The maiden presidential media chat which took place last night has given a little insight into the workings of this administration under President Muhammadu Buhari. The President revealed that Nigerian authorities have seen documents suggesting the proceeds from past crude oil sales were diverted to personal accounts rather than reaching government coffers, while addressing wide-ranging issues during the interview on Wednesday.
This problem has been exacerbated by the long-standing mismanagement of oil revenue. Buhari has previously said treasury coffers were virtually empty when he took office in May and that “mind-boggling” sums of money had been stolen. “We have some documents where Nigerian crude oil was lifted illegally and the proceeds were put into some personal accounts instead of the federal government accounts,” said Buhari. The president said stolen money had already been recovered by the government. He did not disclose the sums involved and said he could not provide more details because various cases were being taken to court.
The President promised that by the end of first quarter of 2016, his administration “will be kept busy informing Nigerians what progress has been made” in the fight against corruption. In response to insinuation that members of his cabinet might also be corrupt, he said, “I don’t think I picked anybody (as Minister) that I know will embarrass my government. “If you have got any evidence about any of my Ministers I accept responsibility and you have the right as a Nigerian to take them to court.”
The President also talked about money recovered so far. The President indeed confirmed that money has been recovered but the fact that whatever we recover will end up in court because Nigerians will always want to know the truth and the truth will be what the courts have discovered by the submission made to them in terms of bank statements where money was recovered, where money was lodged, when it was lodged, how it was lodged whether it was money from petrol, customs and excise or money directly from the Central Bank. When we do that I think Nigerians will feel a bit better. ‘It is a very nasty situation that we are in, but we cannot fold our hands and not do anything; we are doing our best’, Buhari said.
On the issue of the missing Chibok girls, President Buhari said the government was prepared to hold talks with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in a bid to secure the release of around 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from the northeastern town of Chibok last year provided they can meet with the credible leader of the extremist group. “If a credible leadership of Boko Haram can be established and they tell us where those girls are, we are prepared to negotiate with them without any preconditions,” said Buhari. He said there was no concrete intelligence on the whereabouts of the girls, whose abduction in April 2014 prompted an international outcry, or whether they are still alive.
On the military onslaught against Boko Haram and the December 31 deadline, the President expressed satisfaction in the progress made by the Nigerian military, adding that the deadline given them had been largely met as the sect has been greatly reduced to suicide bombings of soft targets unlike their audacious attacks on military barracks, police posts, and government offices, taking territories in the process.
The president also reiterated his belief that Nigeria’s currency should not be devalued further, despite the central bank’s growing struggles to keep the naira at current levels.
And he backed measures imposed by the central bank to restrict access to foreign exchange, which has not gone down well with investors. “The foreign currency restrictions cannot be lifted because the money is not there,” the president said.
Buhari added that “productive industries” – such as manufacturers – should be identified and allocated foreign exchange to pay for “essential materials” rather than to “those who want to import rice and toothpicks”.
Concerning the issue of fuel subsidy, the President said by the end of the next quarter, we will not be talking about subsidy. How much is the price of fuel in the international market now?
The President also touched on the issues of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki and Biafra Nnamdi Kanu. He said,’ you can see the type atrocities that those people committed against soldiers and the country. The former president goes to the governor of the Central Bank and say, ‘give N40bn to so, so, so… And then he fails to account for it and you allow him to go and see his daughter in London while and you have two million people in IDPs, half of them don’t even know their parents. Which kind of country do you want to run?
And the one you are calling Kanu. Do you know he has two passports – one Nigerian, one British – and he came to this country without any passport?… There are criminal allegations against him and I hope the court will listen to the case’.
The Presidential Media Chat has remained a major platform through which every past Nigerian president, beginning with the return of democracy in 1999, has kept Nigerians abreast of government’s activities.
