Osinbajo lists 5 'incredible' things Jonathan did in office

macfranc007 November 07, 2017 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Adeola Opeyemi

- Vice President Yemi Osinbajo spoke in Abuja at the legislative economic summit

- Osinbajo spoke about happened in Nigeria a few weeks before the 2015 general elections

- He said under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria witnessed barefaced stealing

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said Nigeria witnessed barefaced stealing and waste of resources unprecedented anywhere in the world while under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Osinbajo made this statement in Abuja on Monday while speaking at the legislative economic summit themed "Legislative Framework for Economic Recovery and Sustainable Development".

The vice president listed five things he called 'incredible' which he said happened to Nigeria few weeks before the 2015 presidential election.

The five 'incredible' things as listed by Vice President Osinbajo are:

1. Nigeria witnessed barefaced stealing and waste of resources unprecedented anywhere in the world; the situation, he alleged, caused the recent economic recession.

2. In 2013 and 2015 with oil prices averaging up to $110 per barrel, sometimes going to as high as $150, the government of the day somehow contrived to increase national debt from N7.9 trillion to N12.1 trillion; while reducing external reserves from $45 billion to $28 billion as of May 2015.

3. Inflation of contracts and other procurements which, he noted, always made the cost of infrastructure necessary for development unaffordable.

4. In 2015, capital spend was less than 11%. So there was very little to show for where this money went.

5. Few weeks before the last elections; large sums of money, a N100billion in cash ostensibly for security and another $289million in cash was paid out in the same period.

Osinbajo added that: "No country can survive that kind of unbridled waste and corruption. We must never forget, that corruption is perhaps, the most outrageous cause of our economic decline.

"Aside from barefaced stealing or waste of resources, the inflation of contracts and other procurements ensures that the cost of infrastructure necessary for development will always be unaffordable.

"So if what we should spend on building a 200km road ends up being spent on a 20 km road, there is no way we are going to make any progress and there is no way we won’t end up in some kind of economic decline or the other.

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"In 2015, oil prices fell to as low as $28 at some point. But worse still, throughout 2016 we lost almost a million barrels a day in oil production due to vandalization and sabotage of oil facilities and pipelines. We lost something in the order of about 60% of our revenues. Yet we could have survived without going into a recession, I think Dr. Teriba so ably stated that, we could have survived if we had savings. But we had no savings only debt."

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com earlier reported that Osinbajo on Thursday, November 2, said Nigeria must use its oil wealth to prepare for a future when the world no longer runs on fossil fuels.

The vice-president stated this at the 55th anniversary of the Oil Producers Trade Section of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos.

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo delivers a speech on the Biafra war on NAIJ.com TV