EL-RUFAI DENIES ATTACKING BILL GATES
EL-RUFAI
DENIES ATTACKING BILL GATES
Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai
Against
the recent reports that he attacked the founder of Microsoft, Mr. Bill Gates,
for his comments on Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the
Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has explained that he never
attacked United States billionaire.
Gates
had at an expanded National Economic Council meeting presided over by
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on March 22, said President Muhammadu Buhari’s
ERGP does not truly reflect the needs of Nigerians.
The
governor was said to have faulted the philanthropist, saying that his comments
were not correct.
However,
speaking at the end of the state investment summit thuirsday, El-Rufai said he
never attacked Gates but merely put things in context.
“A few
weeks ago, when Gates came to Nigeria and appealed to Nigerian government to
invest more in education, I made a comment that was reported widely as
attacking him. It was not an attack on Gates, it was merely putting things in
context,” the governor said.
He
recalled that “Gates observed that in the ERGP, there was no enough money for
human capital development, for health and education and I did not disagree.
“What I
merely pointed out is that the ERGP plan has numbers that reflected federal
government’s investment in health and education,” he said.
El-Rufai
explained: “The bulk of education and healthcare investments are subnational
because primary education, junior secondary education and primary healthcare
where most of the problems are, are all within the purview of state government,
just like secondary healthcare are all under the state government.
“What I
told Gates is that you have identified the problem correctly, but you are
looking at the wrong tier of government to handle it.
“The
state and local governments have the responsibilities to invest in education
and healthcare.
“So, it is up to state governments to invest more in education and healthcare and I gave example of what we are doing in Kaduna and also urged my colleagues, the governors to do same. Because unless the state governments do so, the country will be clapping with one hand.
“So, it is up to state governments to invest more in education and healthcare and I gave example of what we are doing in Kaduna and also urged my colleagues, the governors to do same. Because unless the state governments do so, the country will be clapping with one hand.
“That
is what I said, but it was misrepresented to mean that, I was attacking Gates.
There is nothing wrong with attacking Gates, we can differ, but that is not
what happened, I merely explained the context, where the investment should be”.
According
to him, “Gates is a big partner, he has invested $1.6billion in Nigeria and a
large percentage of that money was invested in Kaduna state.
“I will
not disclose how much, because other states will be envious.”