President Muhammadu Buhari says there are some persons in his<\/p>\n
administration who are not \u201c100 percent loyal\u201d to his government.<\/p>\n
Buhari was speaking in an interview he had with Al Jazeera during his
\nrecent trip to Qatar.<\/p>\n
He described the controversies surrounding the 2016 budget as unfortunate,
\nsaying those responsible for the embarrassment will not go unpunished.<\/p>\n
When asked if he meant there were those sabotaging his government, he
\nreplied: \u201cCertainly!\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that those who want to be fair to his government will appreciate
\nthe effort made in cutting the cost of governance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will like people to assess Nigeria, especially this government on where
\nwe found ourselves. When we came in, we found out that there were 42
\nministries and we found out that the economy could not take 42, so we
\nreduced it to 24. We also removed 21 permanent secretaries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who want to be fair to us to sit and reflect, from the president
\nto the ministers to the permanent secretaries were all taken over after
\neight successive governments of those who are now in the opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we cannot assume that all of them are 100 percent loyal to this
\ngovernment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buhari also spoke on the current state of the economy, saying not even the
\nInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) could convince him to devalue the naira.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf devaluing the naira is against our national interest, why can\u2019t we go
\nagainst the IMF advice?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Buhari said even though some of the policies of the Organising of the
\nPetroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) do not favour Nigeria at the moment,
\nthe country would not pull out of the organisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOPEC as an organisation has to be mindful of economic conditions in each
\nmember country because that will influence that country\u2019s ability to go
\nalong with OPEC decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were unable to diversify our economy, hence we are much more
\ndisadvantaged by the lower oil prices and OPEC may try to help us out but
\nreally, it\u2019s basically our own fault.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not under my leadership that Nigeria will pull out of OPEC. We will
\nmake the necessary sacrifice to remain in OPEC.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buhari said Nigeria has enlisted in the Saudi Arabia Islamic coalition
\nfighting terrorism, explaining that such step would help the country
\ntackle extremism.<\/p>\n
He explained that the Lake Chad Basin Commission, comprising Cameroon,
\nChad, Niger, and Benin are also members of the coalition, which has
\ndeployed troops in the sub-region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are part of the Islamic coalition because we have got terrorists in
\nNigeria, which everybody knows and the terrorists claim to be Islamic,\u201d he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if there is an Islamic coalition to fight terrorism, we will be part
\nof it because we are casualties of Islamic terrorism.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoko Haram has declared loyalty to ISIS and ISIS is based in Islamic
\ncountries, and if there is a coalition to fight them why shouldn\u2019t we be
\npart of it, particularly when those fighting the country claim to be
\nMuslims, although what they are doing is against Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if non-Muslims would not feel that he is attempting to change
\nthe religious identity of the country, Buhari said: \u201cWhy can\u2019t those
\nChristians that complain fight terrorism in Nigeria or fight the militants
\nin the south? It\u2019s Nigeria that matters, not the opinion of the religious
\nbigots.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari says there are some persons in his administration who are not \u201c100 percent loyal\u201d to his government. Buhari was speaking in an interview he had with Al…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n