President Muhammadu Buhari has lamented that the nation’s elite has resolved not to acknowledge the efforts of his administration in repositioning the country despite the plunge in revenues, but chose instead to harass him.
The President expressed this regret in his comments at a lunch with the governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held in his residence yesterday after revalidating his membership of the party in his Daura ward in atsina state.
The President pleaded with the elite to be fair in its assessment of his performance by taking cognizance of the state of the country’s economy when he took over power in 2015.
He said: “The problem is that I will like, especially the elites, to please be reflective. When we came, where we were, the resources available from then and the condition of the infrastructure.
“I was contrived to go over it several times to tell Nigerians that between 1999 and 2014, let them check with the NNPC, let them check with the Governor of Central Bank. The daily production was 2.4 million barrels per days and the average cost was a hundred American dollars per barrel.
“So for these years, daily Nigeria would earn 2.4m barrels times 100 dollars everyday. But look at the condition of infrastructure, you know this better than I do. I know I went to every local government of the country in my three consecutive attempts to become the President. You know the road more than I do. You know the condition of the rail, the railway was dead. Now look at it everywhere we go, what did they do with all these monies?
“When we took over in this administration, production went down to about half a million barrels per day, the price collapsed. We had to do what is called a bailout, wherever we got the money from. Upon all the money from 1999 to 2014, we have to give you money from the Centre to pay salaries. No! Nigerian elites are not interested in rating the competence but they are interested in harassing us with all efforts we are making.”
The President urged the governors to make efforts to convince the elites to give his administration the due relevance and respect it deserves insisting that it is working so hard with limited resources.
Commenting on the APC registration and revalidation exercise, the President charged the Caretaker Committee members to ensure the return of the party to the people by using the bottom-up approach.
“No more crowning from Abuja downward. Let the people know this and appreciate it that they are in charge of their constituencies and they are in charge of the party.
“Without any incentive they must come out and defend the party at any level so that we, you and the party will feel secure and comfortable because the old time of putting hands in the pocket is over because the money is no longer available”, he added.
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