The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, has credited the recent security challenges in the country to former President Jonathan-led administration.
According to the minister, banditry became rampant because of the poverty created by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Amaechi, who spoke on ‘Hard Copy’, a programme championed by Channels Television, claimed that the money Jonathan left in the treasury after he left office in May 2015 was not enough to run the country for three weeks.
According to him, “When you talk about bandits and all these people that kill, it’s a question about poverty, and it did not start in this regime.
“Don’t forget oil was sold at $110, $114, $115 a barrel. When this government came into power, oil fell to $28 a barrel, and since then, it hasn’t gone above $80 per barrel.”
The ex-Governor of Rivers State claimed that while he was chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ forum, he was informed by officials of the Presidency that there was virtually no money left in the treasury.
“As former chairman of the governors’ forum, I was told by the security in a meeting chaired by the former President including the former minister of finance that at every point in time, the government must leave money behind in case Nigeria goes to war that would last for six months.
“By the time we came, they didn’t leave money behind that could last us for three weeks. And I was speaking at that time as the chairman of the governors’ forum,” he added.
