The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has urged Nigerians to stop blaming the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for all the challenges witnessed in the country.
Amaechi, who is a former Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, said this on a Channels Television’s programme titled, ‘Hard Copy’, monitored by The PUNCH.
The minister argued that Buhari was being blamed for even things that didn’t concern him.
“The point is we all blame the government. Like the President would say, if tomorrow you are unable to get pregnant, you will blame Buhari,” he said.
When asked if the All Progressives Congress did not know about the challenges when it promised to deliver “change” to Nigeria, Amaechi said they didn’t know the magnitude of the rot.
On why the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had failed to turn the country around nearly seven years after it took office, Amaechi said they could not be perfect.
He argued that the Buhari regime had diversified the economy and halted the importation of rice.
Amaechi argued that insecurity could not be tackled without curbing poverty first.
When asked if security matters are discussed at the Federal Executive Council, he said, “We don’t discuss security matters at FEC.”
According to the minister, the money left behind for Nigeria by former President Goodluck Jonathan at the point of his departure on May 29, 2015 was not enough to run the affairs of the country for three weeks.
The former governor of Rivers State claimed that while he headed the governors’ forum, he was informed by Presidency officials that there was virtually nothing left in the treasury.
The minister added, “When you talk about bandits and all these people that kill. It is a question about poverty. And that poverty didn’t start in this regime. Don’t forget that oil was sold at $110, $114, $115 per barrel. When this government came into power, oil fell to $28 per barrel and since then it has not gone above $80 per barrel.
“As former chairman of the governors’ forum, I was told by the security in a meeting chaired by the former President including the former minister of finance that at every point in time, the government must leave money behind in case Nigeria goes to war that would last for six months.
“By the time we came, they didn’t leave money behind that could last us for three weeks. And I was speaking at that time as the chairman of the governors’ forum.”
Copyright PUNCH.
