PROTOCOLS
We are
members of the legacy party, plus APGA and DPP. We realized since 2005
that to remove the PDP from power, we must sink our differences, come
together and form a party. God willing, that eventually happened and
that is why we are where we are today, coming together inspite of our
differences, both personal and ideological. We must not forget that.
Having identified that as members of the legacy party, we again
identified three fundamental things facing us. First, security, second,
economy and unemployment and thirdly, corruption. We campaigned
throughout the country on these three fundamental issues and nobody
successfully challenged us and these issues remained relevant. On
security, we have made progress. It was a very courageous decision that
the party took and executed by the Executive by removing most of the
military hierarchy and appointing those to take over from them,
acquiring some new hard and soft ware and raising the morale of the
military to go secure the rest of the country which was then 14 out of
774 local government. I have said it often that as far as I know and the
service Chiefs who are on ground, they are not holding any local
government. But they still have some capability especially on soft
targets by using technology. For Niger Delta, the militants are sending
some conflicting messages. Some have said they are ready to drop their
arms and join the rest of the nation to build it. But part of them are
still sabotaging installations which is making investments in that
lucrative area of Nigeria difficult because nobody will submit his
riches to financial institutions, get money only to suffer huge loss.
So, the environment for investment is being sabotaged by our own selves,
Nigerians. We are doing our best with the military by trying to
persuade them to join the rest of the country because in unity lies our
strength. Of course the leadership of INEC has been changed, but I
appeal to the leadership of the military, security agents and INEC that
what I want Nigerians to remember me for, even if I have to leave the
Presidency tomorrow is that I respect them. I want all Nigerians to
believe and hold their PVC as personal entitlement as Nigerians and use
it the way the like, and vote for whoever they like at which ever
election. If they voluntarily sold it, it is part of their right and so,
let them sell it and remain at home and not participate in any
election. But let the law enforcement agencies give them the confidence
that nobody will come out who has money to hire thugs, give them drugs
and stop them from exercising their fundamental right. I am afraid I did
not succeed in the election in Kogi, Bayelsa, Rivers. I think that more
Nigerians are killed or killed themselves in Rivers than in any
particular state. At this stage of our political development, to remain
brutal is shameful and as a government, I promise we will do something
by the next general election. On the economy, the fall of oil prices
after Nigeria has made itself a mono economy is a disaster. I wonder why
people could not believe that in Nigeria, about 27 out of 36 states
have difficulty in paying basic salaries of their workers. If from 1999
to at least 2003, oil is above 100 dollars per barrel and an export of
about 2 million barrel per day, how come Nigeria failed to make some
arrangement to cushion the effect of a probably volatile oil market?
Again, it show failure of the last administration. But we are now to
pick the pieces as an APC government and so, there is no need
complaining, but let us concentrate and see how much we can do with
whatever remains of the economy. We realized that agriculture and solid
minerals are two areas that can quickly come to help us to recover
economically, at least in terms of employment and feeding ourselves and
more importantly, saving the hard currency to make sure that what is
left our industries remain open, employing Nigerians and producing goods
and services which is very important. The policy we are trying to
implement is TSA. When we insist that we have to know what comes in and
what goes out for us to make a comprehensive amendment to the economy.
If you go and see the Central Bank Governor, he will tell you that in
the TSA, we have more than N3 trillion. Where would this money have been
if TSA was not in vogue? I was made to understand that vouchers would
have quickly been raised towards the end of the financial year and
checks made. Whether they are going into projects or private pockets,
nobody can prove it to you. But that money is there, it is identified,
if is quantified and when the budget comes back eventually, the Ministry
of finance will see how to allocate it to the rest of the country. We
have tried to make sure that NNPC is reorganized, so that we know how
much of our crude is taken, how much it is sold and to which account the
money is going. But I tell you that up to the time we came, if anybody
told you that he knows how much of crude exchanges hands either on the
high sea or reaching their destination and the accounts the money goes
into, that person is not telling you the truth. We are getting the
cooperation of countries that has received this crude. But we have to be
sure of the facts in our hands before we start prosecution so that
Nigerians will believe what we have been telling them. Again, I have to
repeat myself here for you to appreciate what I am going through because
you are closer to the people than myself. I was telling a British team
that came to supervise the training team they sent, that when I was in
uniform, you took the perceived corrupt ones and put them in safe
custody and quietly told them they were guilty until they can prove
themselves innocent. But now under multi-party democratic system, I see
some of them ride Rolls Royce, some of them have built estates here, but
they are innocent until we can prove them guilty. This situation is
true and you don’t need to stress your imagination to find out. If you
can find out, you discover that a level eight officer has five houses,
while you, as a Permanent Secretary or Commissioner is still living in a
rented house. We have to get credible evidence to carry out successful
prosecution and get judgement from the Judiciary. But effort is being
made to give a list of recoveries in whatever currencies so far so that
Nigerians will know that it is not all about long stories. For the
party, I will like you to continue to make sacrifice. I know you are
being harassed since the election that they haven’t seen anything on the
ground. Well, if you have any explanation that could be accepted, is
that you have three more years to go. When we came in after 16 years of
PDP, each government had 42 ministries. We reduced them to 24, removed
21 Permanent Secretaries. We sat down and reflected seriously. We were
all in the process of taking over at a time of national budget. So,
imagine the volume of work and with what happened in the National
Assembly, the padding, it would appear that below the Permanent
Secretaries, there are still a lot of bureaucracies that are still with
them. So, you have to appreciate the position we are in. Having cut 42
to 24, correspondingly, the parastatals will be cut down to some size
and realigned and the boards reconstituted. We gave a blanket order
which we had to rescind when we said all boards are suspended or
dissolved. We had to go back and lick our vomit in terms of university
boards because we found out that according to their laws, they cannot
choose Vice Chancellors unless the Boards seat down, interview
prospective candidates who wants to be VCs. So, there is nothing wrong
in saying sorry and going back on your decision. So, we said sorry and
allow all the universities to continue with their boards. But for the
rest, eventually, we will make it. So, please, try to bear with us as we
reflect on where we found ourselves. For globetrotting, sometimes, you
need to present your case on personal basis to your economic colleagues
and neighbors. Nothing is better than personal touch and I believe that
we are learning a lot and eventually, the nation will realize so, I
don’t envy you on the harassment you are going through from your
constituencies. Take it with a lot of determination and we will be all
right, God willing.
No comments:
Post a Comment