President Muhammadu Buhari has poured encomiums on former president Olusegun Obasanjo during the 40th anniversary ceremony of Ogun State in Abeokuta, narrating how Obasanjo “tolerated him” when he was the Head of State, Naij reports.
Buhari went down memory lane on how ex-president Obasanjo appointed him Minister of Petroleum and supported him for three and half years.
“I express my thanks to General Obasanjo, who, as head of state, made me minister of petroleum and tolerated me for three-and-half-years.
“He tolerated me because God knows and he knows that I am not used to working as hard as he used to, but he allowed me to last that long and allowed me to work.
“If you go into records, that government made so much investment and infrastructural development in the petroleum industry. Two refineries were built, Warri and Kaduna. More than 20 depots were built; more than 3,500 pipelines were laid; and we were exporting refined products of 100,000 barrels per day.
“But what do we have today?” Buhari asked rhetorically.
In March 1976, the then Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Buhari as the Federal Commissioner (position now called Minister) for Petroleum and Natural Resources.
When the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was created in 1976, Buhari was also appointed as its Chairman, a position he held until 1978.
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