President Muhammadu Buhari sparked a furor Thursday in the media that he
had requested a concentration of the World Bank’s intervention efforts in
the northern part of Nigeria during a meeting with the bank’s boss.
“The ignorant and mischievous people, who twist everything for their vile
purposes, are making it seem that it was a calculated attempt to give the
North an unfair advantage over other parts of Nigeria, said Femi Adesina,
Special Adviser to the President on media and publicity.
“Those who specialize in a deliberate twisting of information have wailed
and raged endlessly on the news item credited to the World Bank Group
President, Jim Yong Kim, who disclosed in Washington DC, United States of
America, that President Muhammadu Buhari had requested a concentration of
the Bank’s intervention efforts in the northern part of Nigeria,
particularly in the North-east.”
“The truth of the matter is that President Buhari, right from his first
week in office in June, 2015, had reached out to the G-7 in Germany that
Nigeria needed help to rebuild the North-east, which had been terribly
devastated by insurgency. He said the country would prefer help in terms
of rebuilding of infrastructure, rather than cash donation, which may end
up being misappropriated. In concert with Governors of the region, a
comprehensive list of needed repairs was sent to the G-7 leaders.”
“President Buhari simply did what a caring leader should do. He took the
battle to the insurgents, broke their backs, and then sought for help to
rebuild, so that the people could have their lives back. Should that then
elicit the negative commentary that has trailed the disclosure from the
World Bank? Not at all, except from insidious minds.”
“President Buhari has a pan-Nigerian mandate, and he will discharge his
duties and responsibilities in like manner. Any part of the country that
requires special attention would receive it, irrespective of primordial
affinities, which narrow minded people have not been able to live above.
This President will always work in the best interest of all parts of the
country at all times. Let ethnic warriors sheathe their swords.”
“Also, during a trip to Washington in 2015, and many other engagements
that followed, President Buhari sought the help of the World Bank in
rebuilding the beleaguered North-east, which was then being wrested from
the stranglehold of a pernicious insurgency. It was something always done
in the open, and which reflected the President’s concern for the region.”
“Those ululating over the disclosure by the President of the World Bank
should be a bit reflective, and consider the ravages that the North-east
has suffered since 2009, when the Boko Haram insurgency started. Schools,
hospitals, homes, entire villages, towns, cities, bridges, and other
public utilities have been blown up, laid waste, and lives terminated in
excess of 20,000, while widows and orphans littered the landscape. The
humanitarian crisis was in monumental proportions.”