As Nigeria marks her 62nd Independence Anniversary, President Muhammadu Buhari has scored his administration high in his efforts at creating a better Nigeria.
While noting the hardship that citizens are still going through the president said he shared the pains of Nigerians over existing challenges still confronting the people.
He however said his administration will not relent in de-escalating the security challenges that is confronting Nigeria.
The President in his independence day speech on Saturday said he remains eternally grateful to Nigerians for electing him to run the affairs of the country on their behalf, after several trials and failures.
He however regretted that this will be his last independence day speech as President.
“I share the pains Nigerians are going through and I assure you that your resilience and patience would not be in vain as this administration continues to reposition as well as strengthen the security agencies to enable them to deal with all forms of security challenges”.
Conscious that today’s address would be my last on Independence Day as your President; I speak to the millions of Nigerians, who believed in me, propelled and stood by me in my quest to bequeath a country where all citizens have equal opportunities to achieve their lives desires in a peaceful atmosphere.
“I am honoured to say that my story in the annals of Nigeria’s history is no household secret. My various attempts, failures and eventual success in being elected as a Democratic President in 2015 were made possible by the majority of Nigerians.
“When you elected me, I readily acknowledged that the tasks before me were daunting but surmountable because of the growing national consensus that our chosen route to national development was democracy,” an emotion-laden Buhari stated.
He said his style of democracy was anchored on a clear understanding, application and the principles of separation of powers supported by a reformed public service that is more effective.
“I then pledged to improve the economy, tackle corruption and fight insecurity and this was further strengthened by my commitment to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in ten years as the central plank of my second term in 2019.
“To the Glory of God and His Grace as well as the commitment and passion displayed by many Nigerian supporters, we have made appreciable progress in these areas but are not yet at our destination”
Mindful of the task before us, we took some time in settling down and we re-positioned the Economy by providing strategic interventions in core areas at both the federal and sub-national levels.
“One of the areas where we have made significant progress is in the eradication of deeply entrenched corruption that permeates all facets of our national development.
“We strengthened the institutions for tackling corruption and also cultivated international support, which aided the repatriation of huge sums of money illegally kept outside the country.
“The increasing number of prosecutions and convictions, with associated refunds of large sums of money is still ongoing. Furthermore, we would continue to block opportunities that encourage corrupt practices.
“In order to address insecurity, we worked methodically in reducing Insurgency in the North-East, militancy in the Niger Delta, ethnic and religious tensions in some sections of Nigeria along with other problems threatening our country.
“Our efforts in re-setting the economy manifested in Nigeria exiting two economic recessions by the very practical and realistic monetary and fiscal measures to ensure effective public financial management.
“In addition, the effective implementation of the Treasury Single Account and cutting down on the cost of governance also facilitated early exits from recessions.
“Fellow Nigerians, this administration removed several decades uncertainty for potential Investors in the oil & gas sector with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021.
“This landmark legislation created opportunities for foreign investments in addition to improving transparency in the management of the sector.”
Read the full address below: https://presentng.com.ng.ng/president-buharis-independent-day-address-full-text/
