Buhari promises not to disappoint Nigerians

President Buhari

In an apparent move to pacify Nigerians who have been groaning under severe economic hardship in the last few months, President Muhammadu Buhari has asked for patience with his administration, assuring that he is working hard to turn the things around.

Buhari made the appeal Friday in Lagos during the Vanguard Personality Award ceremony where he was jointly honoured with his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan as the 2015 Personality of the Year.

Since the Buhari administration came on board in May 2015, there has been chronic cash crunch as the government grapples with a weak naira and falling oil prices. Electricity generation, which had improved somewhat last year, has also dropped sharply and sometimes there can be power outage for days. Coupled with the worsening fuel scarcity, the situation has become unbearable.

The President, who was represented by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said his administration “is keenly aware of the difficulties they are facing at this time, resulting mostly from the fuel scarcity, poor power supply, inflation etc.”

He added: “As a government that was propelled into office by the power of the people, we cannot but feel the pains of our compatriots, and we deeply empathise with them. We are working round the clock to ease the pains of Nigerians, and the efforts of the government have started yielding fruits as we seek to make the petroleum products available nationwide, restore gas supply to the power generating firms, reflate the economy and put Nigerians back to work.”

Noting that there are a lot of grumblings and discontent in the country, even among APC stalwarts, the President pledged that he would give Nigerians the change they voted for.

“We understand that Nigerians have started questioning whether this indeed is the change they voted for, while some have even gone as far as saying that by voting for our party, Nigerians have entered ‘one chance,’” he said.

“Well, I can tell Nigerians that our change agenda is real, and that indeed, they will get the change they voted for. Nigerians have not entered one chance, because the one chance drivers and their conductors have been driven out of town.

“While we cannot but provide context for the challenges being faced by our countrymen and women today, in the sense that it has taken years of mismanagement, corruption and inefficiency to get to this sorry pass, we make no excuses. After all the people voted for us so we can correct the mistakes of the past and enthrone good governance. We are doing just that. But we want our compatriots to realize that 16 years of rot cannot be cleaned up overnight. It is much easier to destroy than to build. But we are determined to rebuild our country and to make life more abundant for our people.

“Change is a process, and that process has begun. We commend Nigerians for their perseverance. We urge them not to lose their confidence in the ability of this Administration to bring about the much-needed change. The pains of today are temporary, and will soon give way to abundance joy as we put our country firmly on the path of sustainable growth and development.”