By; SUNDAY ODE, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday that he would rather keep sealed lips over who would succeed him as President in 2023 because naming anybody would create more problems for them.
He said, however, that anybody wishing to step into his shoes should be prepared to work hard for their success at the polls.
Buhari spoke while receiving members of the Progressives in Academics (Pro-Acad) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The group had asked him to start grooming a youth who will replace him when his second term expires in 2023.
Recalling his three previous attempts before becoming President in 2015, Buhari said that to become a President takes a lot of hard work and not something to be achieved overnight.
He said “to me this is very funny. I think if I identify anybody I’d create more problem for him or for her. So, I’d rather keep my mouth shut. Let those who would want to be president try as much as I did.
And I believe that those who are interested know that I tried three times. And the first time, I thank God and technology, PVC. Before, they just go to the television and they read the results.
They say anybody who disagreed should go to court. And most of my supporters are looking for next day’s meal. They don’t have money to give to lawyers. So I said God dey. So, the first time God and technology came along , Permanent Voter Card ( PVC), they couldn’t rig the election so I won.
“This time around…I tried to work hard but I think you have a lot more to do you as intellectuals so that you correctly document Nigeria’s political development.
” It’s very important for the next generation. A lot of our young chaps are taking things for granted. Imagine to contest election three times ending up in Supreme Court three times.
” It needs a lot of conviction you know, and hard work. But people take success for granted. They say, ah, he’s the president. They think I just closed my eyes and I got it? The president asked rhetorically.
The President also blamed state governments for the state of the Al-majiri system in the country.
According to him, education remains a top priority for his administration saying in the last four years,the government had injected over N1 trillion into education.
He stated”Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for progress, they decided not to go back to the dark days of impunity and corruption.
“Education remains a top priority for our government. In the last four years, we injected over N1 trillion into education through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Tetfund) and our needs assessment interventions.
“We also released N25 billion to public universities to pay earned academic allowances to lecturers. Of course, you are all aware of the rot we uncovered at JAMB and many other institutions.
“Our home grown school feeding programme covering more than two million children couple with our social investment initiative has encouraged many parents to send their children to school and also pay for more teachers in classrooms.
“In the next four years we shall continue with the work to transform the sector bearing in mind our high population growth rate, financial challenges and security issues especially those grossly affected areas.
“Simply put our focus and agenda can only be sustained if we have educated and secured society. Therefore, we have no choice but produce more engineers, technicians, doctors, nurses and the teachers.
“To achieve this, we shall continue to seek your advise and guidance. I am pleased to note some of the ideas you proposed, this submission is timely as we prepare for the next level.”
