Why Nigerians are Facing Hardship – Osinbajo

Corruption is one of the major reasons why Nigerians are facing hardship. Another factor is the continued attack on the nation’s oil facilities which erodes national revenue from crude oil.

This is according to the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo who revealed that the Federal Government was still investigating the $15 billion Defence contract. According to him, the disappearance of such a huge sum would lead any country to hardship.

Prof. Osinbajo said this today (Tuesday) during a town hall meeting with members of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State.

He said “It is easy for people to say that times are hard. One of the reasons things are hard in the country is the corruption that has been in the system for years.

“We are investigating at the moment, the $15 billion of the defence contract award. If $15 billion dollars disappeared when you have a reserve of $30 billion, there is no way there will not be hardship.

“The other thing is the destruction of pipelines and facilities. Oil prices fell by half, then we started losing one million barrels a day, 60 per cent of revenue. There is no way there will be no recession.”

Osinbajo, however, expressed optimism that with the prudent management of inadequate resources, the country would move out of its current economic challenges.

“We are sure that because of the way we are approaching the business of governance, even with the little resources, things will change for the better. For the first time, we have bailed out the states of the federation.

“When we came, 22 states were not paying salaries at all. We had to bail them out twice. Despite the lean resources, we are still able to support the states.

“In the next few months, as things shape up, this country will improve and the exchange rate will improve,” the Acting President stressed.

Osinbajo noted that Nigeria would have crumbled economically, but for the prudence of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.