Former Lagos State Governor and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has described the Jonathan administration as one that routinely abuses power and manipulates the people.
Speaking as after-dinner speaker and special guest of honor at the NG Annual Dinner at the Muson Centre in Lagos on Thursday, Tinubu drew a distinction between the PDP and the APC, saying the Jonathan PDP government was spinning recklessly out of control in terms of spending, corruption in the oil sector and other slush funds channelled through government programmes to fill the pockets of party loyalists.
Tinubu said Nigerians are yet to get a satisfactory explanation on the 400,000 barrels stolen daily. He opined that the NNPC has been converted into an ATM.
“As I have said previously, the Sure-P project is a drain pipe; a slush fund for political patronage. For instance, the N253.5 billion alleged to have being spent on projects by the Federal government as at December 2013, is not reflective in the lives of ordinary Nigerians. In 2012, about N180 billion accrued to the Federal Government in Sure-P alone.”
Under the heavy weight of corruption, heavy dose of insecurity, the ticking time bomb of youth unemployment and a near total absence of institutional rationalisation, Nigeria under President Jonathan trudges on like a battered engine in need of a complete overhaul; in fact, a change of engine.
Tinubu used his experience as the governor of Lagos as a tool to examine what is wrong with Nigeria today both politically and economically.
According to him, Nigeria is trapped in a disarticulated economy occasioning poverty and frustration on people. “The African Development Bank (AFDB), in its African Economic Outlook report of 2013, revealed that poverty has worsened since 1996 and through 11 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rule. The efforts of President Jonathan’s government to combat poverty were also faulted,” he said.
The former governor said that in the current economic environment, it is almost impossible for Nigeria to meet any of the predictions about its prosperity.
“The projection by the British Economist, Jim O’Neil, that Nigeria will soon emerge, at least, in the next 30 years alongside three other countries as an economic giant, will for long be a mirage.
“O’Neil predicted that Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey are to become what he refers to as ‘MINT.’ We all know that this is another Vision 2020 gimmick; a very distant hope with no chance of coming to fruition. Let us not for once, delude ourselves that this is possible. A country that is yet to export the smallest plastic product or one that generates a miserable 12 per cent of the total energy needs of the country can never be a candidate for MINT, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and Vision 2020. Our energy woes abide.”
Tinubu was asked to explain the vision and mission of the new party, APC and offer an insight into the ideology of the party.
He said: “We formed this party to improve the lot and the lives of those who don’t have. We formed it to bring dignity, hope, justice and the reality of prosperity to those Nigerians who seek these things. The PDP has never been a friend of the people and each year it becomes less of one. They have turned their backs on the people. Now, it is time the people turned their backs on the PDP. The PDP claims we don’t have an ideology. We have an ideology but it is one PDP can’t understand. What the arrogant and mean don’t understand, they pretend does not exist.
”One can no longer dance on both sides of the fence. Either you are resolute for justice or for injustice. Stake your claim and sign your name to it so history may record your decision and your deeds at this critical hour.
”For me, I have but one life thus I have but one choice. I choose the right way. I follow the APC. I urge you all to hitch a ride on the rescue mission APC is about and rally for change and the re-building of a Nigeria that meets our dream,” Tinubu said, adding; “We have come to a moment in time when there is no time to waffle, obfuscate or prattle. Beginning from now and as we march toward the elections of 2015, the people shall decide whether they want to enshrine injustice, inequality and the rule of arbitrary might over their lives or they want to build a finer existence where the light of fairness, prosperity and the rule of law shines on all.”
The NG is an association of core professionals drawn from diverse fields and mostly Lagos-based. The NG group formed in 1998 has produced governors, ministers, commissioners and key functionaries. It is an informal think tank, a sounding board of sorts for government and policy makers.
Mr. Wale Edun, the chairman of the NG group, welcomed all members and expressed delight that Tinubu found time to honor their invitation.