Nigerians have been warned against allowing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rule the country again.
Giving
this warning at a parley in Lagos on Sunday, the Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said it will be a tragedy
if the PDP is ever allowed to come back.
”At
another press conference we held at this same venue last week, I did
say that it will be a tragedy if the PDP is ever allowed to come back,
especially because our Administration has been working round the clock
to take Nigeria out of the hell hole where it was dumped by the PDP,”
Mohammed stated.
The minister said nothing shows the rot of the past more than the level of corruption which the Buhari administration inherited.
”Our
commonwealth was looted with impunity by the same people who now say
they want to come back. Indeed, it will not just be a tragedy, but a
double tragedy, if we ever allow these same people to preside over our
commonwealth,” he added.
He
asked Nigerians if they want Diezani Alison-Madueke back as Petroleum
Minister, after the recovery of at least 43 million dollars and 56
houses from her alone.
”Do
we want the 2.9 billion dollars – that’s about one-eighth of the 2018
Budget – that has been successfully traced and recovered from looters by
the EFCC since the inauguration of the present administration, to be
re-looted?
What about the 151 million dollars and N8 billion in looted funds that have been recovered from just three sources as a direct result of the introduction of the whistle-blower policy? Do we want them to be re-looted?
What about the 151 million dollars and N8 billion in looted funds that have been recovered from just three sources as a direct result of the introduction of the whistle-blower policy? Do we want them to be re-looted?
”What
about the persistent under-remittance of operating surpluses by state
owned entities? Under the PDP, JAMB only remitted an aggregate of 51
million Naira. In September 2017, the same JAMB announced it is ready to
remit 7.8 billion Naira back to the Government. Do we want JAMB to go
back to remitting 51 million Naira? he asked The minister stated further
that the PDP during its 16 years in power lacked the political will to
implement the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which they started.
”We
are now fully implementing the TSA. Three trillion Naira, almost half
of the estimated revenue in the 2018 budget, has accrued to Government
with the enforcement of the TSA policy.
”There
is more: With the elimination of thousands of ghost workers, we have
saved 120 billion Naira. We have removed the 108 billion Naira in
maintenance fees payable to banks, pre-TSA; and monthly we are saving
24.7 billion Naira with our determined implementation of the TSA, the
minister stated. He appealed to Nigerians not to forget the alleged
diversion of $2.1 billion earmarked for arms purchase by officials of
the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
”As
the pace of politics gradually picks up ahead of 2019, it is important
that we let Nigerians know the enormous progress that the Buhari
Administration has made in just a little over two years, and to also
remind them of where the country was dumped by the PDP when we assumed
office on 29 May 2015,” he said.
The
minister also dispelled allegations that the Buhari government plans to
arrest 50 PDP members for alleged corruption. ”Really? Are there still
up to 50 people in the tottering PDP? Seriously, the guilty are afraid
(according to the title of one of James Hadley Chase novels). Let those
who have plundered our treasury face the music, if they must,” he
stated.
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