auspices of Forum of Concerned Elders of the All Progressives Congress in Cross River State, urged the President-elect to be wary of visitors from Cross River State, led by Ndoma-Egba.

    The APC leaders described them as “political gold diggers”.

    The statement was signed by Eyo Nsa Ekpo, Ekeng Iwatt Effion, Cyprian Oyom Igban, Agim Lawrence Ikwen, Group Captain Oyo Ita (rtd)and Elder David Okon.

    But Ndoma-Egba denied any ulterior motive.

    The Senate Leader said he only led a non-partisan delegation of patriotic Cross River leaders to the President-elect.

    The Forum said Ndoma-Egba was in a position to influence the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government to address the issues they tabled before Buhari during their visit but failed to do so.

    They argued that it was during his 12-year tenure in the Senate that the state lost its oil wells and land to Akwa Ibom State and also lost the famous Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.

    They wondered why he was just realising the suffering of the people.

    The statement reads: “The Forum of Concerned Elders of the All Progressives Congress, Cross River State, appreciates the President-elect for receiving a group of self-serving political gold diggers from Cross River State, led by  Ndoma-Egba.

    “Clearly, our President-elect has demonstrated that he has a non-partisan, non-discriminatory agenda as the chief architect in the emerging new Nigeria. This is indeed a total departure from the ethnic, religious and sectional agenda promoted and propagated by the PDP of which Ndoma-Egba and his co-travellers actively encouraged and indeed fully participated.

    “The concerned elders are disturbed by the timing of this visit and the demand tabled before our President-elect. Ndoma-Egba has been a prominent part of the decision making process in Cross River and Nigeria as a three-time senator, Majority Whip in his second term and Majority Leader in his third term.

    “It was during his tenure that Cross River State finally lost Bakassi to Cameroon.

    “Clearly, the agenda of Ndoma-Egba and his group of co-travellers is trying to lay political land mines on the path of our President-elect .”

    But Ndoma-Egba said the suffering of the people has no political affiliation, pointing it that the loss of Bakassi to Cameroon and oil wells to Akwa Ibom state has further impoverished the people.

     

     

     

  • Buhari must address rot in judiciary

    Buhari must address rot in judiciary

    Patrick Tolani is a lawyer with Vale Partners, Lagos. He is also the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Charity Aid and Development Foundation for Africa, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the United Kingdom. In this interview with ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA, Tolani speaks on the judiciary under outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan. He also speaks on the incoming Muhammadu Buhari administration, urging it to work to earn public trust.

    Would you say the judiciary was corrupt under outgoing President Jonathan?

    Anybody on the street can attest to that. I don’t need special knowledge in law to know that one of the legacies of the Jonathan-led government is impunity. The government did not consider any sector or institution as important as far as their ambition is concerned. From military, police, judiciary, just name it; everything was bastardised. If there are no problems with the judiciary, why will successive chief justices be talking about corruption and bad eggs in the system? A system of impunity and corruption was created by this system, and everybody keyed in. When the functionaries in the judiciary know there is no room for corruption, they will sit up.
    When Nigerians know there is a systemic corruption, people will be corrupt. When they know the environment is not conducive for corruption, they will sit up. That is why all we need from the incoming government is strong leadership, strong institutions, and strong values. A minister took N20 billion to fly a private jet all over the place and when the National Assembly summoned her, she refused to go. Is that not impunity? The incoming leadership must not give room for selective judgment.

    Following the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the elections, there have been mass defections, especially from the Peoples Democratic party( PDP) to the APC. Are we not foreseeing a gradual emergence of a one party state?

    It’s a bad development. Again, it’s a product of the political system we have operated for years. All it shows is that the political class are full of jobbers. They are not interested in the masses, governance or development. During the APC primaries, it was clear Buhari had no money to share to delegates unlike some of his other contenders who did; yet he still won. Six weeks to the election provided an opportunity for Jonathan to share as much money as he could never share, yet he lost. Now if people are trooping from PDP to APC and they get there only to find out there is nothing for them that serves them right because Buhari had said there was not going to be any opportunity for anybody and I want him to stick to that. With that, Buhari would have established a cultural change of self-seeking in the political climate of Nigeria.
    However, the opposition should not be left struggling to survive. The new government must provide facilities, probably grants to support them to they can maintain their structures and not just a winner-takes- it-all sort of thing.

