My heart thumped from anxiety and my eyes turned in a cursory survey of the environment as our vehicle came to a halt for security checks at the Daura residence of President-elect Muhammadu Buhari. The fresh white coat of paint on some two hundred metre-long fence gave an inkling of an uncommon excitement in the atmosphere. Close to the assorted security operatives at the security post was a motley crowd of peasants.

They defied Daura’s hot and hurting afternoon sun which tore through the pores of the skin, forced out excess sweat and soaked their clothes. In contrast to the discomforting atmosphere, the peasants’ pleasant faces spoke of the good news in Daura - a homeboy had won the big prize of president of Nigeria. As our vehicle drove into the premises, the instant attractions were the tall trees, long branches and blossoming leaves. They provided the rare comfort that soothes the body from the harsh sun outside. Below the trees were the well-kept grasses.
The president-elect’s bungalow is caught in this array of trees, shrubs and a beautiful spread of flowers. A bungalow? It was the loud rhetorical question that protested in my head. A former Head of State of an oil-rich country, a former Minister of oil-soaked Ministry of Petroleum, a former Governor of a rich State, and former Chairman of oil-whet Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), only boasting of a humble bungalow? Nothing prepared me for this unspeakable shock. A simple bungalow - porch, waiting room, living room, dining, and another adjoining structure that looked like bedrooms. We were ushered into the living room to meet the president-elect reading the day’s dailies and sipping green tea in a light and relaxed mood. I had expected to meet a worried president-elect, but alas, Buhari intermittently laughed, smiled, cracked jokes, told historical tales in a lively and exciting manner. He wouldn’t allow the impending task to weigh down his spirit. Even when my Editor-in-Chief, Malam Mannir Dan-Ali, attempted to sympathise with him by saying not many would envy him as a result of the myriad of problems in the country, the president-elect quickly responded thus, “I think you’re wrong. Many people envy me…” We rolled on our cushion chairs in loud laughter. From this kind of simplicity and confidence, we’re set to be led by a president who is not wealth-crazy.

At the end of the two-day encounter with Buhari, one impression trailed us from Daura to Abuja on the 7-hour journey - the fact that the 72-year-old famous son of Daura is mentally and emotionally ready for the top and tough job of running Nigeria. An appendage to that impression is that as from May 29, things will be done differently. There’s certainly going to be a shocking paradigm shift. And a shaking shift might begin at the tick of the clock that would announce Buhari’s takeover of the high chair. This interview provides an insight into his thoughts and values.
. I’ll give my ministers targets
. I’ll ensure separation of power

Daily Trust: I[b]f we take what President Jonathan said recently, it’s like you are going into another detention. He said he was living in a ‘cage’ for 15 years, and here you are elected to be in the ‘cage’, in his words, for the next four years. Do you look forward to it or are you like approaching it with trepidation, with concern, especially with the expectations from Nigerians? [/b]

Buhari: I asked for it, so whatever I meet there I cannot
complain. I came out and went through the election processes with the party and so on, and I know, of course, that there is a lot of work to be done. The important thing is to make sure that the structures on ground are made to function and people are made to do their work and develop the capacity to supervise. I think that is all I can do because, on the question of efficiency, I don’t think there will be any compromise on that. If you reflect on the 16 years of the PDP, I think, it was 16 years of disaster, especially economically and security wise. Economically, if you find out how much the country earned and the state of the infrastructure at the beginning and the state of infrastructure now, then it becomes unfortunate that we found ourselves under the rule of the PDP in this country. So whoever becomes part of the cabinet should be prepared to work. Deliberately we will look for competent people, dedicated and experienced persons to head ministries. Of course, there will be schedules for ministers and we will expect them to fill them.
Economically, we will try and stop a lot of wastages and encourage austerity so that we can fund the ministries. Education and healthcare will get more attention. Of course, security is Number One. Certainly, there is a lot to do but we are hoping that we will get good people to be in charge of ministries who can apply themselves to their responsibilities so that before long Nigerians will begin the see the difference.

DT: Do you have an outline of the cabinet you spoke about, these competent people? Have you identified the actual people who will man these different places because the expectation is that you will hit the ground running?
Buhari: I am not just speaking about it, I have not put anything on paper, so nobody has seen it and I haven’t discussed it with anybody. I am just keeping it close to my chest.

DT: But do you have an outline?
Buhari: have been around long enough to know people that I can approach for things like that.
But it will be like in the first week of the proclamation of the new legislature you will have this cabinet presented?
I will not make that known before you.
Previously ministers were appointed from the political class, especially during the PDP era the governors would say this is my favourite candidate, he is representing my state and when he is in the cabinet he is the eye of the governor representing the opinions of the governor. Are we going to have that or are we going to see a system that will focus on only those who are going to work?

