We will probe alleged missing $20b oil money, says Buhari

THE last may not have been heard of the alleged missing $20 billion as the President- elect, Major-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) yesterday assured that he would order a probe to ascertain how the oil monies disappeared into thin air from the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Speaking when he received a delegation of All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains from Adamawa State at his campaign headquarters in Abuja, he said the issue would not be swept under the carpet once he mounts the saddle on May 29.

Buhari said the mere fact that the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was ignominiously sacked after blowing the whistle on the alleged missing monies does not mean the matter had been rested.

The NNPC had repeatedly faulted Sanusi’s claim on the missing $20 billion oil money, noting that a recent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers using forensic audit had determined that there was no malfeasance in its oil transactions.

But Buhari maintained that going by the huge sums of money involved, there was no way an APC-led administration that has the fight against corrupt practices as a cardinal objective, would sit by and watch some highly placed Nigerians loot the treasury.

Buhari, who recalled his experiences while on campaign tours across the country, remarked that he would not relent in redressing the problems of insecurity, unemployment and infrastructural decay in the polity.

Blaming the 16 years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration for the rot in the country, he said it was unfortunate that the youths that constitute 60 per cent of the country’s population are jobless due to bad governance.

Expressing appreciation to the armed forces over the feat so far recorded against the Boko Haram Islamist group, Buhari wondered what must have gone wrong with the Nigerian armed forces known for its exploits in peace keeping operations in countries like Burma, Liberia, Sierra Leone over the years.

Promising that he would fix the infrastructural decay in schools, roads and hospitals once he mounts the saddle, the President-elect asked the people of Adamawa to be rest assured that an enabling environment would be put in place for them to exploit the natural resources that abound in the state.

He said unlike his home state of Katsina ravaged by dissertation leading to a mass exodus of able-bodied persons to other climes to eke out a living, the agricultural potentials in Adamawa would be harnessed to provide jobs to the teeming population of youths in the state.

Adamawa governor elect, Senator Jibrilla Bindow, who led the delegation, while congratulating the president-elect, urged him to help redress the problem of infrastructure, insecurity and youth unemployment plaguing the people of the state.