    For the first time in Nigeria, an opposition party defeated a sitting government. What do you think made this possible?

    The new government rode on the back of the ‘change’ slogan and I think it was wise for them to pitch into the mood of Nigerians that desperately wanted a change. I’ve always maintained that we need to do a lot of work to define what change means. For me, if you look at the trajectory of change over the years, there is nothing new about it. It always gets to a point in this country when people become tired of the leader they have and, therefore, crave a change. When Gen. Muhammadu Buhari became the military Head of State through a coup detat in 1983, I was old enough to know many people were tired of the Shehu Shagari-led government. Unfortunately, Buhari’s dictatorial tendency eventually eroded public confidence. I also remember that the Abacha regime was also brutal and dictatorial forcing Nigerians to seek a change. I recall that during that time, I was being detained alongside Femi Falana for organising a labour workshop. But when Abacha died, everybody jubilated.

    Are you convinced then that this change is desirable?

    It was clear the Jonathan administration lacks focus. The government is overwhelmed with Nigerians’ problems and is not interested in solving them. Second, those who are a part of that the government were not interested in listening to anybody but themselves and that got people frustrated. Now I will be very reluctant to say Nigerians voted for Buhari out of sheer love. When the APC gets into government, that is when their trial period begins and, therefore, they need to earn Nigerians’trust on time.

    In other words, expectations are high?

    Very high! The incoming government does not have a long time to prove they can actually meet the needs of Nigerians’. Nigerians will be very impatient with them and they cannot give the excuses that ‘we did not cause the problems’. Once they mount the saddle, they need to start tackling the problems immediately and woo Nigerians. To them, it is a test period, and it won’t be long for Nigerians to predict if they would fail or not.

    So, what are the key areas they need to work on?
    I’ve read the APC manifesto and Buhari’s promise to deliver within his first 100 days of his administration. However, let me put the achievements in two categories – the concrete or life-changing measures, while the other is the perception measure.
    Let me deal with perception first. I don’t care how much you talk about the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), if all those figures don’t translate to life-changing things, they are useless to the public. So, it will take them a little bit of time to win perception. But there are concrete areas. First, is power. It is easy for a Nigerian to say ‘I used to have light a day in a week before, now it’s four days in a week under the new government’. That is a measurable achievement that connects and resonates with the people. Another is employment. I mean sustainable employment generation, and not merely hiring people to sweep the street. Consistent power supply and employment are interwoven.

    Can you shed more light on why one can translate to another?

    When you generate more energy, there is power, and the production capacity of companies will increase. So, companies can increase their capacity and, then, employ more people. I was somewhere in Niger Delta some years ago, some young people were empowered with equipment in an attempt to encourage them to go into entrepreneurship. But I was saddened that some of them later sold the equipment bought for them because there was no light to power them. So, energy is critical. Second, the incoming government must devote serious attention to diversification of the economy. The oil industry has got lots of potential that we are not tapping into. For example, I still cannot understand why we are still importing fuel in this country when we can make our refineries work and also have modular refineries.
    I’ve carried out a research on oil theft and artisanal refining in Nigeria. The general notion of the people is that they should be able to have the opportunity to leave the creek and stop artificial refining that destroys the environment and actually do this business in a legal way. If we can reduce how much fuel we import by having small modular government-supported refineries, one, we will have more supply of fuel in the country therefore reducing the amount of money we spend on fuel abroad. Two, it will generate employment for those people and three help the environment because these people are no longer producing and throwing the waste away.

    But Nigeria is being seen as a country with endless opportunities for infrastructure, how valid is this?

