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By Nasir Kura
President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday in Dubai declared that the next four years of his administration would be a harvest and consolidation of successes in the three-point agenda of fixing the economy, fighting insecurity and corruption
Speaking at a town hall meeting with members of the Nigerian Community in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the president pledged more government investments in research and development as well as technology and educational institutions.
He also assured that prudent economic management, diversification of production and revenue bases of the administration in the last four years would be sustained for better prospects for all Nigerians.
‘‘The Next Level is to consolidate whatever we have done till 2023 and it makes common sense that in order to manage any outfit, whether a nation, state or organisation , you have to secure it.
‘‘We all know how many local governments Boko Haram were occupying. People from the North-east know that they are not holding any local government today. They were holding 17 out of the 774 local governments before we came in 2015; they are not holding any now,’’ he said.
At the interactive session, the Nigerian leader said a key objective of his administration which had yielded positive results, in the last four years, was the campaign for the nation to return to agriculture.
He said the nation cannot afford to lag behind again in agriculture.
‘‘What we did was to encourage agriculture, and fertiliser was made available at half the price. We encouraged people to go back to land. The response was excellent. We have virtually achieved food security; we have stopped the importation of rice. The money we have saved in foreign exchange is in hundreds of millions of dollars, not even in naira. We are putting that into infrastructure,’’ he said.
Responding to a question about the pace of anti-corruption war, the president said: ‘‘Whoever calls me Baba-go-slow, I’m very conscious of historical antecedents. You know what happened to me the last time…people [now] have to be proven guilty before they are locked up,” he said.
The president also reflected on the 2019 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign and the outcome of the polls, saying: ‘‘I was very impressed by the turn out of every state to see and hear me. The crowd is more than what you can buy or force to come. Nigerians voluntarily came out.’’
