Former President Olusegun
Obasanjo was under attack yesterday for describing President Muhammadu Buhari’s
administration as “incompetent”.
Obasanjo is backing Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar, who the government said “will
be roundly and comprehensively” defeated.
The government said Obasanjo was
“not properly briefed” in reaching his conclusion, even as it affirmed the
ex-President’s right to endorse any candidate for the 2019 poll. However,
endorsement alone does not win elections, it said.
Information and Culture Minister
Lai Mohammed stated the government’s position at a briefing in Abuja against
the backdrop of Obasanjo’s vitriolic attacks on Buhari’s administration.
Mohammed said the administration
had fought corruption and introduced anti-graft institutional reforms
more than any in the history of Nigeria.
He said: “With due respect to the
former President Obasanjo, actually, it is his constitutional right to support
any candidate of his choice and we urge him to go out and campaign vigorously
for any candidate that he wants to support.
“I don’t think the former
President has hidden his preference for the former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar, and I think we all wish him the very best of luck. I want to assure
you that his candidate would be defeated roundly and comprehensively.
“We welcome him. It is not about
endorsement. Endorsement doesn’t win elections. We wish him the best of luck;
nobody is asking him not to support anybody, but believe me, he will be
defeated roundly and comprehensively.”
To Mohammed, Obasanjo has not
been properly briefed about the administration’s achievements. He tabled some
statistics and challenged any Nigerian to controvert the figures.
He said: “The facts are all
there: On corruption, this government has done more than any government in the
history of this country to fight corruption.
“Although it is endemic and
global, but when you look at the kind of institutional reforms this government
has put in place, you cannot doubt its sincerity and commitment to fighting
corruption.
“Corruption is not just about
prosecuting and jailing people; it is more about what you have put in place to
prevent people from looting the treasury. This is what this government has
done, I would say, more than any government in the history of this country.
“I will start with the Treasury
Single Account (TSA). The TSA was not initiated by this government. It is only
this government that has the political courage and will to implement it. Before
we came in, there were over 22,000 various accounts of government in various
banks in Nigeria.
“Since we came in, it has been
reduced to one single Treasury Account. From 2015 to date, N8.9 trillion has
passed through that TSA. So, at a glance, you know where every revenue and
every receipt of government is going; it makes for transparency and
accountability.
“This government put in place
what is called National Anti-Corruption Strategy with a roadmap for all the
anti-corruption agencies on how to tackle corruption.
“There is what is called the
non-commission based strategy which helps government to recover looted funds
without convicting the people.
“As of today, we have been able
to recover (EFCC alone) N794 billion, $261 million, 8 million Euros, 1,115,000
pounds, about 4,295 vehicles, about 407 mansions in forfeiture to the Federal Government.
“In tackling corruption, this
government has introduced what is called an Efficiency Unit within the Ministry
of Finance. This unit examines every proposal to travel, estacode, date, and it
is on record that this government has saved N17 billion from travel expenses,
gifts and the likes.
“Under this government, starting
with the TSA, more revenue is now coming to the government than before. For
example, JAMB, between 2010 and 2015, paid to the federation account N51 million.
In 2017 alone, under this administration, JAMB paid N7.8 billion to the
federation account.
“Another thing this government
has done to ensure that there is transparency and we fight corruption
effectively is that today, as opposed from what used to happen in the past,
N8.1 trillion was missing from the federation account between 2010 and 2015.
This was supposed to be paid in by 15 revenue generating authorities.
“Then, of course, there is the
Whistleblowers Policy, which has been hugely successful. Under the Whistle
Blowers Policy, the government raked in N13.8 billion from whistle blowers
alone, N7.8 billion from corrupt officials.
“When you look at what we have
put on ground as institutional remedies, I believe with us that this government
is more sincere and more committed to fighting corruption than any government
in history.
“If the former president says
that this government is not performing, I think he is not being properly
briefed.”
Mohammed insisted that the
government has records to prove that it has performed and lived up to the
mandate given to it.
He added: “We promised Nigerians
that we are going to diversify the economy. One area where we’ve had resounding
success is in the area of food security. In the last three and half years, we’ve
saved $21billion from food importation, according to the report recently
released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“Not that alone, we have been
able to grow the level of rice farmers from five million to over 11 million
today.
“First, our food import base has
gone down; when you look at the figures, in 2014, Nigeria imported 1.2 million
metric tons of rice from Thailand alone. In 2015, it went down to about 680,000
metric tons. Last year, it went to about 22,000 metric tons.
“We have records to show or, like
I keep saying, we are more successful in the SIP, and we touched every family
with these and feed over nine million pupils one meal a day. For most of these
children, that is the only meal they are assured of. There is no better
investment in the future of the country on good infrastructure.”
Mohammed spoke also on power
generation. He said: “I want to remind the former President that when he left,
what was the total capacity of all our generating plants? I can quote the figure
for 2015 when we came in, power has been privatised. When we came in; total
power generated in Nigeria was just slightly above 4,000MW. That today has
moved to about 7,000MW.
“Still talking about
infrastructure, there is no state in the federation that we are not building
one road or the other. Latest report from the Nigerian Sovereign Investment
Authority(NSIA), said we have paid as of August this year about N33billion to
make the second Niger bridge a reality.
“The latest report is that the
pillars today are coming out and each pillar is 10-storey building down. Or are
we going to speak about our roads? The 240km road between Enugu and Port
Harcourt is progressing. Four major contractors are handling it. The East West
road is going very well… “
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