BY MUFUTAU ADENIYI ADEBOWALE
The administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari destroyed Nigeria economically and socially because the powerful manipulators were in control.
His ministers were going in different directions and the Nigerian government did not gain any speed.
His administration dragged us back in Nigeria. I helped his administration by writing letters of advice and press releases. I made his government hit the ground running and all our refineries started working within one week in office as the President in 2015. (See National Mirror June 5, 2015.)
The NNPC top authority became afraid of President Buhari because he punctured their system and they were surprised how President Buhari was able to handle the refineries making fuel to be available all over the country. They were in panic.
(See “Anxiety at NNPC ahead of Buhari’s massive shake-up” The Nation June 18, 2015 front page.)
President Buhari started well but the powerful people snatched the government from him mainly by securing the control of NNPC and keeping all our refineries redundant.
They wanted our refineries to remain redundant perpetually.
They wanted to prevent local production of fuel and make Nigeria depend on imported fuel.
They wanted to destroy the value of Naira so that they would remain billionaires due to serious naira development
They succeeded in destroying our economy seriously. From the tenures of former President Olusegun Obasanjo till the end of the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan one dollar was not up to N200 in exchange
I, Mufutau Adebowale, wanted to help President Buhari and I sent information on how to handle the NNPC well to the Emir of Daura and told him to give it to the President-elect, General Buhari. I sent it on April 21, 2015. President Buhari applied my recommendation and after four working days as the President, there was fuel everywhere as all our refineries started production.
(See National Mirror June 5, 2015).
After about 14 working days as Nigerian President, the NNPC’s dangerous stronghold became dislocated and serious anxiety enveloped the power house of NNPC.
(See “Anxiety at NNPC ahead of Buhari’s massive shake-up” The Nation June 18, 2015).
“Nigeria does not need any help from Saudi Arabia. Nigeria has more potential than Saudi Arabia”
As their structure became disjointed, Nigeria was on the way to proper economic recovery. These powerful people eventually overpowered the government and there was no shake-up again at the NNPC as planned by Buhari.
From then on, Nigeria started to march backward.
Before Buhari took over, a dollar was not up to N200, but by the time he was leaving in May 2023, one dollar exchanged for about N900. This made prices of goods to skyrocket as the cost of living became too high.
One important thing Nigerians should understand is as long as we keep on importing fuel, the naira will not appreciate. Fake products will continue to dominate the Nigerian markets. Brain drain will continue.
Our refineries are all perfect. For more than 20 years the powerful people handling the NNPC have been keeping the refineries redundant so that we can continue to import fuel and be paying for subsidy monies.
I have been giving advice to successive presidents on fuel matters for the past 23 years.
Four times I have made our refineries work by way of advising our presidents. Our refineries are not bad at all. Our local engineers at NNPC are very capable.
Nigeria does not need any help from Saudi Arabia
Nigeria does not need any help from Saudi Arabia. Our economic woes are self-inflicted. Those behind our miserable conditions are still the ones prescribing solutions.
They bamboozle the unsuspecting President, they advise the government in deception. Those who worked with Diezani Alison-Madueke (former Petroleum Minister) are still making inputs into the administration of the present government.
Nigeria has stronger potential than Saudi Arabia. Our refineries are very good and our local engineers at NNPC are perfect at handling the refineries. Our situation is not hopeless at all.
My advice for President Tinubu
I sent important letters to President Tinubu on five different occasions. The letters were about the NNPC and about how to make ministers sign performance bonds to evaluate their effectiveness quarterly and yearly.
Without performance appraisal to monitor ministers, the government would remain inchoate. There will be no yardstick to measure their effectiveness or lack of it.
I advised President Buhari about performance appraisal but he ignored it. President Buhari’s administration was almost a disaster. Some of his Ministers were in office as a kind of Junior President. They faced their personal political ambitions using their offices as launch pads. I wanted a departure from such and I sent letters to President Tinubu through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale; his Aide-de Camp, Lt. Col. Nurudeen Arowonle Yussuf; his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima and his State Chief of Protocol, Ambassador Victor Adeleke.
(For details, see www.tinubu fuel subsidy.com.)
As of today, no acknowledgement to any of my letters has been sent to me.
One of the problems of our country is misguided advice to the government by those who will eventually benefit from the outcome. The administration is busy with new project activities. It is trying to make a difference with serious expenditure on developmental activities.
President Tinubu’s government is running, running fast but on the wrong road facing the wrong direction. Nigeria does not need any help from Saudi Arabia. Nigeria has more potential than Saudi Arabia.
*Prof. Adebowale is the President, Certified Institute of Purchasing and Supply Administrators of Nigeria.
