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Obasanjo squandered $23bn on power sector, says Kalu
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Obasanjo
The last on the precise amount wasted by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in its fruitless bid to provide electric power may not have been heard as former Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, has put the figure at $23-billion (N2.7-trillion).
The new figure contradicts the earlier figures of $10-billion (N1.2-trillion) and $16-billion (N1.9-trillion) announced by President Umaru Yar’Adua and Dimeji Bankole, speaker, House of Representatives respectively on the actual amount of money wasted on the power sector by the immediate past administration.
Kalu, founder of the Slok and FIB groups of companies who spoke with media executives during the first FIB Group yearly retreat in his Camp Neya, Igbere village in Abia State said the earlier figures announced were not correct.
According to him, the House of Representatives did not do a thorough work in ascertaining the amount of money spent on the power sector which epileptic nature remains the greatest impediment to investment in the country.
He therefore called on President Yar’Adua to institute a judicial panel to be headed by a Supreme Court judge to investigate the Obasanjo-led administration, adding that anything short of this would be resisted by Nigerians who are very eager to know the truth about how much was spent and where the money was diverted.
“This is how I told the nation about the N300 billion said to have been spent on roads in the country which was diverted into the pockets of the administration’s cronies. We are waiting for the outcome of the petitions at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal.
“If after the judgment and President Yar’Adua did not set in motion a machinery to investigate and try Obasanjo, then we will not hesitate to mobilise Nigerians to seek for the truth”, he said.
“Obasanjo should be investigated and tried for his eight years of misrule. This is the only way forward for Nigeria and Nigerians”, he added.
Kalu stated that the economy could not attain the expected growth because Obasanjo created a very hostile investment environment by using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to witch-hunt investors and would-be investors.
He noted that this investment-unfriendly environment informed the movement of his investments offshore.
The Slok and FIB groups currently operate in The Gambia, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Congo. Slok Air International, a member of the group, was banned from operating from and into Nigeria. It operates into other West African countries from The Gambia.
“Obasanjo ran a lawless country where he twisted the laws and used agents of the state to fight anyone not supporting his third term bid. Slok Air operating 10 aircraft was grounded one day because I was bold enough to resist Obasanjo’s third term bid. So many other people who did not support the criminal quest for power by Obasanjo also suffered the same fate.
“Today, what do you see? People are not investing in the real sector, in the power sector, in food or in the provision of water or utilities. Instead they are investing in the service sector and this is not a sign that the economy is growing as expected. I want to see private investments in these areas, then we can say the economy is growing”, he said.
Kalu, founder of the Slok and FIB groups of companies who spoke with media executives during the first FIB Group yearly retreat in his Camp Neya, Igbere village in Abia State said the earlier figures announced were not correct.
According to him, the House of Representatives did not do a thorough work in ascertaining the amount of money spent on the power sector which epileptic nature remains the greatest impediment to investment in the country.
He therefore called on President Yar’Adua to institute a judicial panel to be headed by a Supreme Court judge to investigate the Obasanjo-led administration, adding that anything short of this would be resisted by Nigerians who are very eager to know the truth about how much was spent and where the money was diverted.
“This is how I told the nation about the N300 billion said to have been spent on roads in the country which was diverted into the pockets of the administration’s cronies. We are waiting for the outcome of the petitions at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal.
“If after the judgment and President Yar’Adua did not set in motion a machinery to investigate and try Obasanjo, then we will not hesitate to mobilise Nigerians to seek for the truth”, he said.
“Obasanjo should be investigated and tried for his eight years of misrule. This is the only way forward for Nigeria and Nigerians”, he added.
Kalu stated that the economy could not attain the expected growth because Obasanjo created a very hostile investment environment by using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to witch-hunt investors and would-be investors.
He noted that this investment-unfriendly environment informed the movement of his investments offshore.
The Slok and FIB groups currently operate in The Gambia, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Congo. Slok Air International, a member of the group, was banned from operating from and into Nigeria. It operates into other West African countries from The Gambia.
“Obasanjo ran a lawless country where he twisted the laws and used agents of the state to fight anyone not supporting his third term bid. Slok Air operating 10 aircraft was grounded one day because I was bold enough to resist Obasanjo’s third term bid. So many other people who did not support the criminal quest for power by Obasanjo also suffered the same fate.
“Today, what do you see? People are not investing in the real sector, in the power sector, in food or in the provision of water or utilities. Instead they are investing in the service sector and this is not a sign that the economy is growing as expected. I want to see private investments in these areas, then we can say the economy is growing”, he said.
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