I read with surprise and disappointment comments made by the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, during an appearance on Channels Television wherein he said:
"As former chairman of the governors' forum, I was told by the security in a meeting chaired by the former President, including the former minister of finance, that at every point in time, the government must leave money behind in case Nigeria goes to war that would last for six months. By the time we came, they didn't leave money behind that could last us for three weeks. And I was speaking at that time as the chairman of the governors' forum."

The Minister's comment is rather unfortunate and not supported by facts readily available in the public domain. As a member of the Federal Executive Council that handed over to the current administration, I am disturbed that this urban myth of "empty treasury" is still the subject of conversation by a senior government member.

Also, I am confused about what the Honourable Minister means when he says, "By the time we came in", as he was not appointed Minister until six months after the May 29 Handover. Since he was not a Minister on the handover date, it may be pertinent to present him with the facts again.

On May 29, 2015, President Buhari inherited a foreign reserve of $28.6 billion, according to official data still present on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria, as well as $5.6 billion Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas Limited dividends. Also, a 2015 budget of over 4 trillion Naira was handed over to the incoming administration by the outgoing Jonathan government.

Furthermore, the Jonathan administration left a total of $2.2 billion in the Excess Crude Account on May 29, 2015. (As verified by the Ministry of Finance both by the immediate past minister and the incumbent).

To further create context, I would like the Minister of Transport to note the country's economic indices after 1849 days of President Jonathan's Presidency from May 06 2010, the date he took over from President Umaru Yar'Adua to the Handover date of May 29, 2015.

On May 29, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari inherited an economy that, by the testimony of the World Investment Report, prepared by the Geneva-based United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), was the number one destination for foreign direct investment in Africa. In the five years of President Jonathan, Direct Foreign Investment stood at about 35.25 Billion Dollars. You can compare this to the 11.55 Billion Dollars Direct Foreign Investment received from 2016 to 2020.

The Jonathan administration handed over a $550 billion economy (largest in Africa and 26th globally) and a diversified economy.
On May 29, 2015, President Jonathan left behind an economy with a stable currency, where the Naira exchanged for ₦199 to $1, and Nigeria had a single-digit inflation rate. Today, after 2406 days of the current administration headline inflation rate hovers above 15%.

Under President Jonathan, the unemployment rate stood at 7.5% (better than European Union) today. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, six and half years after Governor Amaechi's government came in, unemployment is 33%.

Before the government came in, Nigeria's poverty rate was 32% as of May 2015. We need not compare it against 71% today after 78 months of President Buhari's administration.

Our External debt as of May 2015 stood at $7.3 billion, the Gini coefficient (degree of inequality) was not different from China's as of 2015. In 343 weeks and four days of the current administration, our external debt has ballooned to $37.9 billion as of September 2021. It is important to point out that over 48% are bilateral and commercial loans.

With the facts above, I am sure that the Minister of Transport will rethink his fixation on the past and focus on the clear and present danger of an economy on the path to Argentina – sovereign debt default.

In the face of declining revenues, available public data revealed that external debt servicing gulped $1.82 billion between January and September 2021; this is 43.9% higher than the $1.27 billion spent in the corresponding period of 2020.

In the same period of January to September 2021, Domestic debt servicing rose to N1.74 trillion from N1.53 trillion recorded in the same period of 2020.

These issues should worry the Honourable Minister, coupled with unlocking the asphyxiating gridlock that Apapa port has created in the economy.

2406 days after, a clear 557 days (1 year five months) more than President Jonathan governed Nigeria; this administration's economic policies and heightened insecurity have left the country comatose.

Minister Amaechi and the APC government should stop this perennial blame game and focus on redeeming its tattered image by signing the electoral bill passed by a legislature it controls.

Osita Chidoka
December 2021
Source
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4974265509275049&id=241803612521286

Amaechi's obsession with Goodluck Jonathan is quite disturbing...
Nigerian journalists are among the laziest in the world, how can someone open his mouth and lie blatantly without quoting a single source on your platform and there won't ask intelligent questions.
Even PDP couldn't even come out to debunk the statement, same with Goodluck Jonathan's media aide.
Lalasticlala

This is what is expected of pdp all along.

Don't know if they have a media team at all.
Information like this should dominate the media space and it should distilled to form the center of every conversation across every strata of the society.

Osita needed not to bother replying Amaechi. Did anyone really take that statement serious?? First, he said his source was 'Security Man'..How can a security official be your source for a major financial position? Also, As chairman of the Governors Forum, was Amaechi not the leader of the governors that forced Jonathan to empty the Excess Crude Funds Account? I wont even go into the funds management by his leader in the past six years.. Ameachi should just return some of the funds he had looted as a Governor and he is still looting as minister and hiding it with his girlfriends building cinema houses and palatial mansions everywhere.

