President-Elect Buhari spoke exclusively with SaharaTV on how he plans to deal with corruption which is rampant in Nigeria today, managing of government’s finances, Boko Haram, and Nigeria’s economy.
Most notably he blamed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Okonjo-Iweala for the financial men in Nigeria, and insisted that Ministers must declare their assets publicly.
When asked about statements from Okonjo-Iweala on the fiscal conditions and government spending in the country, Buhari said “I’m afraid the Finance Minister has no cause to complain because the governors cannot force the central government to act outside the Constitution.”
President-Elect Buhari firmly stated that “all those that were governors, ministers, permanent secretaries, head of foreign staff and all those with political appointments will have to declare their assets on the assumption of their appointment and definitely with the courts. And once they leave they have to re-declare their assets.”
He said that would ensure greater accountability among public servants.
However, he said he does not plan to interfere with the judiciary and whatever action it may take pursuing corrupt public officials. He stated that his administration would not “become embroiled in investigation every ministry, then the government will not have time to move forward.”
On the contentious issue of Oil Block ownership in Nigeria, and an equitable distribution of the country’s wealth, he suggested that partisan politics in Nigeria is the cause of inequitability in the oil sector. President-Elect Buhari claimed that he wanted to professionalize the oil sector in Nigeria. He said that the “proliferation of oil fields to people who don’t even know what it is, is one of the messes partisan politics has brought.” Within the equitable distribution of wealth and job creation for youth, the President-Elect pointed to the APC manifesto calling for greater emphasis on mining and agriculture development.
When pressed on rumors that ex-president Obasanjo was exercising inordinate influence on him, Buhari said, "I think that people have to accept the realities of Nigeria’s political development. General Olusegun Obasanjo is the only living Nigerian that led Nigeria for more than 11 years, so for anybody to think that General Obasanjo is irrelevant or he was trying to push his influence over issues, I think is being uncharitable and not being fair to Nigeria’s political development."
