*IBB
Former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd), says that given the level of corruption in present-day Nigerian society that his administration should be regarded as a saint.
The general, who is popularly known as IBB, also credited his administration with high scores in the area of management of economic resources of the country.
He said that through his suave managerial acumen he was able to steer the economy effectively forward and left over $7 billion in reserves.
Babangida spoke in the latest edition of the Economic and Financial Crimes quarterly magazine, Zero Tolerance.
He said, “Maybe I have to accept that but anybody with a sense of fairness has no option but to call us saints. I give you an example, in a year; I was making less than $7 billion in oil revenue but in the same period there were governments that were making between $200 billion and $300 billion.
“With $7 billion, I did the best I could but with $200 billion there is still a lot to be achieved. I don’t have all the facts but if what I read in the papers is what is currently happening, then I think we were saints.
According to the retired general who also earned himself the nickname Maradonna, because of his adminisrtrative and political maneuvers, he did his best to stabilise the Naira, leaving the exchange rate at N22 to the dollar.
IBB distanced himself from the often- sited claims by Nigerian economists that the found of current weak Naira exchange rate bias laid by his administration under the Structural Adjustment programme.
He addressed most of the issues that still dogged his administration.
$12.4 Gulf War oil windfall
Asked what he did with the $12.4 Gulf War oil windfall, Babangida further said that he used the money wisely on what he described as “regenerative investment,” giving examples with the building of Abuja City and the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge as some of such investments.
He also stated that contrary to insinuations in many quarters, the oil windfall revenue was not stolen as, his administration channelled the money into the provision of critical infrastructure that Nigerians were using today.
He said: “I am not an economist but I have an understanding of what this is. Our argument then was if you have the money then why keep it and be looking at it when you have a lot of things to do that will benefit the ordinary man? So that money was not stolen.
“Let us take Abuja for example. I built it. Today, we have a brand new capital; we used that money. I gave you a Third Mainland bridge, Lagos, which you cannot build today with all the money that Nigeria is making.”
Most investigated ex-president in Nigeria
The former leader, who recently hosted President Goodluck Jonathan in his expansive mansion in Minna, the Niger State capital, said he was not worried over the corruption toga being bandied about him and his administration, claiming that it was a mere perception thing.
He said he remained the most investigated former president in Nigeria but was happy that nothing incriminating had been found against him to justify the claim that his government was corrupt.
According to him, “now, even our fiercest critics give us credit for certain things we did. I have been the most investigated president Nigeria has ever had. By now somebody should have come forward to say here it is. Every government that came after me investigated me because of that perception because they wanted to retrieve the billions that I stole.”
On June 12 election
On why he annulled the June 12 election won by his late friend, Chief M.K.O. Abiola, IBB said he had given the reasons in the past but pointed out that the very people who claimed to support the election were the same who turned round to work with the military junta and made it to perpetuate itself for many years.
He said: “All those who fought for June 12 ended up serving the military government they didn’t like and that perpetuated a longer stay of the military in government.”
