President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria cannot afford to go back to the era of violence and mayhem, pleading with Nigerians to avoid anything that could disrupt Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections.
Buhari said the main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, still owed Nigerians explanation on how it expended the humongous resources that accrued to the country from oil sales between 1999 and 2014.
The President, who stated this when he received the leadership of organized labour that visited him to rejoice with him on his electoral victory at the Council Chambers, Presidential Villa, Abuja, Thursday, said the country witnessed “unprecedented and irresponsible expenditure during the PDP administration.”
According to him, the current administration met a country with dilapidated infrastructure all round in 2015.
The President noted that the situation called for serious question on what the party that was in power for 16 years did with the country’s earnings from oil, which peaked during the period.
He said: “PDP has not successfully explained to the country what they did with the money. There were no roads, no rail, no power. They said they spent $16 billion on power but where is the power?
”The irresponsible expenditure of that period has not been explained, and Nigerians deserve an answer on that terrible mismanagement of the country.”
Recalling the negotiations that led to the approval of the N30,000 minimum wage, the President said he had to ask Senator Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, to remind workers what his administration met on ground and what it had been able to achieve with minimal resources.
“During your negotiation with the Minister of Labour who briefed us in council on N30,000 minimum wage. I gave an analogy of a mad woman who went to fetch firewood but then she realized it was too heavy for her to carry, instead of reducing it, she added more.
“I said, we are struggling to survive as a nation. You (workers) knew what this country was earning between 2009 and 2015, you knew the state of infrastructure when we came in, God gave them 16 years of unprecedented earnings. Multiply 2.1 million by $100 by 16 years.
“I don’t think the PDP has been been able to successfully explain to Nigerians what they did with that money. Because some of the roads, especially the main ones, from here to Onitsha, from here to Port Harcourt since PTF days, let alone new ones…monies they earned from petroleum in 16 years.
“You know rail was virtually gone. And power, I asked where is the power? They spent $16 billion on power and Nigerians are asking, where is the power? It was unprecedented, irresponsible expenditure.
”Most of you are unanswerable to Nigerians, I appealed to you through our mutual friend, the Minister of Labour, to tell you where we found the country, where we are, and what we have been able to do with the resources available to us.
“Oil production from 2.1 million barrels per day went down to half a million. The militants were unleashed on this administration, and yet as confirmed by your leader, we had to ensure pensioners who were dying collected their entitlements. So really, there were terrible management of this country in the last 16 years and we are just trying to make up.
“We cannot succeed without your cooperation. I appreciate the pressure you are under from your respective constituencies, especially if you have to submit yourself for elections, you have to prove to your members that you are with them, rather than with the government and we understand,” President Buhari said.
He also commended the labour unions for their patriotism during the Presidential and National Assembly elections by assisting many Nigerians travel to their constituencies to vote.
He said: “You and many Nigerians stepped in to help many Nigerians exercise their rights to vote, you intervened as patriots not for political, religious and tribal reasons. You stood in during a very difficult period for all of us. On behalf of all Nigerians who benefited from your kind support, I want to say thank you.
“As a result of what you did, many citizens were able to travel and vote. I am also aware that many of your members were very active in voters’ education and promotion of peaceful elections in your various communities, thankfully, the presidential elections were conducted peacefully in most parts of the country.
“As we go to the polls this weekend, my prayer is that we also conduct elections in a non-violent manner.”
The President said he was looking forward to labour’s continued support and engagement to ensure the nation does not return to the days of violence.
Thanking Nigerians for giving him another four years, the President said: “We will remain focused on our promises which remain security, economy and fighting corruption.
”I want to assure you that the next four years will be peaceful, prosperous and corruption-free. I, therefore, look forward to receiving your proposals so that together we can achieve these goals.”
On what Nigerians can look forward to in the next lap of the journey, President Buhari said he would continue pushing the Change Agenda, “and remain focused on our core pillars of security, economy, and fight against corruption.”
He urged organized labour to partner with the government to make the country peaceful, prosperous, and corruption free.
In his remarks, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, lauded the President for being worker-friendly, as exemplified in the granting of bailout funds to state governments to pay backlog of salaries and pensions.
Wabba said: “We all remember the special bailout and budget support you introduced to support state governments during the recession. Your directive during this intervention was that state governments must offset accumulated arrears of salaries and pension liabilities.
”I remember you publicly asked state governors, ‘how do you manage to sleep at night when the salaries of workers in your state are not paid?’ For us, that was one of the finest moments we have had with any President in this country…I can stand here today and say your intervention was the difference between life and death for many workers.
“We urge that in this your second term in office, you should continue to make the Nigerian people, especially the Nigerian poor, the center piece of your policy initiatives and actions.”
He appealed to the National Assembly to earnestly pass the National Minimum Wage Act, while also asking the President to thereafter sign it into law within the shortest possible time.
