Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to President Mohammadu
\nBuhari, Garba Shehu, says the Buhari government is bad business for a
\nnumber of parliamentarians, civil servants and security agents.<\/p>\n
Shehu said corrupt politicians, public officers, police officers, Customs
\nand Immigration officials who hitherto benefited from corrupt practices
\nduring previous administrations were uncomfortable with the Buhari
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
Shehu, who is the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the
\nPresident, stated this in a special feature titled: \u201cThe Real Price of
\nChanging the Change (1)\u2019\u2019, issued in Abuja on Sunday.<\/p>\n
According to the presidential aide, as Mr Buhari is busy fighting
\ncorruption, the corrupt politicians and civil servants are equally busy
\npraying for return of the old order where they had their days illegally
\namassing public wealth.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe list of people who oppose the Buhari government and yearning
\nto `change the change\u2019 include a number of parliamentarians, policemen,
\ncustoms officials, immigration officials, civil servants now rooting for
\nother political parties, not leaving out those various businesses and
\nplatforms owned by these political parties directly or indirectly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Buhari win in 2015, and the possibility of four more years have
\ncrumbled their dreams of endlessly looting the state and the growing list
\nof achievements of the administration is not doing any good for them.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Mr Shehu observed that top opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
\nmembers had been granting interviews and addressing zonal political
\nrallies talking about \u201cCHANGING THE CHANGE\u201d in next year\u2019s general
\nelections, without defining what exactly that means.<\/p>\n
He, however, stated that Nigerians needed to be reminded of what the
\nreversal of the achievements of the three years of the Buhari government
\nwould amount to.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe real meaning and cost of the `Changing the Change,\u2019 is that if they
\nwin the next election, they will not take us back to where we were in
\n2015, they will mostly reverse the progress the APC has brought to the
\nnation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main reason for the defeat of the PDP in 2015 was corruption. The
\npresent administration at the centre led by President Muhammadu Buhari has
\nso far presented a corrupt-free image of itself,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
He added that the Buhari administration had also succeeded in abolishing
\ngrand corruption at the top, as attested to by the American President,
\nDonald Trump.<\/p>\n
He said the government had significantly brought down the level of
\ncorruption in the country but, however, warned that corruption was
\nfighting back.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough he said he was unafraid and would not bend, the President\u2019s
\nconcern, and fear on the part of many is that if a corrupt leader takes
\nover, it will be happy days all over again for former Oil Minister Diezani
\nAllison-Maduekwe who has so far forfeited 153 million dollars, N23.4
\nbillion, and 4 million dollars and 5 million dollars in separate accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cChange the Change\u2019 would mean she will get the money back. So would the
\nformer Managing Director of the maritime agency, NIMASA, get back GBP
\n578,080 seized from him and the Ikoyi apartment owners have back their
\n43.4 million dollars; N23 million and GBP 27,800.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hidden owner of the Lagos cash shop may then step forward to reclaim
\ntheir N449.6 million; the ex-Naval Chiefs will have returned to them the
\nalready forfeited N1.8 billion; the Governors Forum paid back their N1.4
\nbillion and the major oil marketers, from whom the EFCC has so far seized
\nN328.9 billion will smile their ways to the bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe banks themselves will equally join the party, happily getting back
\nN27.7 billion they `ate\u2019 from taxes they failed to remit; the scion of the
\nAkinjides, Jumoke will have N650 million awarded to her,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Shehu further stated that those scammers in INEC who coughed out N1
\nbillion would equally get the money back and charges standing against them
\nin court may be dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the happiest of them all will be Mrs Jonathan, who will get the first
\npriority when the refunds start coming for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe former First Lady would not anymore need lawyers to keep her mountain
\nof gifts, counted in huge millions of dollars, billions of Naira, hotels
\nand buildings,” he added<\/p>\n
He equally noted that the early casualties of \u2018changing the change\u2019 may
\ninclude initiatives like the Whistle Blower policy by which the government
\nwas able to recover stolen or concealed assets through information
\nprovided by citizens.<\/p>\n
According to him, this has changed the ethical and moral tone of the
\nbusiness transaction space in the country.<\/p>\n
The whistle blower is entitled to between 2.5 and five per cent of amount
\nrecovered.<\/p>\n
The presidential aide said that `change the change\u2019 might also result to
\nscrapping the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS),
\nwhich he described as the biggest tax revolution since independence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) now being
\nimplemented, and about which many of our rich citizens are unhappy may be
\nscrapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cA recent report shows that there are four million new taxpayers,
\nincluding companies and individuals, resulting in N700 billion increase in
\ntax revenue in 2017,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
According to him, Mr Buhari is also bad business for importers of diesel
\nand generators because he had raised electric power availability from
\n2,600 MW in 2015 to 7,000 MW.<\/p>\n
He said the Buhari-administration was targeting 10,000 megawatts by the
\nend of 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother formidable group unhappy with the change and wish it reversed are
\nthe importers of diesel and generators. Nigeria ranks as the second
\nbiggest importer of generators all over the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuhari is bad business for them because he has raised electric power
\navailability from 2,600 MW in 2015 to 7,000 MW and is targeting 10,000
\nmegawatts by the year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncreased power availability means less purchase of generators and less
\nconsumption of diesel.<\/p>\n
\u201cNoticeably, they are rooting for parties that are bent on changing the
\nchange,\u2019\u2019 he maintained.<\/p>\n
The presidential aide also identified other rooters of `changing the
\nchange\u2019 campaign to include the beneficiaries of the malaria economy which
\ncosts Nigeria N132 billion and 300,000 lives annually.<\/p>\n
According to him, this is an economy now threatened by the
\nadministration\u2019s National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) by which
\ntens of millions of long-lasting Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITN) are being
\nfreely distributed.<\/p>\n
\u201cA part of this order is now made in Aba, Nigeria,\u2019\u2019 Mr Shehu explained.
\n(NAN)<\/p>\n
Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to President Mohammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, says the Buhari government is bad business for a number of parliamentarians, civil servants and security agents. Shehu…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n