- Says fight against banditry, kidnapping, other crimes in North West, other regions showing clear results
- Insists Nigeria has been able to weather economic storms
For the umpteenth time, President Muhammadu Buhari has reinstated his commitment to resist every attempt by politicians to create unrest in any form to disrupt the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
In his 2023 New Year message to Nigerians, the President vowed that the government will ensure such activities are met with the full force of the law.
Buhari promised that in addition to his personal commitment and executive promise to see to the letter that the 2023 elections being diligently conducted by INEC will be free and fair, “the collective electoral will and votes of Nigerians will be fulfilled, even in the twilight moments of my watch.”
According to him, “In year 2023, Nigerians go to the polls to exercise our right to vote and elect a new administration, it is an important year for our country to ensure that we have another smooth transition of government, to whoever the people have decided upon. This administration’s landmark Amended Electoral Act will ensure that we have free and fair elections across the Nation. We as Nigerians must also take responsibility to ensure we participate in ensuring that the 2023 elections are free and fair by not engaging in anti-state activities and other nefarious acts that may affect the run of the polls. We must also resist every attempt to be used by politicians to create unrest in any form to disrupt the elections. We, as the government, will ensure such activities are met with the full force of the law.”
The President noted that as the security agencies continue to make the country proud, Nigerians must continue to assist the patriotic forces by providing much needed community intelligence.
In his words, “It is our collective responsibility to ensure that Nigeria remains safe and peaceful for us all. Therefore, we have a duty and obligation to support our troops and intelligence agencies by being alert and reporting anything suspicious.”
President Buhari said the fight against insurgency in the North East region has continually recorded very clear wins in the past year.
He disclosed that the Federal Government, and the Borno State government, have started the journey of returning internally displaced persons to their ancestral homes earlier taken by the insurgents.
Also, he said over 82,000 insurgents with their families have surrendered to the Nigerian military.
“A number of surrendered insurgents are currently being processed by the rehabilitation (Operation Safe Corridor) programme. The fight against banditry, kidnapping and other crimes in the North West and other regions is gaining momentum and showing very clear results. One of which is the resumption of Train Service along the Kaduna to Abuja corridor.”
On the economic front, the President noted that despite the ongoing global economic crisis, Nigeria has been able to weather the storms.
According to him, “Inflation across the globe is at its highest, the Federal Government has been resolute through its economic interventions to remain above water during this period. 2022 brought a combined impact from ongoing wars and aftereffects of COVID-19. Though creating its own fiscal challenges, we have continued to subsidize our energy costs to buffer households from inflationary pressure of high energy costs. In 2023, we are focused on building on our GDP and sustaining the huge surge in non-oil GDP growth.”
He said the Nigerian Start up Bill has been passed as an Act, saying this is considered a huge step in lowering our unemployment figures by boosting job creation and supporting the entrepreneurial drive of our youths.
“If you recall in my 2021 New Year speech, I had mentioned the need to secure the future of our youth recognizing that our young people are our most valuable natural resource, at home and abroad. In this regard, we worked with the legislature to develop an enabling law to turn their passions into ideas that can be supported, groomed and scaled across regions. 2023 will see the implementation of the Nigerian Start Up Act nationwide,” he promised.
President Buhari promised that the year 2023 would, indeed, be a time when the country would work to solidify on delivering key strategic priorities under the “SEA” – (Security, Economy and Anti-Corruption) Agenda.
He listed some of the key priority areas that the government would direct its attention and strengths to include:
“a. Focus on SECURITY; we will continue to engage, push back and dismantle the operations of both internal and external extremist and criminal groups waging war against our communities across the Nation. We will also focus on ensuring that free and fair elections would be held come February 2023. Our security forces are working in partnership to ensure the wins we have got in war against insurgency, banditry, secession and other crimes are sustained and more wins acquired.
“b. For the ECONOMY; our focus would be on maintaining and building economic growth through the national economic diversification agenda that supports the goal of national food self-sufficiency and growth in non-oil sources. The ongoing infrastructure revolution by our administration will see us deliver the key projects across the Nation in power, rail, roads, ports and technology.
“c. ANTI-CORRUPTION: On the anti-corruption drive of our administration, we have created new records in this fight, growing from 117 convictions in 2017 to 3,615 convictions as at December 2022. We as a government are committed to ridding our nation of all forms of corruption, through the collaboration with all the arms of Government to effectively prosecute this fight.
“As we welcome the New Year, let us look with hope to 2023, a year to move forward as a Nation towards unity, progress and prosperity. I offer my own personal felicitations, mindful of the various opinions and interpretations of our executive legacies. I welcome and accept both the accolades and criticisms in equal measure secure in the conviction that I did my best to serve our dear country Nigeria and I pray that the next President will also pick up the baton and continue the race to make Nigeria one of the leading countries of the world by the end of this century.”
