The vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has said that the federal government earned $94 billion (about N33, 840, 000, 000, 0000) between 2015 and December 2017.
Osinbajo who disclosed this during a courtesy call on the Emir of Kaltungo, Dr. Saleh Muhammad before the flag off of the governorship campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held in Kaltungo, Gombe State yesterday said the money was used to kick start a number projects.
“From 2015 to 2017 December, we earned just $94 billion, yet we started the Lagos-Kano railway; we are now passed Ibadan; we completed the Abuja light rail which they started and could not complete. Lagos-Ibadan, it was when we came in that we did it; in every state, we are doing a major road,” he said.
He said government was able to use the money judiciously because no one was allowed to take it unduly.
“It is because the President does not allow anyone to steal the money. If you have small money, you can do a lot if you are not stealing it; that is what we have shown; that with small money if you are not stealing it, you can do a lot,” he said.
He also stated that between 2010 and 2014, the government at the time earned $383 billion.
“That is the highest any government in the history of the country has earned in 4 years. But there is nothing to show for it, where are the roads, the railways? This money was just wasted or stolen; that was what happened,” he said.
Drawing a comparison of the present APC-led federal government and the then People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government 2010-2014, he said: “After four years of earning the highest amount, you can’t point to anything that the PDP government did. Mambilla Hydro project, 40 years and nobody touched it; Aladja-Warri rail line, nothing; Lagos-Kano rail line, nothing; Port Harcourt- Maiduguri line, nothing.”
He argued that only a long period of honest and truthful leadership committed to the welfare of Nigerians can guarantee a prosperous future for the country.
“I want to emphasize that the reason why we believe that a second term is important, is because it is necessary for our country to have a long period of honest and truthful leadership. The problem of our country has never been ideas or projects. It is honest leadership that has always been the problem,” he said.
He attributed the reason to why nothing seems to work in Nigeria to theft of public funds.
He said Nigeria’s projected population growth, the attitude of past leaders, among other factors make it necessary for only persons with proven integrity be voted into elective positions in all future elections.
“By 2050, Nigeria will be the third most populous nation of the world, third after China and India. If our leaders steal money the way they have been stealing money over the past years, millions of Nigerians will be dying all over the place because then the population will be more than what we have today.
“So, it is important for Nigeria to have a period of honest leadership, that is why we are determined to tell the Nigerian people everywhere we go that the next elections are about the future of our country. Our country must have an honest, righteous leadership, a man who will not allow the money to be stolen,” said Osinbajo.
