Proceeds from the nation’s oil and gas resources have never been efficiently managed as is being done by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
This is the contention of the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) while describing the allegation of poor management of our oil and gas resources by the current administration as ‘laughable’.
The allegation had earlier been made by governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO said it was a funny claim, considering how irresponsible PDP was with public funds when it was in power at the centre for 16 years.
” We know this is another lame attempt by PDP governors to demonize the Buhari administration, but we are surprised that they picked an issue that is synonymous with 16 years of their party’s misrule.
“We wonder what the governors were really thinking when they accepted to attack the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration on accountability of oil and gas revenues.
“It is even funny that they also used the word opaque to describe the management of the country’s oil and gas resources and had harsh words for the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
“Now here are governors from a party that is synonymous with misappropriation of public funds; a party which was in power at a time oil was sold at an average of $100 per barrel and a daily production in excess of 2 million barrels during which the country made trillions of dollars, yet could not start and finish a single project.
“Things were so bad that existing railway lines were overtaken by weeds, and in some cases trees, when it is common knowledge now that a cross-country railway network would cost about $40bn.
“We also have a situation where the accounts and expenditure of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is now in the public domain, compared to the PDP era where all sorts of official excuses were given for non-release of audit reports.
“To compound it all, PDP governors led by a former Speaker of the House of Representatives had the audacity to attempt to pick holes in an oil reforms law that was stuck in the National Assembly for almost 20 years”,the statement added.
BMO also accused the opposition governors of shedding crocodile tears on insecurity.
“As worrisome as the security situation in some parts of the country is, we find it sad that the opposition has continued to play politics with it.
“Yes, the President has expressed his opinion on state policing, but we also know that many of these governors have not acquitted themselves well on local security matters.
“Even with the current centralized policing, there has been numerous evidence of state governors using security agencies for political purposes, but when it comes to their constitutional duty of ensuring security and welfare of their people they resort to blame game.
“It is also baffling that PDP governors believe that the responsibility of ‘restructuring the security architecture’ of the country rests with President Buhari”.
The group urged Nigerians to continue to reject attempts by PDP and its leaders to project convoluted views on national issues.