Buhari spoke with some journalists on the issues that have dominated his reign, when he was asked that Considering the hike in the price of fuel and the devaluation of the Nigeria, which have led to hardship, what would you tell Nigerians to give them the hope that things will be better? Read what he said below.....
He said In 1984, we were advised to devalue the naira and withdraw subsidy, whatever their perception of subsidy was in Nigeria. We even had subsidy on flour. The IMF and World Bank talked about subsidy removal. My argument has been that those who devalue their currencies have developed economies, where there is local production and they export the excess. They have good infrastructure. So, they devalue their currencies to sell their products outside their shores, and employ their people.
We claim to import food, but this is a lie. People just take the money out of the country. How many factories have we built? So I refused to devalue the naira. They talk about petroleum subsidy. I say what do they mean by subsidy? They say Nigeria’s petroleum is so cheap that it encourages smuggling into our neighbouring countries: Cameroon, Chad, Niger. But I know the four refineries we built can produce 450,000 barrels, we have 20 depots… we didn’t borrow a kobo. So even if we put something on top and pay the cost of refining and travels to filling stations and small overhead, we’ll still be selling at a good price. But they say there’s a lot of smuggling. I said these countries where they claim petrol is being smuggled to, they can’t consume more than what one city in Nigeria does. I was asked how I knew, and I said, for three and a half years, I was Commissioner for Petroleum under Obasanjo. At the time I was removed, naira exchanged for $3. Now you need N350 to get a dollar! I challenged Nigerian economists to tell me what benefits Nigeria has earned from the devaluation so far. How many factories have we built by killing the naira? I had to reluctantly give up because the so-called Nigerian economists come and talk things to me, and when I raise issues, they talk over my head instead of inside my head. For us to lose over N300 (every year, we’re losing the value of the currency by N100), what for? Let them tell me how many factories they’ve built. I find myself in a very difficult state because the economists cannot tell me why we should continue to devalue our naira. People say import, and we find out that we are just importing food! We’re now planning to stop importation of rice, wheat, maize in three years’ time. On the value of the naira, I’m still agonising over it, that the naira should be reduced to such a disgraceful level over the last 30 years. I need to be educated on this. But I’m not ruling this country alone. I’m under pressure and we’ll see how we can accommodate the economists.
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