Judas of ubima is trying hard to be in his masters good book

PDP has no shame.... Just that APC is equally clueless

Osita brags that Jonathan left just $2billlion USD for Nigeria in excess crude account even when FAAC monthly allocation that the whole Federation shares is around same $2billion USD, and Lagos budgets $2 billion USD anually

In essence after 6 years of selling crude oil at far higher price above benchmark price he left just one month allocation as savings even when we can't pay salaries, and contractors are being owed

He brags about 28 billion USD foreign reserve forgetting that such low amount can't be touched without Nigeria currency loosing value and investors running away since our reserve is too low to guarantee their funds

He talked about Nigeria's 5 billion USD shares in LNG complex, and am wondering just like Atiku he proposes we sell it off to pay salaries and feed?!



.

Dozis:

I read with surprise and disappointment comments made by the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, during an appearance on Channels Television wherein he said:
"As former chairman of the governors' forum, I was told by the security in a meeting chaired by the former President, including the former minister of finance, that at every point in time, the government must leave money behind in case Nigeria goes to war that would last for six months. By the time we came, they didn't leave money behind that could last us for three weeks. And I was speaking at that time as the chairman of the governors' forum."

The Minister's comment is rather unfortunate and not supported by facts readily available in the public domain. As a member of the Federal Executive Council that handed over to the current administration, I am disturbed that this urban myth of "empty treasury" is still the subject of conversation by a senior government member.

Also, I am confused about what the Honourable Minister means when he says, "By the time we came in", as he was not appointed Minister until six months after the May 29 Handover. Since he was not a Minister on the handover date, it may be pertinent to present him with the facts again.

On May 29, 2015, President Buhari inherited a foreign reserve of $28.6 billion, according to official data still present on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria, as well as $5.6 billion Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas Limited dividends. Also, a 2015 budget of over 4 trillion Naira was handed over to the incoming administration by the outgoing Jonathan government.

Furthermore, the Jonathan administration left a total of $2.2 billion in the Excess Crude Account on May 29, 2015. (As verified by the Ministry of Finance both by the immediate past minister and the incumbent).

To further create context, I would like the Minister of Transport to note the country's economic indices after 1849 days of President Jonathan's Presidency from May 06 2010, the date he took over from President Umaru Yar'Adua to the Handover date of May 29, 2015.

On May 29, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari inherited an economy that, by the testimony of the World Investment Report, prepared by the Geneva-based United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), was the number one destination for foreign direct investment in Africa. In the five years of President Jonathan, Direct Foreign Investment stood at about 35.25 Billion Dollars. You can compare this to the 11.55 Billion Dollars Direct Foreign Investment received from 2016 to 2020.

The Jonathan administration handed over a $550 billion economy (largest in Africa and 26th globally) and a diversified economy.
On May 29, 2015, President Jonathan left behind an economy with a stable currency, where the Naira exchanged for ₦199 to $1, and Nigeria had a single-digit inflation rate. Today, after 2406 days of the current administration headline inflation rate hovers above 15%.

Under President Jonathan, the unemployment rate stood at 7.5% (better than European Union) today. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, six and half years after Governor Amaechi's government came in, unemployment is 33%.

Before the government came in, Nigeria's poverty rate was 32% as of May 2015. We need not compare it against 71% today after 78 months of President Buhari's administration.

Our External debt as of May 2015 stood at $7.3 billion, the Gini coefficient (degree of inequality) was not different from China's as of 2015. In 343 weeks and four days of the current administration, our external debt has ballooned to $37.9 billion as of September 2021. It is important to point out that over 48% are bilateral and commercial loans.

With the facts above, I am sure that the Minister of Transport will rethink his fixation on the past and focus on the clear and present danger of an economy on the path to Argentina – sovereign debt default.

In the face of declining revenues, available public data revealed that external debt servicing gulped $1.82 billion between January and September 2021; this is 43.9% higher than the $1.27 billion spent in the corresponding period of 2020.

In the same period of January to September 2021, Domestic debt servicing rose to N1.74 trillion from N1.53 trillion recorded in the same period of 2020.

These issues should worry the Honourable Minister, coupled with unlocking the asphyxiating gridlock that Apapa port has created in the economy.

2406 days after, a clear 557 days (1 year five months) more than President Jonathan governed Nigeria; this administration's economic policies and heightened insecurity have left the country comatose.

Minister Amaechi and the APC government should stop this perennial blame game and focus on redeeming its tattered image by signing the electoral bill passed by a legislature it controls.

Osita Chidoka
December 2021
Source
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4974265509275049&id=241803612521286

Amaechi is a serial liar, like most people in this buhari government......
Nothing surprises.....Lalasticlala....

