Buhari
President
Muhammadu Buhari has commended Nigerians for their perseverance while
urging them not to lose confidence in the ability of his Administration
to bring about the change they so much desire.
Speaking
at the 2015 Vanguard Awards in Lagos on Friday night, where he was
honoured with the Personality of the Year Award 2015, the President said
he is keenly aware of the difficulties that Nigerians are facing at
this time, resulting mostly from the fuel scarcity, poor power supply,
inflation etc.
''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,'' he said.
President
Buhari, who was represented by the Minister of Information and Culture,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said he understands 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 the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Nigerians have entered ''One Chance''.
''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,'' said the President. ''''Change is a process,
and that process has begun...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.''
The
President said all Nigerians, the Civil Society Organisations and the
media are the real heroes of the last general elections in particular
and the country's democracy in general, adding: ''And they, more than
anyone or group of people, deserve all the accolades.''
He
commended the media for the role it played in ensuring the relative
success of the last general elections, and the resilience of the
nation's democracy since the beginning of this Republic.
''When
the history of the last general elections as well as our democracy is
eventually written, I have no doubt that the media will occupy a
prominent place on its honour's list. This is not a surprise, because
there is no contesting the fact that from the pre-independence years
through the years of independence, the various attempts at democratic
governance and the years of military interregnum, the media has stood
solidly on the side of the people and has fought for the national
interest, without compromising its integrity,'' President Buhari added.
In
bestowing the honour on the President, the Vanguard described him as
''a living example of what tenacity, fortitude, and perseverance mean in
human experience, and until future experience proves otherwise, he is
the closest yet that Nigeria will have to America’s Abraham Lincoln.''
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