DT: Already, there are speculations about this post is zoned to that part of the country and all of that. I don’t know what is your take on this?
Yes, thank you very much for calling it speculation because that is what it is. What I know is that there was an issue of APC National Working Committee meeting and I think they zoned positions in that meeting. The first time I heard about it was from the chairman of the party who is the chairman of the national working committee. He just came to greet me as the president-elect when somebody leaked it to the press. So I kept my mouth shut and allowed them to continue with the speculation.
DT: Probably, because you have been saying the supremacy of the party should be respected?
That doesn’t mean that the supremacy of the party should tamper with courtesy to whoever is the elected president of the country. There is nothing wrong with the exercise they have done. They haven’t named who are to be in the offices they have been zoned. It is a matter of courtesy for us to discuss it before you allow it to leak to the press. But if you allowed it to leak to the press then it becomes a matter of speculation.
Is that why you came out to say you didn’t want to determine who becomes the Senate President or Speaker?
No, the party has been meeting and I don’t want to interfere with what the party is doing. The National Assembly has its own standard of picking its leadership and it is not for me, the president-elect, to come and pretend that whatever happens it is I, the president-elect, who should determine it. I don’t want to start on the wrong footing with the National Assembly.
Constitutionally, we are three separate arms of government - the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. For example, I cannot say that once I am sworn-in I will change the set of the Supreme Court judges. It is not possible. Neither is it possible for me to come out and I say I want this person for Senate President or I want that person to lead the House of Representatives. I think it is wrong and I cannot come out to support anybody for the leadership of the legislature because they have their ranking, as they call it.
DT: What was the reaction of party leaders when you said that?

Buhari: Well, how can they react to what is a proper way of doing things? I can have my individual opinion about the people who will occupy the offices. I know that some people imposed the leadership of the National Assembly and it didn’t work well for them, so I shouldn’t be making the same mistake.

DT: One burning issue is fuel subsidy. I believe you are aware of the queues in major cities like Lagos and Abuja. The fuel importers say they are unsure of the direction of the new government in this area. Have you considered maintaining or withdrawing this subsidy or are you questioning whether it didn’t exist at all?

Buhari: One of the problems I have, other than the military, is the petroleum industry where I served for three and a half years under General Obasanjo. When people start talking about this subsidy I honestly get confused. I will tell you this, and I hope it will answer what you want to know. Back then we had a refinery in Port Harcourt, which was refining 30,000 barrels a day of Nigerian crude.
Later, it was upgraded to refine 100,000 barrels a day. Another refinery was built in Port Harcourt to refine 150,000 barrels per day of Nigerian crude. So, Port Harcourt alone had the capacity to refine 250,000 barrels per day of Nigerian crude.
But when I found myself as the Minister of Petroleum I set up another refinery in Warri for 100, 000 barrels per day of Nigerian crude and the Kaduna refinery a 100, 000 barrels per day. So Nigeria built capacity to refine 450,000 a day.
Four Hundred thousands of which is purely Nigerian crude, but 50,000 was imported. The type of crude could be Venezuelan, which could be a bit heavier. But the lighter ones - kerosene, aviation fuel, diesel, PMS of different grades could be produced from our crude because Nigerian crude is about the best in the world.
If you could recall, after finishing as Minister of Petroleum, I subsequently became Head of State. You remember, I appointed Professor Tam David West as the Minister of Petroleum. When we rounded up bunkers, collected their illegal jetties and allowed jetties for only big firms which were doing production and development in the country, we were shocked that we had too much fuel.
We had to begin to export 100,000 barrels per day. Don’t forget that we didn’t stop at building refineries, we built more than 20 depots during my time, from Port Harcourt to Ilorin, Makurdi, Suleija, Maiduguri and Kano. More than 3,000 pipelines were laid to connect them. A number of stations were also built to take the trailers off the road, save lives and the infrastructure on the road. It is more economical because each trailer uses fuel.
We did all that in this country and we didn’t borrow any money as far as I know. It’s Nigerian money. From each Nigerian crude, whether Akwa Ibom, Bonny Light or whatever it is, you can work out how much products it will give you; how much petrol it will give you; how much diesel it will give you if you want to produce diesel. We could tell how much Nigerian crude cost, the cost of transportation from there to the refinery, the cost of refining, the cost of transportation to the pump stations and maybe 5 per cent go for overhead.
I can understand if Nigerians pay for those costs. But somebody is saying he is subsidizing Nigerians. Who is subsidizing who?

DT: But they argue that the price should not be the same in Lagos and Daura, for example?

Buhari: It has to be the same because it is the Nigerian crude.
But they consider the cost of transportation?
Why didn’t it make any difference when we were around? Why did we build the network of pipelines? Why did we build the network of depots? What can Nigerians benefit from the God-given gift of petroleum? No refinery is built unless there is an in-depth research that there is enough reserve of up to six layers to be produced.
The argument I have heard is that refineries are aged. Mostly, they are performing at less than half of their capacity…?
You can’t defend these corrupt and incompetent people. You can’t defend them. There used to be what they call turn-around-maintenance. You close the refinery in order to overhaul and clean it. What we did: we asked our producers, we need various refined products of this type at this time when the refineries are being cleaned. Take this type of Nigerian crude and bring us the refined products.
What we don’t need, we will calculate and pay you as fees for refining and transportation. If it is more than what the crude can handle, then we take it from the treasury. But you are trying to justify all these frauds by saying the refineries are aged.
Of course, they are actually aged?
They said the refineries are aged. The pipelines are leaking. There is vandalisation. Who ordered the vandalisation?

