Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, yesterday, advised the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to kickstart his anti-corruption crusade by taking stern decisions on key issues militating against Nigeria, specifically the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to ensure the success of his administration.
In a keynote address at the opening of the two-day Policy Dialogue on the Implementation of the Agenda for Change by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, he called for an end to the so-called subsidy on petroleum products in the country, which he said is a big fraud and means of enriching members of a cabal.
Speaking on the current situation of the country, Blair was quick to remind the President-elect and his party of the great expectations among Nigerians and the international community, and the need not to disappoint. Blair, who was represented by Peter Benjamin Mandelson, his former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, warned the party against taking Nigerians for granted in the area of delivering on its promise of development projects and revival of the nation’s economy.
“A country like this has extraordinary resources -oil-and has this amazing privilege of source of energy, yet, power generation is not a happy issue. People have to wait for hours queueing to get fuel and end up buying it elsewhere. I think it needs to be addressed,” he said.
The incoming Buhari administration, he added, should ride on its current popularity rating, taking some drastic decisions that would affect the fortune of the nation positively, even while it might be considered too painful initially by the people. There is no government, he continued, whose popularity would not wane as time goes by, adding that a serious government should not be afraid to take decisions capable of shaping the destiny of the nation and its people.
