by Ameh Comrade Godwin
The Buhari 2015 Support Group Centre has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to use the N21.27bn donated to him by businessmen, multinationals and the Peoples Democratic Party governors to improve on the nation’s electricity.
DAILY POST reports that during the donation the oil and gas sector, doled out N5bn; road and construction, N560m; power, N500m and Chief Tunde Ayeni and his associates, gave out N2bn at the event which took place at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Saturday.
Reacting to the development, Buhari’s group, in a statement on Sunday by its Director of Publicity, Dr. Chidia Maduekwe, urged the President not to lavish the money on his presidential campaign.
The group said it was disgraceful for the President and his party to still be talking about improving the nation’s power sector after spending over $20bn on it.
It said, “Nigerians are worse off in terms of electricity supply than they were 15 years ago”.
It added that no nation had ever moved from developing to being developed by relying on generators to power its economy.
The group stressed that it was most frightening when one juxtaposed the United Nations population projection of Nigeria by year 2030 (i.e 15years from today) at about 253 million and 400 million by 2050.
“The PDP-led government will only lead Nigeria into a demographic disaster with its current failed energy policy”.
It explained that Buhari and indeed, other Nigerians were right to ask ‘‘why we are still in this epileptic electricity mess after spending well over $20bn on the power sector?’’
The group said Nigerians should be ashamed that when compared to South Africa’s 40, 000MW for a population of just 50 million, their country was still struggling to generate 4,000 MW.
The BSGC added, “The power sector featured proudly two days ago in contributing towards Mr. President Jonathan’s re-election campaign fund.
“We would have thought such funds should have been better deployed in giving Nigerians better power supply.
“When four years ago Dr. Goodluck Jonathan said he would not run in 2015, he had then promised that ‘if voted into power within the next four years, the issue of power will become a thing of the past.
“Four years is enough for anyone in power to make significant improvement and if I can’t improve on power within this period it then means I cannot do anything even if I am there for another four years.”
It claimed that “the ordinary Nigerian on the street knows that he or she is not better off today with electricity supply as against four years ago when Jonathan mounted the saddle.”
But the presidency through the Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the group had no right to tell the president how to use his money.