DT: Does it suggest that you don’t believe in the subsidy? So, you are not going to agree to its continuation in anyway?

Buhari: I would like to be on ground and find out what really has been going wrong. Why is it that people are doing round-tripping with the Nigerian products and take money from the treasury? Some people are still in court. You know about it. So, I’m not taking anything for granted. But I will try and find out what went wrong.

Read full interview on other issues in the link below:

Source: http://dailytrust.com.ng/sunday/index.php/top-stories/20804-i-don-t-know-what-fuel-subsidy-means-buhari

blood of judas


which kind president b dis


i go change country abeg


4 years with #babaonechance won't be good 4 my health

The poster above me is a TANoid.

TANoids never see anything good or promising in Buhari.

God bless and help MUHAMMADU BUHARI.

so buhari didn't know the subsidy was a scam

*Gej laughing *

Tell them sir


I won't eat SUYA until Buhari's first 80 days in office

My no nonsense president, rightly behind you sir!!

We all know there is no "subsidy" in the real sense of what social welfarism stands for, its just a collection of entitled PDP goats having a field day with our depleted yam barn simply because they are above the law..

May 29,pls do and come make person wey sabi and also ready do nation building start work..

5 more days to go..........

I do not doubt Buhari's integrity and sincerity, but I may doubt the people around him. If he can, as president, ensure that these people respect the wishes of Nigerians, we are definitely going to enjoy the best administration so far the history of this country

With this analysis and those of Gani Fawehinmi, Tam David-West and Pat Utomi, I can't agree more. The claim by the government that it pays subsidy is a fraud. It is unfortunate some people say subsidy should be removed even if it means selling products at higher prices. Have you asked ourselves the correlation between an election year and subsidy that subsidy increases when there is an election?

BABA1CHANCE,WE want result not talking,

Taylor86:
blood of judas


which kind president b dis


i go change country abeg


4 years with #babaonechance won't be good 4 my health

Please who is stopping you from moving to Somalia?

He will know what subsidy means when he becomes president.

True talk Baba! Oil importers claimed they don't have money to import fuel because of FG debt. Months back before the presidential election when FG reduced petrol pump price,Diezanni claimed that FG was still paying subsidy of N2.50 at pump price of N87
How come subsidy, a small percentage of the total cost,is stopping petrol importers importing the product. We are tired of this mess of a subsidy.
Already,were buying petrol at N150 and 400 across the nation,why would we not live without the so called subsidy.
BABA,THE TIME TO REMOVE FUEL SUBSIDY COMPLETELY IS NOW!

what more can I say... sai baba, owo mi wa loke baba, sekowale abi koduro soke.....
I swear Buhari is the real deal

politricks:
Please who is stopping you from moving to Somalia?

y did u quote my post

u dey crase?

i b ur mate?

dis early morning? u see me for dream

Taylor86:


y did u quote my post

u dey crase?

i b ur mate?

dis early morning? u see me for dream

Na your papa get Nairaland? Abeg swerve make i see road. Senior my foot.

politricks:
Please who is stopping you from moving to Somalia?

This your response sweet my belle ehn, but i no get silver nor gold, so just manage this token...

*50 litres of petrol* ....

Your head over kwaret!!!

agarawu23:
huh

Take your time to read the article to finish and not first to comment. Bloody fooool.

Taylor86:
blood of judas

which kind president b dis

i go change country abeg

4 years with #babaonechance won't be good 4 my health

did u read the full editorial? Stop being a dead head

modath:


This your response sweet my belle ehn, but i no get silver nor gold, so just manage this token...

*50 litres of petrol*

Your head over kwaret!!!

50 litres of petrol!!! *faints*. Dont you know petrol is more than gold now?

Una never know Buhari , e still remain small

Taylor86:


y did u quote my post

u dey crase?

i b ur mate?

dis early morning? u see me for dream

I hope someone, some human eater somewhere can do the world a favour by using your head for spicy ise ewu. You dey dull yourself no be small.

MugabeRobert:


Take your time to read the article to finish and not first to comment. Bloody fooool.

am I the cause of your misfortune?

This is the kind of president we need.

politricks:
50 litres of petrol!!! *faints*. Dont you know petrol is more than gold now?

That's why I'm gifting you "platinum".

agarawu23:
am I the cause of your misfortune?

All am asking is for you to stop getting high on first to comment and make damn use of your brain for once. How is that difficult?

Twaile for d man wey sabi ;;;
Tested! Trusted and Re-appointed to deliver..
Live long Sai Baba...

Thank God we now have a president.

MugabeRobert:


All am asking is for you to stop getting high on first to comment and make damn use of your brain for once. How is that difficult?

----------->>>>>>>>> to otuoke