President Muhammdu Buhari, on Thursday, disclosed that he was shocked when he was informed that oil would sell at $30 per barrel instead of $100, saying that there was no money to import food.

The President stated this while speaking with editors and newspaper executives to mark his one year in office.

Buhari further lamented that Nigerian leaders squandered the country’s resource on importing frivolous items.

He said: “Up to 2013, we were earning on average over $100 per barrel from oil but by fabulous coincidence, it went down to about $30 per barrel when we came in. There was no money to import food. For me, it was the biggest shock.

“Nigeria became an oil economy and we left agriculture and solid minerals and everyone went to the city to look for oil money.”

Buhari noted that during his time as the military head of state the naira sold at a dollar to one naira fifty kobo.

“When I was removed [as military Head of State] in 1985, the dollar was one naira fifty kobo. Now naira is 350 to the dollar. Tell me the benefits we derived from that? How many factories were built in those years? Economists are not able to explain this to me. I am still waiting for economists to tell me why we should continue to devalue the naira. However, I don’t rule the country alone, so we must accommodate the economists.”

The president further said that he believes that Nigeria should privatise firms, because privatization “is much more efficient.”

Speaking on the state of Nigeria’s refinery, Buhari said: “Should we sell them as scrap? We cannot spend so much of our national resources to develop infrastructure and then sell them a scrap. We must first take into consideration our state of development. We must repair them first so we can negotiate with the buyers from a position of strength.”

Mazi Emeka