The Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has said that past leaders and not President Muhammadu Buhari should be blamed for the insecurity in the country.

The ex Rivers State Governor said it is an anomaly to absolve the past leaders for mismanaging the country’s resources and terrible insecurity situation in the land.

He spoke on Friday during the opening of the North Central Coordinating Office complex of the Nigerian Shippers Council and visual presentation of the proposed Maritime Resource Centre in Jos, Plateau State.

He said: “The earlier Nigerians begin to take people who can perform, the better. The reason we are doing this project is so that we can reduce banditry and insecurity because if you don’t create jobs, you will not reduce crime.

“The reason there is crime is that the rich men who ran the economy of Nigeria for years mismanaged it. I don’t know why Nigerians like to think that we are the first to be in government.

“Before we came, there were previous governments. If they had run the economy in ways that created jobs, today, we won’t be talking about insecurity and banditry. I usually tell people, if the rich do not allow the poor to sleep; will the poor allow them to sleep? All of us will be awake boxing one another.”