12th November, 2017
Razaq Babs
Nigerians have been warned against allowing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rule the country again.
Giving this warning at a parley in Lagos on Sunday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said it will be a tragedy if the PDP is ever allowed to come back.
”At another press conference we held at this same venue last week, I did say that it will be a tragedy if the PDP is ever allowed to come back, especially because our Administration has been working round the clock to take Nigeria out of the hell hole where it was dumped by the PDP,” Mohammed stated.
The minister said nothing shows the rot of the past more than the level of corruption which the Buhari administration inherited.
”Our commonwealth was looted with impunity by the same people who now say they want to come back. Indeed, it will not just be a tragedy, but a double tragedy, if we ever allow these same people to preside over our commonwealth,” he added.
He asked Nigerians if they want Diezani Alison-Madueke back as Petroleum Minister, after the recovery of at least 43 million dollars and 56 houses from her alone.
”Do we want the 2.9 billion dollars – that’s about one-eighth of the 2018 Budget – that has been successfully traced and recovered from looters by the EFCC since the inauguration of the present administration, to be re-looted? What about the 151 million dollars and N8 billion in looted funds that have been recovered from just
three sources as a direct result of the introduction of the whistle-blower policy? Do we want them to be re-looted?
”What about the persistent under-remittance of operating surpluses by state owned entities? Under the PDP, JAMB only remitted an aggregate of 51 million Naira. In September 2017, the same JAMB announced it is ready to remit 7.8 billion Naira back to the Government. Do we want JAMB to go back to remitting 51 million Naira? he asked
The minister stated further that the PDP during its 16 years in power lacked the political will to implement the
Treasury Single Account (TSA), which they started.
”We are now fully implementing the TSA. Three trillion Naira, almost half of the estimated revenue in the 2018 budget, has accrued to Government with the enforcement of the TSA policy.
”There is more: With the elimination of thousands of ghost workers, we have saved 120 billion Naira. We have removed the 108 billion Naira in maintenance fees payable to banks, pre-TSA; and monthly we are saving 24.7 billion Naira with our determined implementation of the TSA, the minister stated.
He appealed to Nigerians not to forget the alleged diversion of $2.1 billion earmarked for arms purchase by officials of the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
”As the pace of politics gradually picks up ahead of 2019, it is important that we let Nigerians know the enormous progress that the Buhari Administration has made in just a little over two years, and to also remind them of where the country was dumped by the PDP when we assumed office on 29 May 2015,” he said.
The minister also dispelled allegations that the Buhari government plans to arrest 50 PDP members for alleged corruption.
”Really? Are there still up to 50 people in the tottering PDP? Seriously, the guilty are afraid (according to the title of one of James Hadley Chase novels). Let those who have plundered our treasury face the music, if
they must,” he stated.