    We have a huge opportunity for public infrastructure. The government must concentrate on infrastructure, such as roads that are labour-intensive. Look at the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that is under construction. Those who are assisting in pouring sand, carrying water and all that are probably not in one employment or the other before. And when the road is fully constructed, it will reduce accident, car damage, and people will get to their destination on time.
    We have the rail system that still needs to be built and it is a huge capital investment that involves a lot of personnel. I, alone, will be happy that we borrow money to build rail lines. Those are sustainable investments for the future. If the trust is there, and the infrastructure work, all the outsourcing that we give to India can actually come to Nigeria. All these fraudsters and yahoo boys can actually be employed to run call centres. For instance you pick a phone in the UK and you are making an enquiry but the person picking the call is in India because it’s cheaper for those companies to pay people in India to outsource it to that company than to do it in the UK where the labour law are very stringent. I’m not encouraging a breach of labour law, but all I’m saying is that the tight labour rules in those countries like UK now makes it is imperative for us to have comparative advantage over them. But this is what Nigeria has missed for many years because we don’t have the infrastructure to do such things.
    Another area is farming. Now there are modern equipment that support greenhouse farming in Nigeria. It will one one hand generate electricity on solar panels, and on another, we can begin greenhouse farming programs operating underneath the solar power. Then we can plant as many crops as possible that can meet our food insecurity challenges. For a government seeking legitimacy, those are the kind of things they should do.

    Boko Haram, abduction and other elements of insecurity are on the rise, yet the outgoing government seems helpless. What is your take on this?

    I’ve done a lot of research on security but I’m piqued about how bad our security situation has gone. My first argument is that as a country, we don’t have a security strategy. It was only about a year ago that the Office of the National Security Adviser was talking about security strategy. When you say security, what comes to mind in a very pedestrian environment like Nigeria are things like kidnapping and Boko Haram; but there are more security issues that should worry any government than that. On the forefront is the security of lives and property, employment and even food security.
    For instance, we are all focused on Boko Haram but we have not been able to predict what will happen at the Niger-Delta. Free money will stop for the elements in the Niger Delta who are getting around President Jonathan by saying all sort of provocative things simply to show that they are relevant. What about those stealing oil? If this government can have the will to summon them, what will they do?
    Assuming there is drought or flooding, what happens? What about the interplay of forces in the international environment? What about ISIS that adopted Boko Haram. Then, how do you protect the sovereign integrity of Nigeria? So there must be holistic approach to security which the government must formulate.

    Despite President Jonathan’s defeat, some people still believe his administration performed, blaming his lieutenants for his problems. Is that so?
    I listened to President Jonathan’s campaign during the election, when he claimed his government established 12 new universities, refurbished the railways, and all that. I felt our president does not even know what he has done; and this is because the philosophy of public management in Nigeria is not based on result -oriented system. The people working in the public sector see themselves as merely going to the offices daily without any particular target to meet. The ministers are in the government without target to meet. And there is no monitoring, reporting or evaluation system. But we can change to a performance-based public service, which is in tandem with our budgetary system. The critical performing department of the government should get more money. Those who underperformed should get less money but after sometime, the minister should be removed.When I say result, I mean impact-based result, I mean basic things that affect the common man on the street – food, electricity, shelter as well as quality and affordable education.

  • Lawyer to Buhari: review Jonathan’s last-minute appointments

    Lawyer to Buhari: review Jonathan’s last-minute appointments

    A constitutional lawyer, Ike Ofuokwu, has urged the President-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to review the recent appointments made by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The appointments, he said, could not be justified by any one neither is there any political exigency to warrant them.

    He urged the incoming administration to nullify any such appointment if found not to be based on merit.

    Ofuokwu said: “All these last- minute recruitment and appointments should be reviewed by the incoming Buhari administration and where there is no merit in them, should be cancelled and nullified immediately because they are  founded on political considerations.”

    The lawyer said some of the appointments were based on political patronage and to reward those who want relevance at all cost and who seek “an agency of government that must pick up their bills for the rest of their lives.”

    Ofuokwu, an All Progressives Congress (APC) leader in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, said he mobilised votes for Gen. Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) during the general elections. He faulted a report in which President Jonathan was quoted as questioning Gen. Buhari’s victory.

    He said: “I want to believe that the president was quoted out of context, otherwise it goes further to show the nature and the character of men who ran the affairs of this country for nearly six years.

    “Their approach to issues is simply reductionist. It is anachronism to expect that Jonathan would have won in a free and fair election after a-nothing-to-write-home-about outing of nearly six years. ‘’

    He continued: “In the first place, let’s put the records straight: there was nothing statesmanly about his conceding defeat and congratulating Gen. Buhari even before the winner was announced. That was the only option he had in an election that humbled him.

