To finance 2016 budget with recovered stolen funds
By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Abuja
In far away Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, President Muhammadu Buhari again opened up on his anti-corruption fight, insisting that his greatest worry and headache remains the nation’s judiciary.
The president said the fight against corruption in the country could only be effective if the judicial arm of government gives the right support.
A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina yesterday, quoted Buhari as expressing the worry at a town hall meeting with Nigerians living in Ethiopia.
According to him, far-reaching reforms of the judiciary remained a key priority for the present administration.
Buhari recalled his travails in courts up to the level of the Supreme Court in his three previous attempts at becoming the President, saying these were clear indications that the judiciary needs urgent reforms.
He said: “On the fight against corruption vis-à-vis the judiciary, Nigerians will be right to say that is my main headache for now. If you reflect on what I went through for 12 years when I wanted to be the President, I attempted three times and on the fourth attempt through God and the use of technology, it was possible for Nigerians to elect an APC candidate as President.
“In my first attempt in 2003, I ended up at the Supreme Court and for 13 months I was in court. The second attempt in 2007, I was in court close to 20 months and in 2011, my third attempt, I was also in court for nine months.
“All these cases went up to the Supreme Court until the fourth time in 2015, when God agreed that I will be President of Nigeria.”
The President however assured members of the Nigerian community that with the support of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, he would continue to do his best to improve the nation’s judicial administration system.
On urban development and infrastructure, the President said federal government has ordered a review of several railway transport projects signed by the previous administration with the Chinese government.
“The Chinese government was very generous to Nigeria on the projects signed with the previous government because they agreed to pay 85 per cent of the project. But the Nigerian government was unable to meet up with its counterpart funding of 15 per cent, so the Chinese government was unable to make any impact on the project,” he said.
President Buhari said he has directed the Ministers of Transport, Finance, Power, Works and Housing to revisit the agreements and explore ways of re-approaching the Chinese government for assistance.
He said the Chinese government had already indicated interest to assist Nigeria on project financing through its Export-Import Bank
Commenting on the proposed N6.077 trillion 2016 budget submitted to the National Assembly, the President said for the first time in Nigeria, the budget will be largely financed from non-oil revenue.
He identified the collapse of the international oil market and oil theft in the Niger Delta as main reasons for projecting more revenues to fund the budget from the non-oil sector.
“The theft of the oil market by some Nigerians that happen to live there who feel that the oil belongs to them and not the country is an irritating thing for those of us who participated in the civil war for 30 months in which at least 2 million Nigerians were killed.”
The President also said the proposed budget would focus on increasing efficiency and transparency in government operations and the blocking of leakages from revenue generating agencies, adding that the recovered assets of the country would also be used to reduce the budget deficit.
