accusations of sectionalism in PTF”
– Publisher and columnist, Waziri Adio sets
the records straight
Respected publisher and ThisDay columnist,
Waziri Adio on 26 December felt compelled to
speak up and clear the air on false accusations
that Muhammadu Buhari, presidential candidate
of the APC was ‘sectional’ in the widely-acclaimed
impact of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).
It is yet another fact-based counter to the
erroneous caricature of the detribalised Buhari
by prominent Nigerians from across the country.
In a series of 35 tweets, he made it clear that
“the South got 70% in terms of amount located,
and the North got 30%”.
The tweets are very enlightening. See them
below:
1. I will start tweeting about the Petroleum
Special Trust Fund (PTF) headed @ThisIsBuhari
between May ’95 and May ’99.
2. There have been allegations that the PTF
projects were lopsided in favour of the north,
aimed at portraying @ThisIsBuhari as sectional.
3. There have also been allegations of fraud in
PTF, meant to show that @ThisIsBuhari not as
clean as portrayed.
4. I will provide some background on PTF and
present some facts based on public documents
and leave you to draw your conclusions.
5. PTF was set up by Gen Abacha in May ’95,
headed by @ThisIsBuhari, with Chief Tayo Akpata
as Secretary.
Other members representing different zones were
Y. Gusau, A Talib, Rufus Giwa, Prof. Chimere
Ikoku, Prof. JP Clark, D.B Zang.
7. PTF was charged with using portion of increase
in fuel price to rehabilitate roads, schools,
hospitals, water schemes n provide supplies
8. Despite charges of being a parallel govt, at no
point was PTF budget more than 10% of total
budget of the federation.
9. Widely circulated allegation of lopsided siting
of PTF projects by Afenifere a bit exaggerated.
10. It is true that out of the 13,090km roads
rehabilitated, 32% in the south and 68% in the
north. But that’s half the story.
11. In terms of km, 7.3% of d rehabilitated roads
were in SE; 8.5% in SW;16.25 in SS; 21.1% in
NW; 23.4% in NE; and 23.5% in NC.
12. But it is also true that the landmass varies
among zones and same with degree of difficulty
and cost.
13. A look at the cost of roads in different zones
and the overall allocation to zones in all PTF
projects show a different picture.
14. N77. 2b was committed to roads out of the
total of N187b allocated to PTF till May 99.
15. Of the N77.2b to roads, SW got N 9.7 b; SE,
N14.5b; SS, N30.5b. This means SW got 12.6% of
road budget; SE, 18.8%; SS, 39.5%.
16. Of d N77.2b committed to roads, NE got
N7.1b; NC, N7. 4b; NW, N7.9b, meaning NE got
9.2%, NC got 9.6% and NW 10.3%.
17. This shows that in terms of cost, the variation
btw north and south reversed in favour of d
south.
18. Under roads, the south got 70% in terms of
amount allocated and the north got 30%.
19. It may sound counter intuitive, but it is also
an established fact that road construction costs
more in the south than in the north.
20. Those circulating facts about kilometers of
roads possibly also have information about cost
of the roads and total allocation.
21. Possibly, they selectively chose the data set
that will help their argument that @ThisIsBuhari
is sectional.
22. Also, of the total N187b allocated to PTF, the
south got more than the north.
23. In the 6 areas under PTF, SE got N26.9b; SW,
N28.8b; SS, N49b. Representing 15% for SE,
15.4% for SW, and 26.2% for SS.
24. That is a total of 56.7% for the south out of
the entire budget of PTF.
25. Of d total PTF allocation, NC got N20bn; NE,
N26b; and NW N34. 9b. Meaning 10.7% for NC;
13.9% for NE; and 18.7% for NW.
26. That’s 43.3% for the North out of the total
N187b allocation to PTF.
27. On allegations of fraud in PTF under
@ThisIsBuhari, it is important to bear a few
things in mind.
28. OBJ set up two interim mgt committees on
PTF, before eventually asking PTF to be wounded
up.
29. First committee was under Dr. Haroun
Adamu. 2nd under Alh. Garba Mubi. Dr Adamu
Maina – Waziri was asked to wind up PTF.
30. For two years, police and SSS interogated
officials of Afri-Project Consortium, project
consultant to PTF.
31. Up till today, no one charged or prosecuted.
In fact two of d founders of Afri-Project
Consortium later served in OBJ’s govt.
32. Murtala Aliyu was minister of state for works,
and Amina Mohammed served as SSA on the
MDGs and is now an adviser to the UN Sec-Gen.
33. However, anytime @ThisIsBuhari is planning
to contest some people dredge up allegations of
sectionalism and fraud in PTF.
34. Sometimes it is claimed that no one
prosecuted so as not to embarrass @ThisIsBuhari.
But what does that say about those making d
claims?
35/35. This is it for now on PTF and
@ThisIsBuhari.
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