President Muhammadu Buhari has said that considering how hard he prayed to become the President of the country, he cannot complain about the challenges facing the country.
Buhari was quoted in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, as saying this while briefing Nigerian professionals in the United States about the challenges facing the country.
The President, who hailed the professionals for representing the country well, told them that Nigeria was in crisis because the leaders failed to plan for the future, adding that looters were trying to sabotage efforts to turn the situation around.
He said, “”Those who stole Nigeria dry are not happy. They recruited the militants against us in the Niger Delta and began to sabotage oil infrastructure. We lose millions of barrels per day, at a time when every dollar we can earn, counts.
“It is a disgrace that a minimum of 27 states, out of 36 that we have in Nigeria, can’t pay salaries.
“But I prayed so hard for God to make me President. I ran in 2003, 2007, 2011, and in 2015, He did. And see what I met on ground. But I can’t complain since I prayed for the job.”
Buhari said although Nigerians made billions between 1999 and 2015, producing an average of 2.1 million barrels of oil per day with oil prices at an average of $100 per barrel, the country neither saved nor develop infrastructure.
“Suddenly, when we came (into power) in 2015, oil prices fell to about $30 per barrel.
“I asked; where are the savings? There were none. Where are the railways? The roads? Power? None. I further asked; what did we do with billions of dollars that we made over the years? They said we bought food. Food with billions of dollars? I did not believe, and still do not believe,” he said.
He also decried the failure of the country’s military, which was once respected globally, to tackle Boko Haram initially, allowing the insurgents to run riot, “killing innocent people in churches, mosques, markets, schools, motor parks, and so on”.
“And they would then shout Allahu Akbar. But if they truly knew Allah, they would not do such evil. Neither Islam nor any other religion I know of, advocates hurting the innocent. But they shed innocent blood, killed people in their thousands. Now, we have dealt with that insurgency, and subverted their recruitment base,” he said.
The President, who said God has been very good to him, said he understood that things would not be easy for him and his party.
“After 16 years of a different party in government, no party will come and have things easy. It’s human,” he said.
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