Budget ‘Padding’ Embarrassing, Says Buhari

•President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari spoke yesterday for the first time on the “padding” of Budget 2016, saying it was “embarrassing and disappointing”. Buhari, who spoke while addressing Nigerians in Saudi Arabia, vowed to punish those involved.

The Nation report continues:

The President was quoted by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina: “The culprits will not go unpunished. I have been a military governor, Petroleum minister, military Head of State and headed the Petroleum Trust Fund.

“Never have I heard the words “budget padding”. Our minister of Budget and National Planning did a great job with his team. The minister became almost half his size during the time, working night and day to get the budget ready; only for some people to pad it.

“What he gave us was not what was finally being debated. It is embarrassing and disappointing. We will not allow those who did it to go unpunished,” the President vowed.

The Director-General, Budget Office, Yahaya Gusau, was sacked over the alleged “padding.”

Buhari assured Nigerians that his administration would fulfill its campaign promises, particularly on security, unemployment and corruption.

He restated his zero-tolerance for corruption, stressing that the war against corruption is a monumental task that he will tackle successfully.

“We have zero-tolerance for corruption and other unethical practices. We will deal with anybody found wanting,” he promised them.

On his administration’s efforts to end the Boko Haram insurgency and terrorism, he said: “Our armed forces have done a great job of dealing with Boko Haram. We are collaborating with our neighbours in the operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force to handle security threats in the sub-region and we have significantly destroyed the capacity of the insurgents.”

He also spoke on efforts to diversify the economy, stressing that more opportunities were open for local and foreign investors.

 He told leading the Council of Saudi Arabia’s Chambers of Commerce and Industry that with declining revenue from crude exports, Nigeria’s hopes of economic resurgence lie in the development of its agricultural and solid mineral resources.

Inviting Saudi Arabian businessmen to invest in both sectors, the President said his administration would welcome greater foreign investment in support of its efforts to diversify the economy.

Buhari said Nigeria had regrettably depended too much on crude exports to the neglect of other resources and was paying a harsh price for failing to diversify its economy.

He said: “With the downturn in the global oil prices, we have to prospect our solid minerals. We have to return to agriculture. Mining and agriculture are our hopes.

“We will welcome investments in these areas. We will appreciate an in-flow of resources and expertise to help us achieve our objective of economic diversification,” the President said.

The governors of Osun, Ogun, Katsina, Borno and Zamfara, who were on the President’s delegation, addressed the Saudi Arabian businessmen on investment possibilities in their states.

Chairman of the Council of the Saudi Arabian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Dr. Abdulrahman Al Zamil said agriculture was an important area of investment for its members, adding that they were in Brazil, the United States of America and Sudan, “where we have huge farms”.

Al Zamil said they were willing to invest in Nigeria.