@Atiku Bares It all, Speaks On Corruption Allegation, Politics, Business, Boko-Haram, Others

To commemorate Social Media Week, YNaija will be interviewing 5 major leaders across sectors who are active on social media. The interviews started this evening with former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, and he answered questions ranging from security, to his business interests, and the allegations in the media about him being wanted in the United States of America.

We present our top takes from that interview.

On being wanted in the United States for money laundering offences:

“That isn’t true. If it were true, I could have been arrested in UK, France, Switzerland, or Dubai, you would know.

I’ve attended interviews in the US Embassy recently. They could have arrested me there too. It’s US soil”

On his business interests:

“We’ve been lucky to build the largest oil services company in Africa – active in Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique & now South Africa. We have also diversified into ports development, agriculture, feed making, plastics, printing, TV/radio media, and beverages. That is how come we have about 50,000 jobs on our books.”

Asked about his role and powers as vice-president for eight years (from 1999 to 2007), Atiku said:

“The VP cannot drive change, honestly. A VP executes the president’s agenda as assigned by the president. Coming in after decades of military rule, Nigeria was in a very bad shape all round. Priorities were decided. We first started by stabilising the polity – if you remember, there were many uprisings. My primary job was in the economy. We curbed inflation, sold off bad assets, fixed our debts and consolidated the banks. I oversaw the execution of the banking reforms by CBN, & supervised the telecoms reforms which brought us GSM. Could we have done better? Yes. Did we do well, yes. Our telecoms project is a big legacy, for example. Really, the VP can only do what the boss asks. I was put in charge of the economy in the first tenure for example. In my second term for example, at a point, all my staff were withdrawn. So a VP really has no powers except the President allows”

There was this interesting question: you are one of the PDP’s founding members; do you think the party is irredeemable, that maybe you left too soon?

“Dear @YNaija2015, We’ve moved on from the PDP. Let’s talk about jobs, security, and infrastructure.”

And so we moved on to security, and the former vice-president’s thoughts on handling the menace that Boko Haram have become.

“As a citizen from the North East, I get the feeling that the crises is being treated as ’their’ problem. This may not be the case, but it’s important that the FG shows more commitment, so people have hope for resolution. The FG should allow governors fund the JTF, to improve resources available to the the military posted there. Just this weekend, over 200 people have died, yet no comment from the FG. People need to trust their government, to have hope. If there’s trust locally, intelligence gathering improves.”

His strategy for tackling Boko Haram?

“So my strategy would be intelligence > carrot + stick > deep involvement of local people who understand the terrain and people.”

Atiku had this to say about the NNPC:

“NNPC’s problem is impunity. The subsidy for example, ballooned after we left power. It’s more about controls than size.”

BELOW IS AN ExCERPT:

@YNaija: This week is amazing & we have a bumper package. Today we’ll be interviewing @atiku, former Vice President of Nigeria. #YNaijaMeetsAtiku

@atiku: So many questions already. I’m reading and will try to answer as many as possible @ChiomaChuka #YNaijaMeetsAtiku http://t.co/sKSguuyGGr

@YNaija2015: @atiku, thank you for joining us.

1.There are reports that you are wanted in the USA for money laundering True/False? #YNaijaMeetsAtiku

@atiku: That isn’t true. If it were true, I could have been arrested in UK, France, Switzerland, or Dubai, you know @YNaija2015 #YNaijaMeetsAtiku

@YNaija2015: 2. @atiku now that we’ve asked that, you are a successful businessman. What is the extent of your business interests? #YNaijaMeetsAtiku

@YNaija2015: 2. @atiku now that we’ve asked that, you are a successful businessman. What is the extent of your business interests? #YNaijaMeetsAtiku

@atiku: I’ve attended interviews in the US Embassy recently. They could have arrested me there too. It’s US soil @YNaija2015 #YNaijaMeetsAtiku

@atiku: USA has very good FOI. So you media people can go do your findings. @YNaija2015 #YNaijaMeetsAtiku

Engage Atiku Abubakar via twitter today @atiku

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