    “It was only in the imagination of PDP members that they thought that Jonathan could have won that election. It’s therefore a misconception and an abuse of the word to label him a ‘statesman’.

    “It was the most inappropriate word to use for him in an election where we are yet to fathom how he got the bogus votes recorded for him in Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom states etc.

    “We all saw the turn out in pre-election rallies and there is no way he could have scored what was awarded him in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and in some other states.

    “It is simply hypocritical and an afterthought for anybody to question Buhari’s victory. With the exception of the politically nerd, months before the elections, every right thinking person saw the victory coming.

    “As a matter of fact it was the shift in date to enable PDP perfect the art of rigging that saved them from what would have been a total humiliation rejection.”

    Ofuokwu praised APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for his role in ensuring victory at the polls.

    “Like him or hate him, he has indeed proven himself a worthy leader and a consummate politician.

    “Even when he could have joined the ruling party with immense benefit, he remained in his own party, built it into a vibrant opposition and transformed it into a national mega brand while other top politicians were busy jumping ship and indulging themselves in political prostitution.

    “I recommend that present and aspiring politicians should understudy his political sagacity,” he said.

    On his expectations from the incoming APC/Buhari administration, Ofuokwu said: “When you talk of integrity, honesty and resilience, Buhari is a global brand.

    “However, I do not envy Buhari/APC at all because they have inherited a near comatose economy, disillusioned people and morally bankrupt workforce that is bereft of any meaningful legacy,” he said.

    Among others, Ofuokwu wants the incoming administration to review the sale/privatisation of some public utilities.

    “This again lends further credence to the insatiable appetite of the outgoing government to bankrupt this country at all cost with their penchant for primitive acquisition of our common patrimony.

  • Buhari, Chadian president to team up against Boko Haram

    Buhari, Chadian president to team up against Boko Haram

    Chadian President, Idriss Deby and President -elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari , have agreed on a joint action between Nigeria and Chad to ensure sustainable peace and security in the sub region.

    The Chadian President told journalists after a closed door meeting with Buhari at the Defence House in Abuja that putting an end to the Boko Haram insurgency was paramount to Nigeria and Chad as well as other members of the Lake Chad Commission.

    He said t Chad and Nigeria are facing the same challenges and how to meet the expectations of the people, pointing out that both countries who are members of the Lake Chad Basin Commission will work together with other members to bring about peace, stability and security in the sub region with the core issue of Boko Haram which is being handled by the two countries.

    He pledged to work with the Nigerian government to handle the menace of Boko Haram, saying that peace and security will prevail in the sub region eventually.

    The Chadian President, who spoke through an interpreter, said the visit was aimed at congratulating the Nigerian people and leaders for achieving one of the greatest elections ever seen in Africa.

    Deby said, “Nigeria and Chad are two countries with one people. We have many things in common, a long tradition and a long history together. The visit here is to meet with the President- elect and to enhance the bilateral relations aimed at meeting the common challenges.”

    Buhari on his part, said, “We know how Chad, Niger and Cameroon have been helping Nigeria to secure our border and you how this helps in commerce and industry.

    “Due to the insurgency attacks, some of the bridges were blown up while infrastructures were destroyed. These were some of things that we discussed and God’s willing we will sit down and make sure we have a comprehensive review of the security situation in the northeast and how it affects the country.”

  • Buhari has no plan to persecute anyone – APC

    Buhari has no plan to persecute anyone – APC

    The All Progressives Congress on Monday said the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, will not persecute anyone, urging outgoing public officials to clear their conscience.

    The party in a statement issued in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said “those that had played poker with the nation’s destiny must be willing and eager to clear their conscience before man and God.”

    ”That the President-elect is a man of integrity is not an issue for debate, and he has made it clear that he will not be bogged down by endless probes.

    ”However, the hands of the incoming government will not be tied by those who have chosen to play the victim and exhibit a persecution mentality. Whoever has any reason to be afraid must lay bare such reason before Nigerians,” the party said.

