Buhari wants the elite to be 'reflective’ in assessing his administration.
President Muhammadu Buhari has on Saturday, January 20, 2021, accused Nigerian elites of harassing his person and administration despite his performance.
The president said his critics often don’t take into consideration where the country was before he assumed office in 2015.
While speaking in his hometown, Daura in Katsina State after revalidating his membership of the All Progressives Congress, the president urged the elite to be 'reflective’ in assessing his administration.
He said, “The problem is that I will like especially the elite to please be reflective. When we came, where we were, the resources available from them and the condition of the infrastructure.”
He added that he was “compelled 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, production was 2.4 million barrels per day and the average cost was $100 per barrel.
“So for a year’s daily production, Nigeria would earn 2.4×100 dollars every day. 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 roads more than I do. You know the condition of the rail; the railway is dead. Now look at it everywhere we go, what did they do with all these monies?
“When we took over the 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 gave out money from the centre to pay salaries. No, Nigerian elite are not interested in rating the competence but they are interested in harassing us with all efforts we are making.
“You, who are in the field in charge of your constituencies, you have to make efforts to convince the elite to please give us the due relevance and respect we deserve that we are working so hard with limited resources.”
However, in its reaction to the president’s statement on elite, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said Buhari himself knows he has failed.
The opposition party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said the president has stopped blaming the opposition party for the promises he failed to fulfill.
He said, “Part of the indicators of his failure is that less than two years of his second tenure, members of his party are already running round the opposition looking for his successor.
“Buhari is no longer blaming the PDP; he is now blaming the elite.
“The three things he promised to do for Nigerians, he has also failed.
“He promised to revive the economy, the economy is today comatose. He promised to fight corruption, corruption is today worse than ever.
Alluding to the abduction of over 300 schoolboys in Katsina in December 2020, and the rising spate of banditry in the state, the party said the president’s home country has become a no go area due to insecurity.
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