Atiku to PMB: Be frugal, stop doing ‘Father Christmas’ with Nigeria’s money
NEWS DIGEST–The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari to channel the $500,000 and other material donation it intends to make to Guinea Bissau, to the over one million internally displaced persons in Nigeria.
In a statement by the former vice president’s campaign organisation, the PDP presidential candidate also urged the Buhari-led government to be more prudent with the nation’s resources.
Foreign affairs minister, Geoffrey Onyema, had last week announced that the federal government approved US$500,000, electoral kits and a number of vehicles to support the conduct of legislative election in Guinea Bissau.
The minister said the substantial amount of money and other logistics are to help Guinea Bissau get out of what has been a very difficult situation for a number of years.
But Mr Abubakar, in the statement, wondered why a country whose leaders planned to sell its national assets would be donating money.
“Our response is to ask why a nation that has been officially named as the world headquarters of extreme poverty, will donate her resources to others instead of using them to solve pressing domestic problems.
“This is the same government that is so cash strapped that it has so far borrowed N13tn in three years.
“How prudent is it to go about taking loans from whosoever cares and then turn around to give out the money when your own people are suffering the worst form of poverty?
“We call on the Muhammadu Buhari administration to cut its coat according to its cloth. He should stop donating like Father Christmas. He should attend to the need(s) of Nigerians.”
Mr Abubakar said having been part of a government that paid off Nigeria’s entire foreign debt in the past, there was no way he would pretend to be unconcerned with the way Mr Buhari was running the country.
He advised the Buhari-led government to use Nigeria’s resources for the benefit of its people and not for other countries.
