President Buhari, on Tuesday, vowed to get Africa’s biggest economy back on track after claiming the previous administration had left the treasury “virtually empty”. “We will try and put the system back into the right position,” Muhammadu Buhari said at a meeting of governors from Nigeria’s 36 states and Federal Capital Territory in Abuja.
“What happened in the Second Republic (1979-1983) has apparently happened again, and even worse, but we will restore sanity to the system.” Comparisons between president Shehu Shagari’s government and that of Buhari’s predecessor Goodluck Jonathan will not be lost on Nigerians.
Buhari, then an army general, seized power in a December 1983 coup, overthrowing elected president Shagari, whose administration was widely seen as corrupt and ineffective. He then embarked on a severe anti-corruption campaign and so-called “war of indiscipline” to root out graft until he was himself ousted in a military take-over.
The 72-year-old’s Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has estimated the country’s debts stand at some $60 billion (54 billion euros) and said Nigeria’s economy is in its worst state in the country’s 55-year independent history. Global oil shocks have squeezed Nigeria’s crude-dependent finances, forcing government projects to be scrapped or halted, while state employees have gone months without being paid.
A fuel shortage crippled the country in the week before Buhari took office on May 29 and electricity production slumped to an all-time low of just over 1,000 megawatts. Buhari has promised to streamline government to cut waste, increase transparency and cut corruption, and told governors that established rules and procedures had been “thrown to the dogs”.
In particular, he expressed concern about oil sector fraud and the non-payment of federal revenues into government coffers since 2011 but maintained the situation can be turned around. A full statement on the nation’s finances inherited by his government will be made within the next month, he promised, according to a statement from his office.
On Monday, Buhari said Jonathan had left the country deep in debt, “with the treasury virtually empty”. But he added on Tuesday: “The next three months may be hard but billions of dollars can be recovered, and we will do our best.”
Source: Vanguard
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