Buhari transition panel still in the dark over state of affairs, says Joda

WITH less than a week to the hand over of power, the incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari is yet to receive useful information on the state of affairs of the country from the outgoing administration headed by president Goodluck Jonathan.

Yesterday, head of the All Progressives Congress (APC) 19-member transition committee, Alhaji Ahmed Joda while submitting an interim report said they have not been able to meet with their counterpart appointed by the outgoing government of the people democratic party (PDP).

Lamenting the pathetic state of the nation’s economy, Joda who led members of the committee to meet with the president-elect at the Defence House, Abuja, said: “Nigerians know that the economy is bad. Some of us here are directly affected. Salaries and wages, in some cases, have not been paid for months. The situation may even be getting worse. So the economy is bad but we haven’t got the government side, we don’t know their figures. What we are doing now is guesswork.”

Nevertheless, he expressed optimism that members of his committee have a chance of meeting the PDP government led transition today before submitting the final report before the 29th May date.

He also said his transition committee has received lots of contributions from Nigerians in the private and public sectors, and international development partners on how to move the nation forward, stressing that the interim report was based on information they have gathered and addresses issues the government must look.

He also pointed out that the committee would have required more time and members to carry out their job.

Buhari who expressed gratitude to members of the committee noted that it was unfortunate that he was misunderstood by operatives of the outgoing PDP led administration.

According to him: “The incoming government was misunderstood. It is not that we are preparing for indictment. We are trying to get is a starting point, where exactly to start from.

“We have seen the debt profile now and the performance of the economy. The question is what can we so about it especially the urgent ones like social security and lack of fuel in the country and fraud. The list is endless. I thank you for what you have done and I hope that the subsequent submission by the government will make your job easier and more efficient and tell us where to begin from.

“What we expected was for the outgoing government to make a presentation to this committee and for this committee to study the document and make submission to the incoming government.”