President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said all the groups clamouring for the restructuring of the country had their personal agenda.
He wondered if the constitution would allow such agenda.
Buhari spoke when he received a delegation of Urhobo Traditional Rulers, the leadership of the Urhobo Progressive Union and members of the All Progressives Congress from Delta State at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“You mentioned something which is topical these days: the call for the restructuring of Nigeria.
“Every group asking for restructuring has got their own agenda and I hope it can be accommodated by the constitution,” the President told his guests.
The President-General of UPU, Moses Taiga, had in his address on behalf of the delegation told the President to ensure the restructuring of the country.
Taiga had also intimated Buhari that there were hunger and poverty in the land.
He had also called on the President to appoint an Urhobo person into his cabinet.
He said, “We cannot for the life of us claim to have garnered tangible benefits for our temperance and long-suffering especially when placed side by side what had been taken away from our lands.
“Grinding poverty is still a fact of life in nearly all our communities. Our youths are unemployed and frustrated but we rein them in regardless, in the hope that tomorrow might be a better day.”
Buhari reiterated his position that previous administrations did not fund critical infrastructures in the country despite the oil boom at the time.
He wondered what the nation’s elite were doing when harm was being done.
“The operation between 1999 and 2014, Nigeria was producing an average of 2.1 million barrel per day and the average cost was $100 per barrel. It even went up to $143.
“This means for the 16 years of previous administration, Nigeria was receiving 2.1 million x $100 x 16 years, seven days a week. And when we broke it down, in it came down to $37, $38 and then it oscillated between $40 and $50 for some time.
“When I went to the Central Bank with my cap in my hand, I was told there were no savings.
“When I looked at the infrastructure — the roads, rails, power — I asked where has the money gone? Where are the Nigerian elite that know this damage is being done to the resources of the country?” Buhari said for the umpteenth time.
PUNCH.
