“Of course, Nigeria is broke,” was the answer which President Muhammadu Buhari gave when he spoke with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Channels Television in New Delhi, India, where he attended the 3rd India-Africa Summit.
The President asked: “Where is the money? “This country was materially vandalized and morally so and you are in a position to know even more than myself unless you are testing my knowledge whether I know it or not.”
Buhari, who defended his administration’s slow pace in the development of infrastructure, insisted that there is no money to embark on projects and that the government could not even afford to pay salaries, a situation which he said, degenerated to a level that the Federal Government had to help 27 of the 36 states to pay salaries.
“You must have known that the Federal Government had to help 27 of the 36 states to pay salaries. Nigeria cannot pay salaries.
“The Federal Government itself had to summon the governor of the Central Bank to see how it would pay salaries not to talk of the agreements we signed with foreign countries, counterpart funding and so on.
Also a news conference after the Summit in India, Buhari stressed that would like to be remembered as a Nigerian president who fought corruption to a standstill and has therefore asked Nigerians who are not involved in corruptly enriching themselves with public funds not to be afraid.
President Buhari said he would not lose sleep over criticism that he was being selective in the fight against corruption even as he called on the elites to encourage him to get whoever had compromised his position and the trust given to him.
He assured that he would remain resolute in the fight against corruption and would want to be remembered for that when it is all said and done.
He listed his administration’s three main focus to include security, economy and the fight against corruption.
On the economy, critics of his administration said he was too slow in addressing economic and infrastructure challenges in a country yearning for development, a criticism he has responded to, saying: “They call me baba go slow, but I will go slow and steady.” [myad]
