President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday
said despite the criticisms of many, he would continue to blame his
predecessors for Nigeria’s woes.
He said, passing the buck, which people
have been frowning on, was important in order for Nigerians to know what
went wrong with the country.
Buhari spoke at an event tagged, “The
Conversation: An evening with creative youths,” held inside the old
Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The event, attended also by the
President’s wife, Aisha; Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and his wife,
Dolapo; as well as governors and other top government officials, had
“Creative youth as drivers of the change agenda,” as its theme.
Buhari said, “I am going to bore you
with what we met. I know that I am being accused in the papers of
passing the buck, but passing the buck is sometimes absolutely necessary
to remind people who take things for granted.
“When we came in, I screamed to high heavens because I had promised a lot while seeking votes.
“I asked, where is the saving? There was
no saving. There was no infrastructure, power, rails, roads, there was
none. What did we spend the money on? I was told (on) buying food and
petrol.
“Where were the billions going? We
conducted a study and found out that the oil marketers were committing
fraud on at least one-third of what they were importing, which was about
25 per cent of our foreign exchange.
“The youth must watch our elite,
especially with the condition in which we have found ourselves. It is
unpatriotic for anybody to pretend that economically we have no problem.
“I have bored you with this long
explanation because there are things that could be hidden from you by
those that have mismanaged the country in the last 16, 17 years.”
The President therefore tasked Nigerian
youths to be alive to their responsibilities of holding their leaders
and the elite accountable.
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