Jonathan failed on Boko Haram, corruption, says Yayale Ahmed

FORMER Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Muhamud Yayale Ahmed, has said that President Goodluck Jonathan’s poor handling of the nation’s security and mismanagement of the economy have led to Nigeria’s near collapse.

Presenting a paper entitled, “Realities, Expectations and Challenges of 2015 Transitions,” during the 31st convocation ceremony of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Ahmed accused the outgoing administration of leaving behind foreign debt of $6.4 billion.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has foreclosed the possibly of accepting a second term in office, stating that he would willingly return to BUK to continue his teaching job after exhausting his first tenure as INEC chairman.

However, Ahmed blamed President Jonathan for ineffectively handling the insurgency in the northeast, which eventually deteriorated, leading to the killing of thousands of innocent citizens while millions were displaced.

More so, in spite of the huge capital investment on security, the former defence minister insisted that Nigerian security apparatus is under-equipped and under-motivated owing to the growing corruption that is eating deep into the nation’s security sector.

According to him, “corruption and security mismanagement have eaten deep into the nation’s security architecture and this is not only evident in the under-equipped, under-motivated and under-appreciated Nigeria Police Force, it has also started to manifest in the military and other para-military organs.

“The mismanagement of Boko Haram, which deteriorated from local Maiduguri-based religious uprising into a regional insurgency, says a lot about our security capacity.”

He questioned the recent re-basing of the economy, noting that a vast majority of the population is poor, with over one third living on less than $2 a day. Ahmed continued: “To government officials, particularly the coordinating minister for economy and minister of finance, we are impressive with the re-basing figures of $500 billion GDP, with growth rate of six to seven per cent and per capita GDP of $2810 as largest economy in Africa.

“Yet, income inequality is extreme, with some analysts indicating that the vast wealth of the country is in the hands of less than 10 per cent of the population.”

He stated further: “After painfully exiting from the Paris Club and other external debts with a cash payment of over $12 billion, the foreign debts are pilling again from $4.5 billion in 2010 to $6.4 billion in 2014. The domestic debt profile also increased from $30.5 billion in 2010 to $47 billion in 2014.

“On the whole, public debt has grown by $18 billion between 2010 and 2015. A dangerous dimension to the slide into indebtedness is the country’s inclination for domestic debts through instruments such as bonds, treasury bills, development stock and