Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

Here are some salient declarations and issues raised by President Muhammadu Buhari  in his maiden press interview in Abuja on Wednesday 30 December 2015.

President Buhari during the interview

On Difficulties  parents are facing getting forex for their children studying abroad:

“Ministry of Education, CBN will have to sit down to sort out issues of difficulties by Nigerian students outside in using ATM cards outside Nigeria”.

Agencies of government

“The question of agencies likeNIMASA, NNPC earning money and giving government the change has to stop.”

Corruption in the judiciary: 

“I think I will discuss that with the CJN. It takes two to tango. When the Tribunals were to be established they were told to shun corruption. The Judiciary is a sitting duck, they work with what the Police and lawyers take to them. There must be participation from other institutions for the judiciary to be corrupt. It takes two to tango, somebody must be offering and somebody must be taking. You have to prove that there is corruption.”

On the army-Shiite Muslims clash in Zaria:

“When it happened, I was in touch with the Governor of Kaduna State. The President of Iran called me , but I told him that we have a system, that it happened in one of our states. The Army that was involved has its own system of investigation. I am waiting for the investigations to be concluded and the Police also have their own system of investigations. It is extremely serious. How can you create a state within a state? There are some teenagers I saw stoning Generals. I don’t want to talk too much about it. The deaths are not justifiable, but you have to wait till the end of the enquiry. I expect a judicial commission of enquiry to be constituted by the Kaduna State government.”

The President said there are a lot of allegations against Shi’ites which he will wait for the enquiry to unveil

On the kidnapped Chibok girls: 

The President recalled that somebody who claimed to be leader of Boko Haram wanted to negotiate, but the government wanted to ascertain their genuineness. “We also want to be sure that they are complete. I think they are 209. If a credible leadership of (Boko Haram) can tell us where the Chibok girls are we are ready to negotiate with them without any condition.”

The President said he has been working with Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon, but he has not get any credible or firm intelligence where those girls are or what conditions they are. But what we know is that they keep moving them around. The President confirmed that there is no credible intelligence of whether the Chibok girls are alive or what conditions they are in.

Suicide bombing and Hijab wearing girls

Buhari  said that Hijab will have to be banned if this (the use of girls clad in Hijab for bombing) continues. The extent of indoctrination, according to him, is too much.

On National Assembly budget for cars

According to President Muhammadu Buhari: “The first thing I turned down was N400 million for vehicles when I came in. The vehicles I have are good enough for 10 years. But I understand we have to buy vehicles for protocols in case we want to host other Presidents. On the N50 billion for cars by the National Assembly, I think I will have to have a close door meeting with them. I hope they have not bought them yet.”

The President also said the National Assembly is not willing to be part of the TSA. The President said he will explore the possibility of stopping the National Assembly from using over N47 billion to buy cars in spite of the transport allowance they are getting.

Devaluation of the Naira

Buhari rules out Naira devaluation. He said Nigeria’s was a consumer economy, which needed to be stimulated into production to create jobs for the population.

“I have to be convinced before accepting the devaluation of the naira. Which country’s currency do we devalue the naira against?

“Devaluation is done between developed countries, in Nigeria; we are still importing ordinal toothpicks. “We have banned the importation of toothpicks and goods we waste our foreign currency on,’’ he said. The president said his priorities were not “people wanting to bring rice and luxury goods which do not encourage economic growth”.

He said the country needed to invest in capital projects, especially in power, railways, roads and fight terrorism to create employment for the populace.

Railway Project by the Chinese

Buhari felt scandalised that the old government failed to pay 30 per cent counterpart fund for the railway projects that would connect the entire country.

He  said that the Federal Government would continue with the railway project by the second quarter of 2016 to enhance economic development.

“By second quarter of 2016, we will take the Chinese contractors back to continue with the railway project,’’ the president said.

Jobs, Jobs for youths

Buhari said the Federal Government will explore the potential in agriculture, solid minerals and teaching in solving the unemployment challenge confronting the country,  noting  that there are abundant deposits of solid minerals across the country.

According to the president, agriculture and solid minerals are the quickest ways of providing employment for able bodied people in Nigeria.

“We will make sure we get the machinery, fertilizer, and other inputs and ask people to go to the farm so that we do not import food.

“There are lots of solid minerals in commercial quantities in virtually all the states; there are companies that know about it and they are prepared to come.

“In terms of teachers, there is a teachers institute in Kaduna; and another one in Ibadan.

“We are trying to mop up the unemployed youths; do a crash programme in teaching; post them to teach in primary schools and junior secondary schools.