23rd June, 2015
The manner former President Goodluck Jonathan was spending hard currency during his electioneering campaign suggested that he was going to bankrupt the nation. Those who harboured these fears when they saw Jonathan spending like a drunken sailor have been proved right, given the sordid revelations emanating from Aso Rock.
The revelations started with the report of the Buhari Transition Committee headed by Ahmed Joda which said there was fraud everywhere while they were probing the handover notes submitted by departing Jonathan’s government officials. He also said Jonathan left N7 trillion deficit. This is quite staggering by all standards and could weigh down any new government with good intentions.
Again, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday capped Joda’s revelation by saying he inherited virtually an empty treasury from Jonathan. Buhari, who disclosed this in his first interactive session with State House correspondents to mark his first day in the Aso Rock office, said his administration was being weighed down by debts running into millions of dollars. Although he did not say how much debt he met, he promised to put in his best to salvage the country from the brink of collapse.
We agree with Buhari that it was disgraceful for state and federal workers not to be paid their salaries for several months, yet Jonathan’s administration is one of the most profligate in the nation’s recent history. A good example of how public funds were wasted under Jonathan was the purchase of nine jets for the presidential fleet. What does the president need nine jets for? Some of his ministers also squandered millions on posh cars.
Considering the empty treasury that Buhari inherited, it would be uncharitable to say he has not hit the ground running. Nigerians should give the President time to settle down and carry out a thorough cleansing of the utter mess created by the Jonathan administration and by extension the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for 16 years it was in power.
The indecent haste of Nigerians who want Buhari to act like a magician would not do the nation any good. The quick fix demanded by some Nigerians cannot clear the rot left behind by the Jonathan administration because it is too pervasive to be addressed in a hurry.
Buhari should be allowed to take his time to block the leakages through which government officials bleed the nation. He should cut down the number of ministries and his ministers should limit the number of cars they have in their convoys and appoint few aides. Buhari should also sell off most of the nine jets in the presidential fleet. He doesn’t need all those expensive toys.