President Muhammadu Buhari has bemoaned the fall of oil prices.
He said the country was currently facing an economic disaster because Nigeria made itself a mono economy.
Speaking at the National Executive Council meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday, the president blamed the last government for Nigeria’s ordeal.
Speaking on the economy, he said: “the fall of oil prices after Nigeria has made itself a mono economy is a disaster. I wonder why people could not believe that in Nigeria; about 27 out of 36 states have difficulty in paying basic salaries of their workers.
“If from 1999, oil sold above 100 dollars per barrel with an export of about 2 million barrel per day, how come Nigeria failed to make some arrangement to cushion the effect of a probably volatile oil market? Again, it shows failure of the last administration.
“But we are now to pick the pieces as an APC government and so, there is no need complaining, but let us concentrate and see how much we can do with whatever remains of the economy.
“However, we realized that agriculture and solid minerals are two areas that can quickly come to help us to recover economically, at least in terms of employment and feeding ourselves and more importantly, saving the hard currency to make sure that what is left our industries remain open, employing Nigerians and producing goods and services which is very important.
“The policy we are trying to implement is TSA. When we insist that we have to know what comes in and what goes out for us to make a comprehensive amendment to the economy.
“If you go and see the Central Bank Governor, he will tell you that in the TSA, we have more than N3 trillion. Where would this money have been if TSA was not in vogue? I was made to understand that vouchers would have quickly been raised towards the end of the financial year and checks made. Whether they are going into projects or private pockets, nobody can prove it to you.
“But that money is there, it is identified, if is quantified and when the budget comes back eventually, the Ministry of finance will see how to allocate it to the rest of the country.
“We have tried to make sure that NNPC is reorganized, so that we know how much of our crude is taken, how much it is sold and to which account the money is going.
“But I tell you that up to the time we came, if anybody told you that he knows how much of crude is exchanges hands either on the high sea or reaching their destination and the accounts the money goes into, that person is not telling you the truth.
“We are getting the cooperation of countries that has received this crude. But we have to be sure of the facts in our hands before we start prosecution so that Nigerians will believe what we have been telling them.”
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