President Mohammadu Buhari may have commenced the probing of past
Government of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Musa Yar’Adua and
Goodluck Jonathan, all of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who ruled for
sixteen years.
Buhari who was speaking with Nigerians in Tehran, Iran said even though
some officials of the Jonathan’s administration have started returning
stolen funds, they were not enough. He did not name those who have
returned any funds.
“We want to have everything back – all that they took by force in 16
years,” the President told Nigerians in Iran.
President Buhari said that the necessity for compliance with due process
of the law was responsible for the delay in the prosecution of the looters
of the country’s economy.
He noted however, that the “the day of reckoning is gradually coming.”
He also revealed that a number of past officials had begun the voluntary
return of stolen funds but expressed the view that his government was not
satisfied with tokens.
On issue of Power Supply, the President said that the sabotage and theft
of gas were undermining the efforts of the government to increase power
supply in the country.
To tackle the problem, the President announced that existing Military
Task-Forces will be reorganized to ensure a successful protection of the
network of gas pipelines.
The President, who said this Tuesday in a question-and-answer interaction
with the Nigerian community in Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran, noted
that “although some improvement in power had been recorded in the recent
period,” sabotage of pipeline installations continued to be a problem.
He told his audience that Nigeria had everything it takes to generate
enough power.
“Power is a running battle because the saboteurs are still there. We have
the potential. We have gas, we have qualified people but we are contending
with a lot of saboteurs who go and blow up installations. When gas is
pumped to Egbin and such other power stations, thieves and saboteurs such
as the militants cut those supplies,” President Buhari said.
He also cited another factor as the reduced role of the government in the
sector due to the privatization of the institutions under the Power
Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, in the process of which, he said, the
facilities “have been sold to a number of interest groups.”
He assured that the Military Task-Forces with representation from the
Army, Navy, Air Force, the Police and other security agencies will be
reconstituted to secure the pipelines. “Supplies will become steady; there
will be less sabotage as we secure the pipelines,” he stressed.
President Buhari also updated the Nigerians in Tehran on the efforts of
his administration towards ending the Boko Haram insurgency and terrorism
in the country, explaining that a lot had been achieved following the
reorganization of the military top command, followed by increased
equipment supply and training.
In a response to a question on the need to improve healthcare delivery,
the President said that efforts had been intensified towards ridding the
country of fake drugs and fake doctors, and also what he called “the
disgraceful aspects” manifested by “baby factories.”
He also enumerated several steps being taken towards the revival of
education from primary school level to university. On the creation of
jobs, he placed the prevailing joblessness in the country at the door-step
of the last administration which he blamed for giving “a devastating blow
to the economy through corruption and incompetence.”
The President said that something urgent will be done about the bad
condition of roads, citing the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as one to be
addressed from next week by the Minister of Works, Power and Housing,
Babatunde Fashola, who sat next to him at the meeting.