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| Tinubu |
Speaking
as after-dinner speaker and special guest of honour at the NG Annual Dinner in
Lagos at the Muson Centre on Thursday February 6, 2014, Tinubu drew a
distinction between the PDP and the APC.
He blamed
the Jonathan-led PDP government as one spinning recklessly out of control in
terms of spending, corruption in the oil sector and other slush funds
channelled through government programmes to fill the pockets of party
loyalists.
Tinubu
noted that Nigerians are yet to get a satisfactory explanation on the 400,000
barrels per day that is stolen. He opined that the NNPC has been converted into
an automated teller machine (ATM).
Tinubu
said: “Like I have maintained previously, the Sure-P project is a drain pipe; a
slush fund for political patronage. For instance, the N253.5 billion alleged to
have being spent on projects by the Federal Government as at December 2013 is
not reflective in the lives of ordinary Nigerians. In 2012, about N180 billion
accrued to the Federal Government in Sure-P alone.”
“Under the
heavy weight of corruption, heavy dose of insecurity, the ticking time bomb of
youth unemployment and a near total absence of institutional rationalisation,
Nigeria under President Jonathan clutches on like a battered engine in need of
a complete overhaul. In fact, a change of engine.”
Tinubu,
who spoke in a very conversational tone at the dinner, used his experience as a
former governor of Lagos State as a tool to examine what is wrong with Nigeria
politically and economically.
According
to him, Nigeria punches below its weight and is trapped in a disarticulated
economy occasioning poverty and frustration on people. “The AFDB, in its
African Economic Outlook report of 2013 revealed that poverty has worsened
since 1996 and through 11 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rule. The
efforts of President Jonathan’s government at combating poverty were also
faulted.”
The former
governor of Lagos State asserted that under the current economic environment,
it is almost impossible for Nigeria to meet any of the predictions about its
prosperity.
“The
projection that Nigeria will soon emerge, at least in the next 30 years
alongside three other countries as an economic giant by the British Economist,
Jim O’Neil, will for long be a mirage. O’Neil predicted that Mexico, Indonesia,
Nigeria and Turkey are to become what he refers to as “MINT’.
“We all
know that this is another Vision 2020 gimmick. A very distant hope with no
chance of coming to fruition. Let us not for once delude ourselves that this is
possible. A country that is yet to export the smallest plastic product or one
that generates a miserable 12 per cent of the total energy needs of the country
can never be a candidate for “MINT”, “BRICS” (Brazil, Russia, India, China and
South Africa) and as we now know, Vision 2020. Our energy woes abide.”
Tinubu was
on call to explain the vision and mission of the new party, APC and offer an
insight into the ideology of the party.
He said:
“We formed this party to improve the lot and the lives of those who don’t have.
We formed it to bring dignity, hope, justice and the reality of prosperity to
those Nigerians who seek these things.
“The PDP
has never been a friend of the people and each year, it becomes less of one.
They have turned their backs on the people. Now it is time the people turn
their backs against the PDP.
“The PDP
claims we don’t have an ideology. We have an ideology but it is one PDP can’t
understand. What the arrogant and mean don’t understand, they pretend does not
exist.
“One can
no longer dance on both sides of the fence. Either you are resolute for justice
or for injustice. Stake your claim and sign your name to it so history may
record your decision and your deeds at this critical hour.
“For me, I
have but one life thus I have but one choice. I choose the right way. I follow
the APC. I urge you all to hitch a ride on the rescue mission APC is about and
rally for change and the re-building of a Nigeria that meets our dream.”
He added:
“We have come to a moment in time when there is no time to waffle, obfuscate or
prattle. Beginning from now and as we march toward the elections of 2015, the
people shall decide whether they want to enshrine injustice, inequality and the
rule of arbitrary might over their lives or do they want to build a finer
existence where the light of fairness, prosperity and the rule of law shines on
all. “
The NG
dinner, held once a year, is an association of core professionals drawn from
diverse fields and mostly Lagos based. The NG group formed in 1998 has produced
a number of governors, ministers, commissioners and other key government functionaries.
It is an informal think tank, a sounding board of sorts for government types
and policy makers.
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