Fellow Nigerians, I am happy to address you
all today on my return from medical treatment in the United Kingdom. It is by
the grace of Almighty Allah that I am here with you.
I want to begin by thanking every Nigerian who prayed for my quick
recovery. I also wish to thank those who lost patience with me. I understand
your feeling. We have so much work to do in this country that every minute lost
is a disservice to our people.
My special
thanks goes to the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. He held the fort in my
absence. I’m very pleased with his performance despite the difficulties our
political structure imposed on him. He did the job of leading this nation so
well that I have a renewed confidence in our leaders of tomorrow.
I also thank
the National Assembly, my ministers, the members of the judiciary, our security
forces and civil servants across this nation who go to work everyday and look
up at the picture of their leader who had been absent for long and still
dedicate themselves to the task of the day.
Being sick
is a human condition. While we pray that sickness does not befall even our
worst enemies, it is one of those life experiences that ‘will come when it will
come’. For those concerned about the financial burden my illness must have
exerted on our nation, I want to dispel your fears.
Though as
your president I am entitled to receive medical treatment anywhere that my
doctors deemed best, I’m waiving that right. My family and friends will take
care of my medical bills.
As leaders,
we must lead by example. I promised to end medical tourism if elected president
of Nigeria. Two years after, it has not happened. You do not have to go far to
know that it has not happened. My absence from Nigeria for 103 days makes it
evident. It is my personal failure. I own up to it, the same way I own up to
all that we promised but have not accomplished.
As part of
my renewed commitment to this country, in my remaining days as your president,
I will make sure that no president of Nigeria will again have the need to
travel abroad to receive medical treatment. We have done greater things in the
past. We can do this.
In the last
two years, we have opened the window of opportunities for tens of thousands of
our young people through the N-Power entrepreneur scheme. We have school
children in 13 states of Nigeria receiving free lunch at school as part of our
Homegrown School Feeding Programme. In 9 states, over 26,000 are receiving
N5,000 stipend a month from Conditional Cash Transfer Programme. We have
stabilized the Naira and the economy. No matter how raw and uneven it may have
been, we have taken a stab at the fight against corruption. Though it is still
with us, its wings of impunity have been clipped. And instead of unrelenting on
this fight, we are reloading and refocusing.
We have made
strides here and there, but for many, the change that we promised has not
materialized. In some cases, the change has taken many of our people two or
three steps backwards. To them, it is hard to preach that stepping back is part
of the process needed for a forward push. They may have seen the rams do it,
but that does not mean that they will understand it and embrace it when it
means doing with less meat in their pot of soup.
For me, this
period of ailment has been an opportunity for great reflection. If I had an
illusion that I would always be with you, that illusion is gone now. I will not
always be with you. But I know that Nigeria will always be with you. I,
therefore, come back with a renewed commitment to leave a better nation for you
all. In the little time that I have left in this role as your president, I want
to see a more united Nigeria for all.
Our unity can
only come if we create an equitable and just nation.
I have had
time to look at Nigeria from outside. I have watched with great interest how
the wheels of the nation work from afar. They are not working well. All that we
were afraid of are happening now.
We shall
confront them. But more importantly, we shall confront the nursery where the
anomalies are bred.
In
re-committing myself to the Nigerian project, I am determined to listen to, and
understand, the people at the fringe of our society. More often than not, we
fail to give them our ears and assume that what they have to offer has little
or nothing to do with our lofty dream for the nation. That, I have come to
understand, is a false premise. All voices are needed in the negotiation for
the advancement of the Nigerian project.
Moving
forward, balancing the Nigerian project to give it a solid sense of equity and
justice is paramount to me. I want all those who are committed to come to us. I
want those at the forefront of the fight for restructuring Nigeria to bring to
me proposals and blueprints on how to make things better.
I want to
balance the seats in the House of Representative to make it fair to all. I want
the number of states in each geo-political zones balanced. I want to see the
resources of this nation shared in such a way that those from the areas where
these resources come from do not feel cheated by the rest. I want to devolve
power from the center. I want to free the regions to stand on their own. I want
the geopolitical zones enshrined in our constitution. I want the presidency to
rotate amongst the zones. The number of local government in each zone should be
fair so that local government allocations to each zone would not be lopsided.
We need to
sit down and articulate the blue print of how to make Nigeria great. I want a
master plan of what should be done on my desk in six months. We need them in
specific terms.
We have to
radically transform this country if we want it to survive. I’m looking for a
holistic treatment of all that ails us.
With the
remaining time that we have, we want to set things right to make it easy for
those coming behind us. We cannot wait. All along, the military has been the
one putting in place constitutions and structures. Our democracy is mature
enough that we can do them ourselves in tune with the desires and goals of our
peoples. If we can accomplish that, the rest of the task of governing this
beautiful country should be a lot easier, not just for this generation but for
generations to come.
You won’t
always have Buhari with you, but my job is to make sure that you will always
have a Nigeria, an equitable and just country for all.
Political
defeat of one section of the country only leads to progressive defeat of the
whole nation.
I am ready to
defend this vision of a new Nigeria with the last breath in me.
It is very
unfortunate that we have been programmed to believe that in a family, injustice
to one does not impact the cohesion and commitment of the other to the family.
But it does. It is the reason for all the rumblings we hear in our dear country
today.
To ensure my
commitment to this, in a few weeks, we will convene a meeting in Aso Rock with
all the young people who are so dissatisfied with the Nigerian project that
they have decided to opt out of it. We want to listen to them and forge a way
to regain their trust. The youths of this nation are the most important
resource that we have. That should not be just a mantra to be given mere lip
service. It is a statement of fact that we need to hold sacrosanct.
My
generation has played its part. We must have the courage to begin a systematic
disengagement so that the next generation can take the lead. I have seen them
in technology hubs across Nigeria, on the streets hustling, in schools and in
markets. I am confident that they can take this nation to glorious places.
If this our present malaise is a spell, it has
run its course. Our mumu don do.
Thank you for
listening and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
News Source: - Sahara Reporters | August 21, 2017.
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