Jonathan Administration Spent $65 billion In Nigeria’s Reserve After Paying Debt

Annoyed by what he perceived as the frivolous expenditure of the Jonathan administration, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, once again took a swipe at President.
Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him among other things of squandering $25billion crude oil savings left behind by his administration.  

Obasanjo made the allegation while hosting the South-West women leaders at his residence in Abeokuta, describing the administration of President Jonathan as full of impunity. Obasanjo also said the failure of Jonathan’s administration to save for the rainy day led Nigeria into the current economic mess where a dollar exchanges N195. 

Obasanjo claimed that the more than $25billion inherited by his successor, Musa Yar’Adua, was raised to $35 billion but the Jonathan administration squandered all, including also the $40billion in Nigeria’s foreign reserve account after paying the outstanding debt at the time.

According to Obj, former President Yar’adua also raised the reserves to $60billion, but under President Jonathan, the reserves plummeted.

 

These new claims followed series of public denunciation of Jonathan’s government by the former president. 

 

 Economy in bad condition

The former president also lamented the poor condition of Nigeria’s economy, saying it shouldn’t have been this bad.

“Our economy should not have been this bad. When I was leaving office about eight years ago, I left a very huge reserve after we had paid all our debts. Almost $25billion was kept in what they called excess crude, including the excess from the budget we were saving as reserve for the rainy days. When we left in May, 2007, the reserve was said to have been raised to $35billion. 

“But today, that reserve has been depleted! The reserve we left when we finished paying all our debts, our debts that was about $40billion, that is including debt forgiveness, the remaining debt was not more than $3billion. Our reserve after we had paid off this debt was about $45billion. As at the end of 2007, I heard that the reserve increased to almost $67billion before the end of that year. But our reserve now, I learnt is left with around only $30billion. 

“That is why the Naira has been falling against the dollar. What would now happen? I learnt if you want to buy a dollar now, it’s about N192 or N195. What it means is this, what you have been buying at N150 to a dollar, now you need N192 or N195 to buy it. That is the real situation. Is there any remedy? There is, but it does not come overnight because it means we have to give up all the bad things we have been doing,” Obasanjo said. 

He continued: “I know that God did not create Nigeria not to be rich or great. Is it that the people he created in Nigeria are not knowledgeable enough or not intelligent enough? Or is it that they don’t know their rights? Our problems in Nigeria lie with the leadership. Let’s look at the foundation of our leadership. In the profession I know very well, the military, what we normally say is that there are no bad soldiers but bad officers. If you see a situation where the soldiers are not doing well, we need to examine the officers in charge. So it is in the family, the community, the town and the country. 

“Truly, the price of crude has fallen, but anyone who is wise enough should know that since we depend on just one resource and since we have no control over its pricing, we should be planning for this type of situation and the way out of it. Our inability to have a reserve has brought us into this economic quagmire. 

“If we are going to solve unemployment problem, it is through agriculture and not through oil and gas. Now, we have no alternative. Agriculture is renewable because the land can be used over and over again, but, once a barrel of oil is gone, it’s gone forever, “he said.


Vanguard