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| President Muhammadu Buhari |
President Muhammadu
Buhari has assured Nigerians that his administration is close to ending the
sharp practices in the oil and gas sector. The perpetrators will be named, he
said. He also spoke of his ongoing search for “decent”, “patriotic” and “selfless”
politicians and technocrats who will be ministers. The President has promised
to name his ministers in September. Buhari, who spoke on his vision for a
greater Nigeria on “Good Morning Nigeria”, a Nigeria Television Authority
(NTA), Abuja, pragramme, said oil was still being illegally exported by July 3.
The
Nation report continues:
He
said the Federal Government was working assiduously to expose those behind the
reported under-dealings in the oil sector, promising to update members of the
public on the government’s investigation into the matter.
According
to him, the government’s aim is to identify and prosecute all those found
culpable. Shipping documents are being compiled for onward submission to
countries of destination of stolen crude oil from Nigeria.
His
words: “The search continues; up to the third of this month (July 3), our crude
was still being illegally lifted by people who are in government. We are trying
to get these documents. We are getting the cooperation of the international
community.
“We
are going to make sure that those who perpetrated this theft against Nigeria
are faced with facts very soon and are taken to our courts.
“We’ve
got the cooperation of some of the countries of the destinations of our crude
(oil) and we are discussing with them.
“We
have to maintain high confidentiality so that we don’t risk some of the loyal
Nigerians that are helping us to trace the destinations of this stolen crude
and then the accounts into which the monies are being paid instead of the
Federal Governments account.”
Buhari
said his administration was studying the recommendations on how the Nigeria
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) should be reorganized.
He
described his recent trip to the United States (U.S.) as very successful as he
was able to extract the commitment of President Barack Obama to assist and
support the country in tackling its economic and security challenges.
He
said the U.S. and European countries had also pledged to assist Nigeria by
putting in place a security mechanism in the Gulf of Guinea to check oil theft.
Responding
to a question on the quality of his Federal Executive Council (FEC), the
President politicians and technocrats would make the list of nominees for
ministerial appointments.
He
said: “From what I have seen so far, we need really patriotic Nigerians –
Nigerians that can work very hard, knowledgeable, experienced, committed
Nigerians – to be in charge of ministries.
“A
lot of the institutions of Nigeria – important institutions – were compromised.
Everybody was for himself and God for all of us; it’s most unfortunate.
“We
have the people, educated people, experienced people but everybody seemed to be
working for himself – how much he could get as much and as quickly as possible.
“We
have to look for technocrats and we have to look for politicians and certainly
we have to look for decent people in this class to give them the responsibility
of being in charge of ministries and important parastatals (agencies).”
On
the leadership tussle in the National Assembly, Buhari urged those behind the
dispute to search their conscience and abide by the party’s decisions.
He
urged Nigerians to cooperate with his administration to develop the country and
warned that no part of Nigeria would be allowed to operate on its own.
The
President added that Nigeria “must remain one”.
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