National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said President Muhammadu Buhari is reengineering and reinvigorating Nigeria’s economy for a better future.
In his remarks yesterday, during the Eid el-Kabir celebration, Tinubu said a strong foundation mattered in nation building, insisting that building such foundation required patience, perseverance and commitment as it often presented difficulties for the people.
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“Economic development and the future of the youth are crucial in the growth of any nation and we are taking care of that.
“You have to regrow the economy, reengineer it from bottom-up, during that process, it is always very difficult for ordinary people. They bear the brunt of the economic difficulties because they are in the lower cadre of the society.
”You can only use and depend on what you have and if you manage to use resources carefully, yes, you end up enjoying a multiple development in the country, that is why I always emphasise that foundation matters.
”Foundation is crucially important. I have listened to the people. I have been in contact with them at the grassroots. Even this house is not spared too, from demands from the poor and the needy, but, without regrowing the economy, retooling, reengineering the economy, we will not have anything.
“We ate the seed of growth for breakfast. Therefore, there is nothing for lunch or dinner. Nothing to harvest, that is what we talk about looters. But, it will not take a magical touch to bring it to reality. It takes patience and perseverance. Three years is not enough time for retouching, redevelopment and reengineering the country.
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”There is a lot of hope. There is a lot of expectation, but when the treasury was empty, when the salaries were outstanding, when the quality of life is low, what will you do? We have oil; they didn’t save money and we have not diversified the economy. We have eaten our dinner for breakfast, nothing in the kitchen.
“There is no magic about it. It takes dedication, commitment and perseverance. Yes, we might not be communicating effectively with the people, but we are working to make things better.”
Tinubu said the country needs a focused and determined leader like Buhari to gradually reengineer the economy for the benefit of all.
According to him, “Nigerians adopted democracy, we are going to live through this democratic government. We need a President Buhari, to retool and reengineer, that is what he is doing in the economy and he is doing it gradually, otherwise, we don’t want it to fall apart again.
“Continuity, perseverance, and endurance, those are what we need. Our determination is progress for the country and for the people. We can’t go back.
“I am very proud of what I have done in Lagos to be where it is. We were meticulous, dedicated and focused and we lifted the spirits of our people and that is why it is important for Nigerians to be focused now.”
Tinubu urged Nigerians to make sacrifices, endure, tolerate and forgive one another in the spirit of Eid el-Kabir celebration.
”When you pray for forgiveness, you must be able to forgive, if you think you deserve forgiveness. Can you ask God to give you what you cannot give to another fellow human being? That is simple,” Tinubu said.
I guess that what Nigerians are seeing at the moment and three years after Buhari administration took over are no solid foundations but frenzy excavation of grounds that are causing aggravated economic erosion in the country. This excavation can be likened to excavations of streets in APC Imo state that have created gully erosion and threatening to pull down residential buildings and render the residents homeless. If this is the kind of foundation that the economy of Nigeria is being exposed to where the naira value per dollar slid from N189 to N365 and remained, then APC should just return everything the way they found them when they forced their way in and simply pack and go.