Saraki also told Naziru Mikaliu that he does not know how much he is worth.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in an interview, has revealed how he amassed his wealth.
Saraki,
who spoke to the Abuja editor of BBC Hausa service, Naziru Mikaliu,
said he does not know how much he is worth, Premium Times reports.
Here is an excerpt of the Senate President’s interview obtained from Premium Times.
Q: What is in the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB?
A: What
we have tried to do with the good governance institution is to try and
work out an environment that is in the petroleum sector to ensure
transparency, good governance, reduce duplication, ensure efficiency in
the petroleum sector. We spent about four to five months working on that
and its good to see that finally we have got to a stage where it passed
second reading, which had not been achieved before now.
Q: Officials always talk about corruption; do you believe Nigeria is a corrupt country?
A: My
take is that I must market my country, so I am not gonna be able to
label the country as such. My view is that yes there are issues that we
must address, but I am not gonna hammer on that so much because I need
to market my country so that I can get private sector in flow. I must
create an enabling environment that will encourage that because without
that as government alone, it will be difficult for us to be able to see
the kind of growth that we are talking about.
Q: Have you seen corruption for example taking place…
A: Of
course there are, that is why we have oversight functions. Like many
other countries, we have those kinds of challenges, but we have moved a
long way.
Q: Many in
this country see a lot of politicians as wealthy individuals, for
example, you as an individual; how much are you worth?
A: I don’t know!
Q: You don’t know how much you are worth? How much did you declare ?
A: I can’t remember these figures
Q: That means it’s a huge figure?
A:
I don’t think it’s a crime anywhere for you to either work hard or be
blessed. What I think is important is the commitment to serve.
Q: How did you amass all this wealth?
A: I
come from a blessed family. I come from a family where my parents were
opportuned and after that I worked hard in the private sector and I
think I have worked hard for everything that I have. I made 95% of my
asset before I joined government.
Q: You
talked about generating more revenue and collecting more taxes; but a
member of your family was implicated in the Panama papers?
A:
The issue was that they found out that the company has been set up; but
it was a holding company; which had nothing to do with taxes, nothing
at all.
Q: Why was it set up?
A:
It was based on legal advice. The company was set up because they were
acquiring an asset and it was advised at that time that I had to set up.
It was not a company set up by ourselves but by a legal firm and to the
best of our knowledge, no law was broken.
Q: You are currently standing trial before a court accused of falsely declaring an asset?
A: Yeah, that case is ongoing.
Q: So did you declare anything that was not yours?
A:
As I have said many time on this case, I will prove my innocence. These
were forms that were declared over 13 years ago and it only emerged in
August after I became Senate President. If there were infractions in
those forms the Code of Conduct could have raised those items a long
time ago; they didn’t. So I said I am confident that I will clear my
name and I don’t believe that I have done anything wrong.
Meanwhile, the Police has reportedly submit fresh report to indict the Senate President, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.
No comments:
Post a Comment