Buhari hits back at OBJ, wants him to answer for $16bn spent on power projects

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed worry over the $16 billion spent on power project during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Buhari, while receiving the Buhari Support Organisation led by the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali, on Tuesday raised questions on the state of the nation’s power sector after the amount spent by Obasanjo’s administration.

Although, President Buhari did not mention Obasanjo’s name. He, however, asked, “Where was the power after a former president claimed to have spent $16 billion on the project?”

The President, while campaigning as the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011, had said that both President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo have questions to answer, if he was voted into power.

He had said, while speaking at a presidential debate organised by NN24, a television outfit, that he was not satisfied with the effort by the government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since 1999.

“We need to know how much has been spent so far. Over $16bn was spent by Obasanjo regime, yet we don’t have power. Also, the government under Jonathan said we now have over 4,000 megawatts, yet our people don’t have the power,” he had said.

The controversial power project was done between 1999 and 2006 during Obasanjo’s administration, it had received wide criticism from the public and some civil society organisations.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had in 2016 urged the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Water Samuel Onnoghen, to immediately appoint an independent counsel to investigate allegations of corruption in the spending of $16 billion on electricity by Obasanjo’s government.

Recall that the House of Representatives in 2008 begun an investigation of a sum of $16 billion earmarked for power projects which it is alleged was misappropriated and mismanaged on non-existence power projects during the Obasanjo’s administration “without commensurate result” yielded.

In its report, the House committee on power led by Hon. Ndudi Elumelu also described the amount spent on the sector as a colossal waste and a case of “poor budget planning and a lack of proper oversight by relevant bodies.”

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Speaking on the issue on Tuesday, in Abuja, President Buhari said those who mismanaged Nigeria’s economy in the past, through fraudulent electricity projects and misuse of revenue earnings from oil, had no love for the country.

The President urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and ensure that only ‘‘people of conscience are in-charge of governance at all levels’’, as the nation prepares for general elections in 2019.

‘‘I challenge anybody to check from Europe, America and Asia; between 1999-2014, Nigeria was producing 2.1 million barrels of crude oil per day at an average cost of 100 USD per barrel and it went up to 143 USD.

‘‘When we came it collapsed to 37 – 38 USD and later was oscillating between 40 and 50 USD.

‘‘I went to the CBN Governor, with my cap in my hand, and asked if we had savings. He told me we had only debts, no savings. Some of the roads were not repaired since the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) days.

‘‘I don’t care the opinion you have about Abacha but I agreed to work with him and we constructed roads from Abuja to Port Harcourt, Benin to Onitsha and so on. We also touched education and health institutions.

‘‘One of the former Heads of State was bragging that he spent more than 15 billion USD on power in Nigeria. Where is the power?’’ the President said.

On the mismanagement of the economy by previous administrations, President Buhari noted that the perpetrators lacked imagination and plans for the development of the nation.

‘‘Sometimes, I wonder about those who can afford to send their children abroad for studies and yet continue to sabotage the economy, I wonder what kind of Nigeria they want their children to return to and work. There is a lot of lack of imagination.

‘‘If you are working for the country, then you shouldn’t be misappropriating and misapplying public funds the way people did,’’ he said.

The President urged Nigerians to reject those bent on dividing the country along religious and ethnic lines, warning that they do not mean well for the country.

In his remarks, Ali said the group and majority of Nigerians are passionate about a second-term for President Buhari because of his integrity, honesty, love and patriotism.

He noted that President Buhari has entrenched fiscal discipline and prudent management of resources, improved the nation’s security and delivered on his promise to revamp agriculture, as a major revenue earner for the country.

 

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