‘There are unfaithful people in my government,’ President says

monjola sotubo

March 7, 2016 1:13 PM

Buhari also spoke on the padding of the 2016 budget which led to it being called the “Budget of Corruption.”

President Muhammadu Buhari

President

Buhari made the remark during a recent interview with Al Jazeera during his visit to Qatar.

“I will like people to assess Nigeria, especially this government on where we found ourselves. When we came in, we found out that there were 42 ministries and we found out that the economy could not take 42, so we reduced it to 24. We also removed 21 permanent secretaries,” he said.

“People who want to be fair to us to sit and reflect, from the president to the ministers to the permanent secretaries were all taken over after eight successive governments of those who are now in the opposition.

“So, we cannot assume that all of them are 100 percent loyal to this government,” Buhari added.

The president said the controversies surrounding the 2016 budget are unfortunate adding that those responsible for the embarrassment will be punished.

Buhari also recently revealed that the 2016 budget that is currently being debated at the National Assembly is not the one he presented to the legislative house.

“The culprits will not go unpunished. I have been a military governor, petroleum minister, military Head of State and headed the Petroleum Trust Fund. Never had I heard the words “budget padding,” he said on Tuesday, February 23, 2016, while addressing members of the Nigerian community in Saudi Arabia.

“Our Minister of Budget and National Planning did a great job with his team. The Minister became almost half his size during the time, working night and day to get the budget ready, only for some people to pad it.”

“What he gave us was not what was finally being debated. It is very embarrassing and disappointing. We will not allow those who did it to go unpunished,” he added.

The budget has been the centre of controversy since it was reported missing from the Assembly premises in January.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki later said that two different versions of the document had been submitted to the legislative house.

The saga has led to the sack of the Director-General of the Budget Office, Yahaya Gusau while Buhari is said to have also ordered a cleansing of the office.

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