Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said his administration (1999 -2007) sold 51% stake in Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries to Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola at the time he had given up on the refineries which he described as Nigeria’s big problem.
IdanNews gathered that Obasanjo in an interview with TheCable noted that God did a miracle by sending Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola, who both approached him to buy two of the refineries and ended up paying $761 million in two installments.
In his words, “I knew we had a big problem on our hands. I had virtually given up hope on the refineries when God did a miracle.
“Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola approached me and said they would be interested in buying two of the four refineries. They said they would buy 51 per cent stake in Port Harcourt and Kaduna. I was over the moon.”
However, he said Umaru Musa Yar’Adua cancelled the sale and returned the refineries to NNPC.
“I said, finally, this burden would be taken off the neck of the government. They offered $761 million and paid in two installments. Unfortunately, Umaru (President Yar’Adua) cancelled the sale and returned the refineries to NNPC. Today, we are still where we were.”
Meanwhile, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo while commenting on the economic performance of the last administration said apart from knowing that Buhari knew nothing about economics, he put the knowledge in his book but he never knew that Buhari was reckless.
Obasanjo said Buhari while in office, was spending money recklessly.
He said, “Buhari was spending money recklessly. I know Buhari didn’t understand economics. I put that in my book. But that he could also be so reckless, I didn’t know.”
The former President on the current government’s handling of the economy in comparison to what he did, noted that he was spending 90% of revenue on debt servicing.
“Tinubu said the other day that it was unacceptable that he would spend 90% of revenue to service debts. I wasn’t spending 90% when I went worldwide to get debt relief. Do you think that anybody would give you debt relief today?
“Who would you go to today and ask for a favour? Tinubu says he has trimmed the number of people attending the United Nations General Assembly. Is that news? He will meet with Justin Trudeau, and he will meet with Emmanuel Macron. That will not solve any problem.”