President Muhammed Buhari on Tuesday scoffed at former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s claim that he spent $16bn on power projects during his tenure as president with no relative improvement in power supply.
Although he did not mention any name, Buhari said a former Nigerian leader was bragging at a time that his administration spent the amount on power sector, yet there was nothing to show for the expenditure.
Buhari spoke at the Presidential Villa, Abuja while receiving members of the Buhari Support Organisation led by the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd).
But in a swift reaction, Obasanjo said the President’s allegation that $16bn was wasted on power project, was rooted in ignorance.
In a statement issued on his behalf by Kehinde Akinyemi, his spokesman, Obasanjo said, “The answer is simple: the power is in the seven National Integrated Power Projects and eighteen gas turbines…”
The House of Representatives had in 2008 described the $16bn spent on power projects by the Obasanjo administration as a colossal waste.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project had also in 2016 called for an investigation into the expenditure.
On Tuesday, Buhari insisted that past administrations failed to invest in infrastructure in the country.
He gave an indication that no roads were repaired in the country after his days at the Petroleum Trust Fund.
Buhari said anybody who claimed to be fighting for the country should not be misappropriating or misapplying the nation’s resources the way some people did.
He reiterated his position that past Nigerian leaders did not save during the oil boom era.
He said, “I have to repeat what I want the public to know here.
“I said and I challenge anybody to check from Europe, Asia and America; between 1999 and 2014, Nigeria was getting 2.1 million barrels per day and was selling at an average cost of $100 per barrel.
“It went up to $143. So, Nigeria was earning 2.1 million times 100 times 16 years seven days a week.
“When we came, it collapsed to between $37 and $38 and it was oscillating between $40 and $54 sometimes.
“I went to the Governor of Central Bank, thank goodness I did not sack him, and he is still there. I went with my cap in my hand and say oya (give me money). He said there were no savings, only debt.”
Responding the ex-President referred Buhari to his autobiography, My Watch, saying he had cleared allegations about the power project in the book.
The statement read, “It has come to the attention of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo that a statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari, apparently without correct information and based on ignorance, suggested that $16bn was wasted on power projects by “a former President.” We believe that the President was re-echoing the unsubstantiated allegation against Chief Obasanjo by his own predecessor but one.
“While it is doubtful that a President with proper understanding of the issue would utter such, it should be pointed out that records from the National Assembly have exculpated President Obasanjo of any wrongdoing concerning the power sector and have proved the allegations as false.
“For the records, Chief Obasanjo has addressed the issues of the power sector and the allegations against him on many occasions and platforms, including in his widely publicised book, My Watch, in which he exhaustively stated the facts and reproduced various reports by both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which conducted a clinical investigation into the allegations against Chief Obasanjo, and the Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of the Recommendations in the Report of the Committee on Power on the investigation into how the huge sum of money was spent on Power Generation, Transmission And Distribution between June 1999 and May 2007 without commensurate result.
“We recommend that the President and his co-travellers should read Chapters 41, 42, 43 and 47 of My Watch for Chief Obasanjo’s insights and perspectives on the power sector and indeed what transpired when the allegation of $16bn on power projects was previously made. If he cannot read the three-volume book, he should detail his aides to do so and summarise the chapters in a language that he will easily understand.
Buhari, nevertheless, promised to continue to do all in his power to redirect the country under his watch.