From Victor Osula, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has praised Nigerians for their courage and resilience which enabled the country to pull through COVID-19 induced economic meltdown in 2021 and overcome challenges along the path to building a prosperous nation.
The President who stated this in his New Year message reassured Nigerians that his administration would continue to sustain policies and programmes that would roll back the “persistent insecurity in certain parts of the country that is threatening to unravel the incremental gains achieved in the real sectors of the economy and in the administration’s overall objective to position the nation on the irreversible trajectory of sustainable growth and progress.”
According to him, “the path to nationhood is often fraught with unpredictable difficulties and challenges, and most tried and tested nations have often prevailed through dogged determination, resilience, concerted commitment to unity, and the conviction that the whole of the nation, standing together against all odds, is by far greater and would ultimately be more prosperous and viable than the sum of its distinguishable parts.”
He said security remains at the front burner of priority areas that his administration has given utmost attention to by investing heavily in re-equipping our military in line with upgrading the platforms and firepower required to tackle the current challenges being faced in the country.
“ Government, however, realizes that victory on the battlefield is just one aspect of sustainable victory. We know that to fully win this war, we must also win the peace and real security lies in winning the hearts and minds of the affected citizens. To this end, working with our international partners and neighbouring countries, we would be deploying multi-faceted solutions that will be targeted at addressing human security at the grassroots, before it leads to insecurity,” he said while thanking the security personnel for their gallantry and commiserating with Nigerians who have lost loved ones as a result of insecurity in different parts of the country.
While he submitted that the government showed a high level of resilience to record some significant achievements despite the turbulence that has characterized our economy and indeed the global economy, he promised better days ahead in 2022 through a diversified economy that produces jobs, encourage investment and emerging sectors.
He said; “In year 2022 and going forward, our Administration would intentionally leverage ICT platforms to create jobs, while ensuring that the diversification of our economy creates more support to other emerging sectors. I am proud to announce that several foreign investors are taking advantage of our ranking as one of the leading start-up ecosystems in Africa to invest in our digital economy.
“As we welcome 2022, let us, with hope, envision a year of continued progress against our combined challenges arising from security and socio-economic issues.”
