No fewer than 446 Nigerians are currently serving different prison terms in prisons across the United Arab Emirates UAE for committing various criminal offenses including possession and consumption of hard drugs and engagement in armed robbery.
Nigerian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirate, Ambassador to the UAE, Ambassador Garba Gajam disclosed this at a town hall meeting President Muhammadu Buhari in Dubai on Tuesday.
This is just as he regretted that there was no records of the exact number of Nigerians who are currently residing in that country.
He lamented that despite the spirit of forgiveness, tolerance and accommodation granted to all irregular resident in the country, many Nigerians are still languishing in various prisons within the UAE.
He disclosed that a total of 5021 Nigerians were granted amnesty which will enable them to live and pursue their legitimate businesses in the country.
“In 2018, a total 5774 standard passport were issued by the embassy, out of which 3164 were specifically issued during the amnesty programme. further 1346 emergency traveling certificates were issued to Nigerians to facilitate their return home.
” Although there no exact record of our citizens in the UAE, owing to the inability to register them on arrival, the number of Nigerians resident in the country is estimated at about 10,000. Out of this number, about 2,017 are students in various universities.
President Muhamamdu Buhari who spoke of his plans for the “Next Level”, said his administration will concentrate on the areas of Security, economy and fighting corruption.
“I explained so many time where we are, what we have been able to do with resources available to us from 2015 till now. The next level is to consolidate whatever we have done initially”
He reiterated that .”it makes common sense that in order to manage an outfit, whether a nation, state or organisation, you have to secure it”
In the fight against corruption, the President while jocularly recalling while they call him “ Baba go slow” recall how he checked corruption as a Military Head of State.
.”I ‘bark but I cannot bite, Baba go slow,’ the president said; I have once ruled this country, some of you know that once upon a time I came in uniform and what I did was to arrest from the president downward.
“The president, Vice President, the governor’s and ministers, other than the president and the Vice President, the others, I put them in Kiri-Kiri, and I told them they are guilty until they can prove themselves innocent. And you know subsequently what happened- we put about six tribunals base on the geopolitical zones, and those who were ministers and governors were asked to justify what they have in the banks and physical on the ground relative to their legitimate earns.
“There were only two Nigerians then to my knowledge who were found to be very Honourable, both of them are dead now: Biliaminu Usman, a junior minister, from Jigawa State, and Adamu Chiroma, a minister of finance and governor of central bank. They were incredible Nigerians.
“But you know what happened, eventually, I myself was arrested, I was put in detention for three and a quarter years, luckily for me, I was so stupid, I didn’t take anybody’s money, so there was no bad publicity for me because they couldn’t find anything against me. Eventually I was released, and that was why I made up my mind since the bulk is partisan politics, I joined the partisan politics.
The President said, though he has been dubbed Baba go slow, he will not be tempted to loot public treasury
“I may be ‘Baba go slow’ but I didn’t loot. People have to be proven guilty before they are locked up. All that I have to do is to tell the police, and SS that somebody has so many houses, he has so many investment and his salary is this. Recently, the EFCC placed an advert in some of the national newspapers and showed how much was recovered in term of fixed asset and money.
“But what this administration did is to encourage Treasury Single Account (TSA), where government revenue goes to. If you see how the money goes in, then when it goes out, you can follow it.
Buhari noted that things have changed adding that “ Before now, everybody was doing his own thing. You had ministry with 20 accounts. The office of the Auditor General of the Federation or the Accountant General cannot follow it.
“So, when we came we said there must be TSA, all government revenues must go there and from there you can trace where it has gone to. It’s a very unpopular decision but I think feel relieved that people have to account for whatever they manage.
“We are investing more on research and development because it’s a new technology, in educational institutions and so.
“Government is coming up with a policy of trying to make sure we take the full advantage of the resources of the country to get first class equipment in our institutions and to train and retrain our teachers.
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