    The APC said under the climate of change that Nigerians had ushered in with their votes, only the guilty needs to be afraid, adding that those with a guilty conscience, on account of their actions in the public sphere, must clear such so they can be at peace with themselves.

    ”The last time we checked, this does not fit the definition of persecution,” it added.

    The party wondered why  President Goodluck Jonathan chose a public forum to express his fears when he could have done so privately during his meetings with the President-elect.

    ”Since the presidential election was won and lost, the President and the President-elect have met privately a number of times. Why didn’t President Jonathan express his apprehensions during these meetings?

    ”Even if the two have not met, the President could have reached out to the President-elect over any fears that he may be nursing, instead of engaging in an action that seems like he was being preemptive and seeking to curry public sympathy,” the party stated.

     

  • There’ll be no quick fixes, says Buhari

    There’ll be no quick fixes, says Buhari

    President-elect Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday that there won’t be quick fixes following 16 years of rot.

    He urged Nigerians to temper their expectations from his administraton due to take office on May 29, “with some justice”.

    Gen. Buhari told a delegation of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), led by first and Second Republic Minister Alhaji Maitama Sule, who visited him at the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign secretariat in Abuja, that his administration will inherit a huge decay.

    “The biggest message is to try and persuade the people that it is not possible to change the state of affairs now. It took 16 years and those 16 years, most of you know it better than me; Nigeria earned revenue more than what it earned from 1914 till then.

    “You know that we used to have Nigeria Airways, Nigerian Shipping Line, Nigerian Railways. Where are they now? Where is the infrastructure? Consider what we earned between then and now and what we earned in-between and what is on ground. That is how efficiently the PDP managed Nigeria in the last 16 years.

    “Now we have invariably inherited all the problems, especially in the Northeast. I am sure that you have heard or seen the children recovered from the Sambisa Forest. Only the children and women are remaining while all the able-bodied men have been gotten rid of somehow.

    “Some have been taken to as far as Adamawa State to be resettled.  A generation has been denied education and health care, infrastructure has gone.

    “You can imagine what is happening in the high seas where up to 400,000 barrels of crude oil which we rely on is stolen everyday with the full cooperation of those who are supposed to protect it.

    “The crude price has gone down and 90 per cent of foreign exchange we rely on come from that. So, you have to convince your constituencies that we have virtually arrived at the wrong time and that they have to tamper their expectation with some justice towards the leadership.

    “I think this has to be discussed, especially in the churches and mosques. It is the quickest way to communicate this to the ordinary people. Continue to remind them of all the things I said in all the states I visited.

  • It is not possible to immediately change state of affairs, says Buhari

    It is not possible to immediately change state of affairs, says Buhari

    President Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari has said that change of the state of affairs of the nation immediately was not going to be possible considering the decay inflicted on the nation in the past 16 years.
    Buhari spoke when he receive a delegation of the Northern Elders Forum led by Alhaji Maitama Sule in Abuja.
    He told the people that while expecting so much from his government, they should tamper their expectations with mercy for the leadership, pointing out that his government is inheriting so many problems such as unemployment, insecurity and infrastructural decay.
    Buhari said: “The biggest message is to try and persuade the people that it is not possible to change the state of affairs now. It took 16 years and those 16 years, most of you know it better than myself. Nigeria earned revenue more than what it earned from 1914 to then.
    “You know that we use to have Nigeria Airways, Nigeria shipping line, Nigeria Railways. Where are they now? Where is the infrastructure. Consider what we earned Between then and now and what we earned in-between and what is on ground. That is how efficiently how the PDP managed Nigeria in the last 16 years.
    “Now we have invariably inherited all the problems, especially in the north east. I am sure that you have heard or seen the children recovered from Sambisa forest. Only the children and women are remaining while all the able bodied have been gotten rid of somehow.
    “Some have been taken to as far as Adamawa state to be resettled. A generation has been denied education and health care, infrastructure has gone.
    “You can imagine what is happening in the high sea where up to 400,000 barrel of crude oil which we rely on is stolen everyday with the full cooperation of those who are supposed to protect it.
    “The fuel price has gone down and 90 percent of foreign exchange we rely on come from that. So, you have to convince your constituencies that we have virtually arrived at the wrong time and that they have to tamper their expectation with some justice towards the leadership.