President admits Nigeria under him is experiencing "very turbulent" times

dimeji akinloye

March 27, 2018 5:40 AM

Giving credit to his administration, Buhari said numerous programmes that would transform the lives of "millions of Nigerians" have been introduced.

President

He said his team is now reviving critical sectors that could create jobs, which according to him have been neglected for decades by past governments.

The President stated this while inaugurating the National Food Security Council at the presidential villa, Abuja.

"Nigeria's journey in the last three years has been a very turbulent one. The country's need for critical job-creating sectors which has been ignored for decades is now beginning to yield results", he said.

Buhari said the council will enhance the various social investment and agricultural programmes put in place by his administration to achieve their full potential.

He added, "We shall also develop new programmes and projects that will protect and indeed, create more jobs in farming, fisheries, animal husbandry and forestry.

"We will also not lose sight of the other issues that will impact our food production ambitions such as; population growth, ubanisation, industrialisation, rural infrastructure development and climate change."

Buhari's achievements

Giving more credit to his administration, the President said numerous programmes that would transform the lives of "millions of Nigerians" have been introduced.

He said: "We introduced the national social investment programmes targeting millions of Nigerians who are living from hand to mouth. We launched agricultural programmes focusing on import substitution, job creation and rural development thereby bringing socio-economic transformation to the millions of citizens living in some of the most remote rural parts of our country.

"We commenced the long-term pollution remediation projects in the Niger Delta with the hope of restoring dignity and normalcy to the millions of Nigerians impacted by decades of pollution in their communities.

"We intensified our participation in the Lake Chad Basin Commission with the goal of reversing the shrinkage of the lake, which impacts the livelihoods of over 45 million farmers, herdsmen and fishermen in the LCBC countries.

"We issued the first ever green bond that will act as a catalyst for investments in renewable energy and afforestation projects. This was oversubscribed, sharing market confidence in the country and our government.

"We established the agro rangers unit within the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to protect the billions of naira of investments recorded in Nigeria's agricultural sector across the country."

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Buhari, however, acknowledged that "the journey is long", noting that it is the council's duty to ensure that the positive impacts of these programmes are "sustained, improved and expanded."

More than ever, the current administration, which critics have described as a failure, is making strategic moves to salvage the country's weak economy, presumably in order to convince Nigerians to give it a second chance in 2019.

As the 2019 general elections draw close, politicians have been trying harder to be on their best behaviour and, as usual, portray a 'messiah' image of their blocs just to be in the good books of the electorate, who have little or no trust in them.

dimeji akinloye