Osita is definitely joblessness for replying the current idiots and fools in power.

itsme01:




PDP has no shame.... Just that APC is equally clueless

Osita brags that Jonathan left just $2billlion USD for Nigeria in excess crude account even when FAAC monthly allocation that the whole Federation shares is around same $2billion USD, and Lagos budgets $2 billion USD anually

Compare and contrast your life in the last seven years....From I can't see any rail to past Government fully paid for Kaduna-Abuja rail....

StreetFight:
Osita is definitely joblessness for replying the current idiots and fools in power.

He needs to reply to answer misinformed youth, with good grades in schools can't reason like educated folks....

Omooba77:


Compare and contrast your life in the last seven years....From I can't see any rail to past Government fully paid for Kaduna-Abuja rail....

Chinese paid for Abuja rail not Jonathan, and Obasanjo and Yar'Adua brokered the deal

My life is better off today as I don't wait on Government money sharing, I make money into the economy

itsme01:


Chinese paid for Abuja rail not Jonathan, and Obasanjo and Yar'Adua brokered the deal

My life is better off today as I don't wait on Government money sharing, I make money into the economy

So Government has no counterpart funding?.... You Are really intelligent..... Good for you.....

Omooba77:


So Government has no counterpart funding?.... You Are really intelligent..... Good for you.....

How much counterpart paltry counterpart fund was paid to Chinese exim bank, that justify Allison Madueke emptying our treasury

itsme01:


How much counterpart paltry counterpart fund was paid to Chinese Nexim bank, that justify Allison Madueke emptying our treasury

I can see your level of intelligence.... Keep it up... You Are very correct.....

Omooba77:

I can see your level of intelligence.... Keep it up... You Are very correct.....

Osita might white wash failure but Jonathan is the cause of all this

Decodedp:
This is what is expected of pdp all along.

Don't know if they have a media team at all.
Information like this should dominate the media space and it should distilled to form the center of every conversation across every strata of the society.

PDP is not a serious opposition party

itsme01:


Osita might white wash failure but Jonathan is the cause of all this

Almost 7 years.... ...You Are still blaming GEJ......

itsme01:


Osita might white wash failure but Jonathan is the cause of all this

because of 30k, is thet why you are misinformaing the public

Rotimi Amaechi as with anything relating to the present shameless satanic government, have lies richly engrained in their DNA.

Jonathan supporters are the most forgetful in the world.



I think nobody can dispute the fact that Jonathan's economy was far better than Buhari's, but what we are saying is that the variables are also different.



The following are the variables inherited by the two administrations respectively, and we have been talking about for years but Jonathanians have comprehension issues:


Foreign reserves: Jonathan - $65b Buhari $28b


ECA: Jonathan $ 6.5b Buhari $4.5



Crude oil price average: Jonathan $100pb Buhari $48pb




Crude production average: Jonathan 2mbpd Buhari 14mbpd



Jonathan did not experience oil slump until late in his administration when he began to take loan to pay workers salary, nor did he experience the Niger Delta avengers who literally shut down oil production early in the Buhari administration. COVID 19 has also been around for two years with no end in sight.

Jonathan received the highest revenue by any Nigeria leader since 1914, and yet, what he left in the treasury was like the minimum deposit.


When Ameachi said he left the treasury empty, he wasn't far from the truth. According to the CBN governor, Nigeria needs $8b weekly to support imports, so the $30b balance as at may 2015 couldn't have lasted more than three weeks.





I AM DONE TALKING

itsme01:


PDP has no shame.... Just that APC is equally clueless

Osita brags that Jonathan left just $2billlion USD for Nigeria in excess crude account even when FAAC monthly allocation that the whole Federation shares is around same $2billion USD, and Lagos budgets $2 billion USD anually

In essence after 6 years of selling crude oil at far higher price above benchmark price he left just one month allocation as savings even when we can't pay salaries, and contractors are being owed

He brags about 28 billion USD foreign reserve forgetting that such low amount can't be touched without Nigeria currency loosing value and investors running away since our reserve is too low to guarantee their funds

He talked about Nigeria's 5 billion USD shares in LNG complex, and am wondering just like Atiku he proposes we sell it off to pay salaries and feed?!
.

You made no sense, rather showing your level of ignorance. A party came to ppwer with a promise to salvage a seemingly bad administration. Like Chidoka noted, after 6 and half years, they are still talking of what they inherited, not what they created. Yet today, Nigeria is in the throes of debt payment default. The regime have driven all economic indices southwards. Unemployment rate have quadrupled, the curreny exchange is on a free fall, sovreign debt is now 5 times higher than what they met, with nothing to show. No light, debt servicing already gulping 10% of national budget, not to mention insecurity, etc. A minister of duch an admimistration who ought to cover his face in shame is rather bold enough to talk back. In saner climes all supporters of this regime would be physically manhandled and publicly shamed.

Hds