By; Mohammed Kawu, Bauchi.
Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi state has assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari’s anticorruption crusade and sound economic policies will take Nigeria out of the woods.
Abubakar who noted that President Buhari is on course as the present nation’s leadership is focused, sincere and nationalistic backed by the nationalistic pasture of Nigerians and their support to the leadership.
He was speaking weekend at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa memorial lecture with a theme ‘Nigeria under New Administration, Change, Challenge and Prospect’ and launching of a maiden magazine organized by the National Union of Bauchi State Students, NUBASS, at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi.
The Governor, who noted that the people are determined to jealously guard the change that they have all yearned for, recalled that the slogan of change has often been used by progressive politicians in capturing power.
Governor Abubakar said that the present APC Government of President Muhammadu Buhari captured the mood of the people and effectively used the slogan of change to wrestle power from the People’s Democratic Power (PDP).
According to him, the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration was on a rescue mission, stressing that before the 2015 elections the country was in the state of despair and despondency as a result of general insecurity in many parts of the country brought about by inept and corrupt administration.
Abubakar solicited for citizens’ cooperation, support, understanding and prayer as the APC governments embark on the task of nation building and national transformation which, he said, was a herculean task considering the level of dislocations in many sectors of the economy and the unprecedented looting of public funds in the last few years.
The Governor explained that the “APC administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has adopted the change mantra-disposition with the sole aim of changing the mindset of people as well as providing positive policy direction in the conduct of government affairs.
He cited improvement in security, the power sector and the economy as the greatest change the administration of President Buhari has brought to the nation within his past few months in office.
“The greater percentage of this year’s budget, the first by an APC government, is going to be funded from non-oil revenue which is a deliberate attempt to shift emphasis from oil to other sources of revenue, inconsideration of the decline of oil prices in the international market”, he said.
He commended organizers of the lecture for their foresight and patriotism by reminding Nigerians about the legendary late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, stressing the need for Nigerians to continue to pray for the repose of his soul and equally emulate him so as to build on the legacy he left behind.
The guest speaker and an elder statesman, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, who traced the political evolution of the nation, noted that the country was put on a sound footing by the then politicians as led by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
He assured that Nigeria will soon retrace its tracks with the good governance being put in place by President Muhammadu Buhari, as Governor Abubakar launched the magazine with five million naira on behalf of the government of Bauchi State.