No govt in the past did what we are doing, says Buhari

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President Muhammadu Buhari has commended his administration for bold initiatives, hitting others in the previous governments between 1999 and 2015 as presiding over the near destruction of the country.

The president said this in his Independence broadcast to the nation on Thursday.

President Buhari also noted that Nigeria charges the cheapest price per litre of petrol in the sub- region.

He said, “No government in the past did what we are doing with such scarce resources. We have managed to keep things going in spite of the disproportionate spending on security.

“Those in the previous Governments from 1999 – 2015 who presided over the near destruction of the country have now the impudence to attempt to criticise our efforts.

  “In the circumstances, a responsible government must face realities and take tough decisions.

 ” Petroleum prices in Nigeria are to be adjusted. We sell now at N161 per litre. A comparison with our neighbours will illustrate the point;

“Chad which is an oil producing country charges N362 per litre.

“Niger, also an oil producing country sells 1 litre at N346.

“In Ghana, another oil producing country, petroleum pump price is N326 per litre.

“Further afield, Egypt charges N211 per litre. Saudi Arabia charges N168 per litre. It makes no sense for oil to be cheaper in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia.

President Buhari admitted that the nation’s economy was in crisis, saying though it was a global phenomenon, while equally stating there were security challenges.

He said, “Today, I am aware that our economy along with every single economy in the world is in crisis. We still face security challenges in parts of the country, while our society suffers from a high loss of moral rectitude which is driven by unbridled craving for political control.

“An underlying cause of most of the problems we have faced as a nation is our consistent harping on artificially contrived fault-lines that we have harboured and allowed unnecessarily to fester.

 “In addition, institutions such as civil service, police, the judiciary, the military all suffered from a general decline.

“We need to begin a sincere process of national healing and this anniversary presents a genuine opportunity to eliminate old and outworn perceptions that are always put to test in the lie they always are.”

He urged Nigerians to shun “stereotype of thinking of ourselves as coming from one part of the country before seeing ourselves as Nigerians” as this is a key starting point to project us on the road to our deserved nation’s evolution and integration.”

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