President Muhammadu Buhari on
Thursday said that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) still owes Nigerians
explanation on how it expended the humongous resources that accrued to the
country from oil sales between 1999 and 2014.
He made the remark while
receiving the leadership of organized labour which came to felicitate with him
on his electoral victory at State House, Abuja.
The President recounted how the
current administration met a country with dilapidated infrastructure all round
in 2015, and called to serious question what the party that was in power for 16
years did with the country’s earnings from oil, which reached a peak during the
period.
In a statement by the Special
Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, the President said “PDP has not
successfully explained to the country what they did with the money.
“There were no roads, no rail, no
power. They said they spent $16 billion on power, but where is the power?
“The irresponsible expenditure of
that period has not been explained, and Nigerians deserve an answer on that
terrible mismanagement of the country.” he said
He thanked organized labour “for
the support and patriotism you have shown during the presidential election,
especially after the unexpected postponement.
“You and your members stepped in to support
willing Nigerians to exercise their civic and patriotic rights to vote. You
intervened as patriots, and not for political, religious or tribal purposes.
You simply did the right thing during a difficult period for many of us.”
On what Nigerians can look forward
to in the next lap of the journey, President Buhari said he would continue
pushing the Change Agenda, “and remain focused on our core pillars of security,
economy, and fight against corruption.”
He urged organized labour to
partner with the government to make the country peaceful, prosperous, and
corruption free.
In his remarks, President of the
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, lauded the President for
being worker-friendly, as exemplified in the granting of bailout funds to state
governments to pay backlog of salaries and pensions.
He said “We all remember the
special bailout and budget support you introduced to support state governments
during the recession. Your directive during this intervention was that state
governments must offset accumulated arrears of salaries and pension
liabilities.
“I remember you publicly asked
state governors, ‘how do you manage to sleep at night when the salaries of
workers in your state are not paid?’
“For us, that was one of the
finest moments we have had with any President in this country…I can stand here
today and say your intervention was the difference between life and death for
many workers,” he added.
The labour leader appealed to the
National Assembly to earnestly pass the National Minimum Wage Act, while also
asking the President to thereafter sign it into law within the shortest
possible time.
Organized labour pledged to
remain “veritable partner in progress with government,” counseling the
President to continue to “make the Nigerian people, especially the poor, the
centre-piece of your policy initiatives and actions.”
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For real!is this President still going backward even with his 2nd term,this is really bad,pls move forward sir
ReplyDeletePlease Baba...prosecute everyone that had a part in the missing $16billion starting with Atiku. All that partook in the scam have either been dismissed or jailed. yet he (Atiku) is so arrogant to insult Nigerians by contesting for president by mobilizing blind followers. what an insult! He should come and explain what happened to the Malibu sales and the $16billion power project funds. A big disgrace that we celebrate thieves in this country.
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