President
Muhammadu Buhari has vowed never to stop blaming his predecessors for the
current economic woes of the country despite the public outcry against the buck
passing. He said it was necessary to let Nigerians, especially the youth to
know the state of the nation for them to properly evaluate the performance of
their leaders. Jonathan, Buhari and Obasanjo Jonathan, Buhari and Obasanjo It
will be recalled that the president at a function in his Daura home during last
Salleh celebrations came down hard on former President Olusegun Obasanjo, late
Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, saying that the 16 years rule of the
Peoples Democracy Party, PDP, left no legacy for the country. Also, speaking on
Thursday night at an interactive session tagged: “Conversation with Creative
Youth,” with some distinguished Nigerian youths from the entertainment and
fashion industry at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja; the
president insisted that the PDP ruined the economy. The president used the
occasion which also featured the official launching of a Pictorial Book
compiled by his personal photographer, Mr. Bayo Omoboriowo to assure the youth
of his government’s commitment to security amongst others. He said:“My dear
countrymen especially the youth, you have a fantastic country, God has endowed
Nigeria with human and material resources. “I am not going to bore you with
what we met on ground, I know when I say this, I am going to be accused in the
papers of passing the buck, but passing the buck is sometimes absolutely
necessary, to remind people who take things for granted. “When we came in by
some unfortunate coincidence, I screamed to high heavens because I had promised
a lot while seeking votes. “I asked where are the savings? There were no
savings. There was no infrastructure: power, rails, roads; there was none. I
then asked, what did we spend our money on? I was told we spent it on buying
food and petrol. “We conducted a study to find out where the billions of Naira
had gone and found out that the oil marketers were committing fraud on at least
one third of what they were importing, which is about 25 per cent of our
foreign exchange. “This brings me to the youth, as youths we must watch our
elites, the condition we found ourselves, it is unpatriotic for anybody to
pretend that economically we haven’t got a problem. “Today a lot of people have
gone back to the farms; I congratulate some of the governors and by the grace
of God, by the end of this government we will be exporting rice and
othergrains. So all the money alleged to have been used to import it will be
available to sustain development. “I have bored you with this long explanation,
because there are things that could be hidden from you by those that have
mismanaged the country in the last 16, 17 years. “I assure you that we will set
the ball rolling… in terms of security, industrialization, manufacturing and
food security. “I said it more than five years ago, and I still mean it, we
have no other country than Nigeria; we will stay here and salvage it together.”
Impressed by the exploits of the Nigerian youth in the Nollywood, President
Buhari said he would ensure that a reasonable portion of the 2017 national
budget is given for the development of the youths. “In this short while, I have
learnt a lot and I know much about our limitations with respect to power,
manufacturing and how all these can help the creative industry thrive. “We have
been focusing on security challenges so as to create room for prosperity and
progress, so be rest assured that the government has done its work to identify
our problems and work is going on to address them. “Today, the film industry
which comes under Nollywood can now compare favourably with Hollywood. Nigerian
youths have indeed, done the country proud,” he said.
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