Wednesday 16 September 2015

Exclusive interview with Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari





President Buhari who is currently in
France had an interview with France 24 today  where he spoke on issues
bordering on Boko Haram, missing Chibok girls, his yet to be released
Ministerial list and the benefits of Democracy. On the
rescue of the Chibok girls, he said;
"Our main concern now is how can we
recover the Chibok girls. In what condition are they in? We are
occupied with that decision and at this stage it has to be kept
confidential because we are not sure of the genuine leadership of Boko
Haram that we can negotiate with to get those girls released.


Negotiation is becoming quite difficult because we have to first
identify those who claim to be leaders of Boko Haram are actually
leaders and are influential and they know where the girls are and in
what condition they are in. We are being very caeful about it"he said
On
his yet to be released ministerial list, President Buhari said he will
stick with his promise to name his cabinet by the end of September. He
added that he will forward their names to the National Assembly as it is
constitutionally required
"I said we will have a cabinet
by the end of the month. Time flies. End of the month is coming too
quickly for my liking. I will stick with the September deadline. I will
send the names to the National Assembly."he said
He ruled out the idea of running a government without ministers
"When
you introduced me, you said I was around in 1983 to 1985. Even then we
had ministers. So under this system we have to have ministers. We are
going to have Ministers"he said
Asked if the delay in
naming ministers might already be having its effect on the Nigerian
economy, Buhari said
"No. It is what we know and what we learn from
Western system. The civil service provides the continuity, the
technocrats and in any case they are the ones that do most of the work.
The ministers are there just to make a lot of noise just like
politicians who make a lot of noise. but the work is being done by
technocrats. They are there and they provide the continuity. As you can
see my team, there are perm secs of Finance, trade and industries and
others. They help to provide the continuity, dig into the records for as
long as possible and guide us because we are just coming into
government. but they have been there some of them for 15 years, 20
years. So I think this questions are just being political. People from
different constituency want to see their people directly in government
and see what they can get out of it"he said
On whether the
Naira will be devalued again, he said
"The Naira has already been
devalued. It used to be around N160 now it is hovering around N200 and
above and I don't think it is healthy for us to get the Naira devalued
further. That is why we are getting the Central bank to make some
modifications in terms of making foreign exchange available to essential
services such as industries, spare parts, essential raw materials and
so on"he said
He also stated his firm belief  in democratic system of government

"Multiparty democracy system is the best form of
government with a big caveat that elections must be free, fair and
credible otherwise it will be the same old problem"he said.
Watch the full interview below...

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