ABUJA, Federal Republic of Nigeria. President Muhamadu Buhari on Thursday told the top hierarchy of All Progressives Congress, APC that whenever they are confronted with question on bad state of the economy, they should respond by saying the government still have three more years to go.
The President also said that Nigeria was able to save over N3 trillion with the implementation of the Treasury Single Account, TSA.
He spoke at the National Executive Committee (NEC), meeting at the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja.
The President equally disclosed that probe of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC would soon kick start once there are enough evidences to nail the culprits.
The corporation he added was been reorganised to know the exact amount of crude taken out of the country.
On the state of economy, he said that, “I wonder why people could not believe that in Nigeria; about 27 out of 36 states have difficulty in paying basic salaries of their workers”.
On the TSA he said that, “If you go and see the Central Bank governor, he will tell you that in the TSA, we have more than N3 trillion. Where would this money have been if TSA was not in vogue?
“I was made to understand that vouchers would have quickly been raised towards the end of the financial year and checks made. Whether they are going into projects or private pockets, nobody can prove it to you.
“That money is there, it is identified, if is quantified and when the budget comes back eventually, the Ministry of Finance will see how to allocate it to the rest of the country,” he stated.
On NNPC, he said that “We have tried to make sure that NNPC is reorganised, so that we know how much of our crude is taken, how much it is sold and to which account the money is going.
“But I tell you that up to the time we came, if anybody told you that he knows how much of crude exchanges hands either on the high sea or reaching their destination and the accounts the money goes into, that person is not telling you the truth. We are getting the cooperation of countries that has received this crude. But we have to be sure of the facts in our hands before we start prosecution so that Nigerians will believe what we have been telling them,” he stated.
On the outcome of the NEC meeting, the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who briefed newsmen at the end of party’s NEC, said that it was resolved at the meeting to establish a budget for the party.
According to him, “We went through all our experiences since the last elections and we have taken decisions as to where are strengths were, where we did not quite measure up and all these are going to be addressed.
“For the first time, NEC has established a budget for the party and we have set up a committee to look once more into the constitution of the party to be able to streamline it.
“More particularly, NEC decided to down size our Board of Trustees in line with all other constitutional amendment,” he said.
Credit: Tribune (Nigeria)
