By Luka Binniyat & Abdullahi Garba

KADUNA—Kaduna State governor-elect, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has described the outgoing administration of Governor Ramalan Yero as roguish.

El-Rufai also, reaffirmed his determination to recover “every kobo” allegedly looted by officials of the government.

The former minister of the FCT spoke Thursday at his  pre- inauguration lecture with the theme, “Building Rome in a Day with one Kobo: El-Rufai and the Challenge of  21st Century Kaduna.”

According to him, the incoming government in Kaduna would inherit what he described as an empty treasury along with debts.

He said he would not waste his time trying to recover money from those who stole government money amounting to some few thousands.

Malam Nasir el-Rufa’i and Mukhtar Ramalan Yero

“Nigerian problem is man made. This is a country well blessed and endowed, but our problems are ourselves. Look at what happened in the power sector. A country that was producing 4,500 Megawatt deliberately dropped to 50 Megawatt sometimes this month. This is out of shear wickedness to frustrate the incoming government of Gen. Buhari. But they will not succeed.

“We are inheriting serious difficulties, and the expectation from us is very high. But the way we won our election clearly shows that there is the hand of God in it. So we are going to do our best; we are going to put in a lot of sacrifices. If we fail, it would not be that it was because we did not do our best.

“And we are not even thinking of failure. We are going to make Kaduna State great again.

“The resources of the state have been looted and we will insist on accountability but we will not waste our time chasing those who stole small amounts of money.

“We will chase those who stole billions of Naira but we will forgive those who stole hundreds of thousands.

“We are not interested in the pick pockets but we want to get the armed robbers among them. As for the small thieves, even the Holy Books say we should forgive these set of people.

“We will work hard to make Kaduna State work again and we are not going to give any excuses for non-performance,” El-Rufa’i said.

Also speaking at the programme,  a former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai, and the immediate past chairman of Subsidy Removal Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, said he had no regrets demanding for change.