President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday in Beijing, China read the riot act against pipeline vandals blowing up oil and gas installations in Nigeria.
He warned them to desist immediately or face the same drastic action being taken against extremist Boko Haram sect by the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Buhari was speaking when he met with members of the Nigerian Community in China.
The President recommitted his administration’s total resolve to winning the war against corruption, saying that corruption was an arch-enemy of the nation which has destroyed the lives and properties of thousands of Nigerians.
“I ask for your support to make our vision of stamping out corruption a reality in the shortest possible time. Whoever is caught will not be spared,” Femi Adesina, special adviser on media and publicity, quoted the president as saying.
“The government is still being dared, but those who are sensible should have learnt a lesson. Those who are mad, let them continue in their madness.
“I am aware that in the last two weeks, the national grid collapsed a number of times. I hope this message will reach the vandals and saboteurs who are blowing up pipelines and installations.
“We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram.”
“Clearly, our vision of a diversified and inclusive economy will not be achieved overnight. It will be a long, and in some cases, painful journey. I am very confident we will get there. But we must start that journey now.
“We hear proposals for short cuts or quick wins. However, all we need to do is look at our history to know that there are no quick wins or short cuts in fixing Nigeria. The many decades of damage and destruction cannot be repaired overnight.
“The reform program we are implementing is not because oil prices are below $45 per barrel today. It is because when oil prices were over $100 per barrel, majority of Nigerians were still suffering.
They were simply forgotten and left behind. So, our reforms are to ensure that the majority of Nigerians are not left behind,” the President told the gathering.