For the second day in a row, President Muhammadu Buhari personally engaged the media on important national issues, this time in a special interview conducted by Cyril Stober of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) on Thursday 6th January 2022 which was aired by 8pm.
The interview was monitored by the Journal and excerpts are presented below.
On his plans to retire immediately after the end of his tenure in May 2023; the President said:
I am looking forward to the next 17 months when I will be less busy as the age is telling on me; working for 7-8 hours per day is no joke; working on memos, holding executive councils virtually every week is a lot of hard work. I asked for it and I cannot complain. But my plan is to retire and go back to my farm after my tenure. I have been a Governor, a Minister and 2-term President; so I have done all for my country. I have given my best and I hope that after I leave, Nigerians will reflect.
I am not expecting any appreciation but I am expecting them to say I have given my best. Its no joke; see the situation in the South East, we closed the Benin and Niger Republic’s border but we have to accept that my main aim is to leave a more secure Nigeria than it is now.
On the complex security problems and how capable Government is to solve them, the President said:
Yes, Government is capable and is going to do it because security for members of the Armed Forces also depend on how secure Nigeria is and I believe they will do it. I know we are short of resources. But we have worked on acquisition of armed weapons and fighter aircraft to counter the challenges.
On if the fight against corruption has been revamped under Bawa’s leadership of EFCC, the President said:
The problem of corruption is a continuous one for developing countries like Nigeria, people have to live within their means and as long as they want to live beyond their means, corruption will be here. Local governments are getting less effective and it is wrong because they deal bottom-up on education and healthcare duties which is basic to Nigeria. Nigerians must conserve resources to effectively give education and healthcare to the needy all the time.
Do high profile politicians facing corruption charges defect to APC for soft landing?
I refuse to accept that joining our party will check our insistence on accountability; we are very serious that people will aspire to lead by integrity both professionally and personally but the problem is that we have to work within the system; even if an individual is suspected, without evidence there is little we can do but nobody can go scot-free based on party affiliations.
2022 Budget figures signed was higher than the sum proposed. Will it cause disagreement between the executive and legislature?
Luckily for us, we have majority in both houses, I think it is understandable that committee leaders insist that their constituencies must see them as being effective by taking projects to them but we need to look at the thing broadly; for example, we are trying to fix road, rail, power projects but what bothers legislators is immediate constituency projects. It is left for us to strike a balance the infrastructure priorities and constituencies projects. No section of the country is going to be denied on education, health and infrastructure based on political leanings. There is no dispute between us, all I did was to urge them to be more national in their perspective.
Any influence of the Executive on National Assembly leadership?
No, I don’t think we influence or dictate to them, I consider it lucky that we have majority in both houses so its natural to have the leadership who as members of the party won’t want to be seen as anti-party. I think the opposition have a problem because majority of the national assembly leaders will have to support the party.
On his refusal to Assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill; the President said:
My explanation is that people should have a choice between direct, indirect and consensus methods. Parties should be given the ability to chose and decide within each party.
Most of the governors are going except for a few, if they want to be kingmakers or institute people, they will have a lot of problems, but if they have free mind to make the system work, I believe the system will be effective
My position is simple; I think I succeeded in getting my position understood, bottom-up system from polling units to wards to Local governments to States then Abuja. The party should know their positions coming up so that when they come to Abuja they are likely to work together, there is no kingmaker in Abuja. All units are to produce leaders in the party. Anyone who wants to be elected on any level should work through this way. The timeframe for our convention is bound by certain regulations; we must work in time so that the opposition will not capitalize
On how his administration managed to improve on Infrastructure despite financial challenges and the Covid Pandemic, the President said:
I am convinced we can’t have sustainable development without infrastructure. We need roads, rail, and power projects to assist people economically and engender prosperity; while also improving security for people to live well.
The appointment of a new Power Minister was an attempt try another cabinet member that I feel will perform more better. We are thinking of Mambilla hydro projects and so on, the Ministry of Water Resources is doing its best; preparing the dams; there are many infrastructure that needs to be rehabilitated to make power available which will reduce importation of generators and Forex problems.
Implications of having power supply and not having are very clear. The powerlines are costly and easily sabotaged but when we use Solar panels, you cannot cover the sun and technology is coming to our rescue. We have programmes to improve power generation and distribution all over the country.
On what Government is doing to develop capacity to get local vaccine solutions so we don’t depend on donations, the President said:
We are working very hard with the Ministry of Health to develop vaccines; we should not make too much noise until we succeed, Covid has not respect for nations as we can see the impact on global leaders like China and US. I think we have managed it well with the Presidential Task Force led by the SGF who have done exceedingly well.
