Department of Nigerian Political Affairs RADICAL LEADERSHIP: Transcribed remarks of former military head of state and current presidential aspirant Major-General Muhammadu Buhari at a Q & A session in Lagos on the perilous state of the Nigerian economy when he took the reins of power, and radical steps he took to fix the situation. _____________ [I knew, as minister of petroleum under military head of state General Olusegun] Obasanjo that the military then handed-over a financially and physically strong country to [the] Second Republic. But after those four years and three months, nobody knew how much debt Nigeria had incurred. They had spent the money in the savings, the external reserve - they had incurred so much debt. Nobody knew the amount of debt, external or internal. And when we came, we were overwhelmed by that problem! The economy was really dead. And the IMF and the World Bank [were] pressurizing Nigeria to devalue the naira, to remove subsidy on petroleum - to remove the subsidy on flour! And if you [can] recall then, there were some states workers owed by those governments up to 9 months [salary]. One of those states I can remember was Benue, under Solomon Lar, 9 months salary, some workers were not being paid! So I called the governor of [the] Central Bank, Dr. Ahmed. I said, Dr. Ahmed, [and luckily, he was not sacked - he was Shagaris governor of the Central Bank, Shagari appointed him, so we left him] I called and said, Look, what is happening with our economy? He said..he blamed the politicians. He said the politicians were not only corrupt but [that] they go to Taiwan and order Nigerian naira [audience laughter] to be printed for them and they put it in the economy. You cannot differentiate [the printed currency] - they can only differentiate the Central Bank [version of the naira] when they put it under a search light. Thats the only way they would know that it is our own genuine naira - if it is the one printed in Taiwan. So you see the [Central Bank governor ] is absolving himself and putting the blame on the politicians. So I said okay, i will try to think about it, and I did. So I called him again, I think within a week. I said, What can we do to strengthen the Nigerian naira? He said he will think about it. I said, okay. Dont tell your confidential secretary; dont tell anybody including the chief of staff at the Supreme [Military] Headquarters. When you have thought about it come back to me. He came and told me how he can change the currency. I said change? He said, yes. I said, Okay how long will it take? He said the time is not much. I said what are you going to do? He said the Nigerian Mint. I said you might as well go to Jankara Market and buy [Audience Bursts Into Laughter]. Call and get a place where nobody would know! Do we have enough foreign exchange to pay for it? He said we have. I said okay. He went to some other country, they agreed, they printed the naira, and he came and told me the naira is ready to come. So I called [deputy head of state Tunde] Idiagbon. I said, Tunde, he said Yes? I said go and write operational orders, that ammunition is coming. Get soldiers to go to the airport and get security to take the ammunition to Kirikiri [Prisons] where we keep ammunition that time. So he went and wrote the operational order and told me. I said okay. I told him what I did, and said if it goes wrong I take responsibility. When the naira came, we put it inside [seamaster?] aircraft and sent them [across the country] where there are big Central Banks [branches]. Instead of going to Kirikiri, you know, soldiers found out they were going to Kano, to Enugu and so on, and then go to Central Bank [in those locations]. That was when I called [former military President Babangida, then chief of staff, supreme headquarters], the late [Air Vice Marshal] Alfa, late [chief of naval staff, Commodore] Aikhomu, who was the service chief, and late [police] inspector-general Okocha. I told them this is what I am doing; I am going to change the naira. Close the borders. [audience applause]. We gave 14 days. We said, you can change from 100 naira to 400,000 naira, nobody will touch you. Above 400,000 naira, the bank will take the money - but you will have to make a subsequent statement why youre keeping so much money in your mattress. The president of [the republic of] Niger, and - who are our neighbors here? Cameroun and one other [complained that] I closed the border. I only allowed [fuel] tankers painted in their own national colors. I gave it to Total, which is a French company, to take fuel to them. But nobody else, no vehicles, were allowed to cross the border. I cannot stop donkeys, camels, oxen and human beings. But no articulated vehicles should cross the border until after the change. [Ghanian military strongman Jerry] Rawlings came and told me he had so many millions and millions of Nigerian naira in the Central Bank. [Beninoise dictator President] Kerekou said he would not go back to Benin if I didnt open the border. I said they should please take him to [government] guest house, let him stay there. When Rawlings told me that he had so much money, himself and late [President] Seyni Kountché of Niger Republic, I said you know our currency is not convertible. Why did you put it in our Central Bank? Go and make peppersoup with it! I refused to change it for them. I said, you, Niger, from Lake Chad to Sokoto, we share a border with you. Nobody can stop oxen, donkeys, camels, ..if your currency cannot cross and you have people in Nigeria, distribute it to them - put it in our banking system, and well change it for you, its your problem. Thats how we changed the naira. I think we gave them two weeks. If you have so much money and you dont declare, that is your own problem. And then we stabilized the naira. ___
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 18:57:04 +0000
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