With the humongous resources at the disposal of Nigeria between 1999 and 2014, it is sad that infrastructure went to rot completely within the same period, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
Receiving the outgoing British High Commissioner to Nigeria, His Excellency, Paul Arkwright, in a farewell audience at State House, Abuja, on Monday, the President said:
“Our focus now is on infrastructure; roads, rail, power, and others. How I wish we had fixed all those when we had money. What we earned between 1999 and 2014 is on record, but nothing was done to infrastructure. Now, we are doing a lot more, with a lot less resources. And we shall continue to do our best.”
President Buhari commended the outgoing High Commissioner for his warm and pleasant disposition, which has seen him traversing almost the entire country. “I always see you all over the place,” the President noted.
Arkwright, who spent over three years in Nigeria, said he visited 30 of the 36 states, and found the people quite enterprising and engaging, adding that the British government would be glad to offer a helping hand as required in any part of the country.
He thanked President Buhari for his support, adding that the relations between Britain and Nigeria have improved tremendously in the past three years.