"Obasanjo responsible for woes in Nigeria's oil sector" - Atiku

Former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, blamed former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for the woes in the country's oil sector.

Atiku, at the ongoing 36th Kaduna International Trade Fair, said since Obasanjo doubled as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, nobody knew what was happening in the sector.

Atiku, speaking on why private investors were unable to collect licence to build refineries, in order to cushion the excruciating hardship occasioned by fuel scarcity during the Obasanjo/Atiku-led administration, he said in the eight years of the administration, there was no Minister of Petroleum Resources.

Atiku said for that reason, throughout the period, he was not able to make an appreciable input.

According to Atiku, the oil and gas sector was solely handled by Obasanjo, adding that at that time, nobody knew what was happening in the sector.

"During our administration, there was no transparency and accountability in the oil and gas industry.

"There was a time we were handed with a Ghana-must-go memo on the oil and gas and asked by the president for our input and I refused to support it," he said.

On the power sector, Atiku said Obasanjo's government, rather than adopting short and medium term measures, went for a long-term approach which led to the waste of several billions of dollars in an attempt to revamp the sector.

He said that President Goodluck Jonathan took the same step, which accounted for the current epileptic power supply in the country today.

He opined that the in-coming government of General Muhammad Buhari could reverse the current privatisation exercise in the sector, for Nigeria to move on.
Credit: Muhammadu Sabiu/Tribune