President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that what was handed over to him by the immediate-past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was a near-empty treasury.
He also said debts running into millions of dollars was passed on to him.
The president made the revelation on Monday during a meeting he had with State House correspondents to mark his first day in his Aso Rock office.
The President relocated to the Presidential Villa on Sunday evening barely three weeks after he was inaugurated.
He had been operating from his private residence and the Defence House, the official residence of the President-elect.
He described as very embarrassing the fact that some state and federal workers are being owed months of salaries.
He begged the journalists to help him communicate the real situation of things to people so that the people would not castigate him for what he knows nothing about, especially in the matter of 100 days in office assessment.
“This culture of 100 days (in office) is bringing so much pressure with treasury virtually empty, with debts in millions of dollars, with state workers and even federal workers not being paid their salaries,” he said.
“This is such a disgrace for Nigeria. I think Nigeria should be in a position to at least pay its workers.
“This bad management that we find ourselves in, we really need your help to protect us from people before they march on us.”
He said it was not by accident that he appointed one of the best journalists in the country, Mr. Femi Adesina, as his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity.
He said he brought Adesina so that he could consistently defend him against his co-journalists.
He said whether his job would be easy or not would depend on the presidential spokesman.
Buhari expressed the hope that what happened recently under former President Goodluck Jonathan when a State House correspondent was expelled would not happen under his watch.
