President Muhammadu Buhari has given details of how he expects to accomplish the task of funding the N6 trillion budget he submitted to the National Assembly despite the fall in the international price of crude oil.
He said measures have been taken to block leakages in the nation’s revenue generating agencies. The president gave the explanation in an interview with Mansur Liman of the BBC Hausa service on Christmas eve. He also spoke on his government’s ‘success’ at defeating the Boko Haram insurgents.
When asked about the recently submitted budget and how he intends to fund it considering the dwindling global economic situation and the downfall of oil, he responded: "As a government, we inherited N1.5 trillion domestic debt and when foreign debt is added we have about N2.2 trillion. Everybody knows Nigeria is not a poor country, we are rich, and we have human resources, the problem had been that leadership did not take seriously, curbing corrupt tendencies.
"Apart from highlighting our debt profile, we have also shown the changes we have made in the Customs for instance, how; much we are making from the Customs service, how much from petroleum, that is NNPC; how much we are making from the ports. There have been lots of leakages in these sectors. If we block these leakages, we would make much more money to run the country despite the fall in the price of oil."
The president also revealed that his plan is to block the stealing of the people's money by corrupt and dubious politicians, that way, there will be enough money for running the nation.
"It is generally believed that a fish begins to rot from the head; once the head is rotten, the whole body is also rotten. We have tried to remove all the heads of the organisations, and most of the lieutenants have been changed. A lot is happening in this government that people do not appear to understand; many permanent secretaries of ministries have been changed; we used to have 42 ministers, now we have 36 because the constitution requires that each state of the federation must have a minister" he added.
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