President Muhammadu Buhari has called on Labour Unions to allow his administration concentrate on fixing infrastructure in the country rather than distracting it.
The President made the call on Thursday (today) during a meeting with the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) at the State House, Abuja.
He urged the student leaders to continue to plead with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, while assuring them that he will speak with the
lecturers’ body (ASUU) “so that they don’t encroach on your efforts to qualify in time.”
“In three and a half years, we have improved tremendously on what we met. We are trying to do infrastructure. No matter which part of the country you come from, you will see the efforts we are making in terms of roads; we are trying to
fix rails, we are trying to do power, through the use of gas and solar.
“If you note what we have done in these three and a half years, you will not regret voting this administration into power.”
Buhari also stated that Nigeria was doing very well in agriculture “as
the country was about to attain food sufficiency and security.”
He said that he had explained in details while presenting the 2019
budget estimates, the earnings and expenditure and therefore expected
the elite to understand the position of the government on certain
issues, adding that it is the responsibility of the government to look
after the employed as well as the unemployed.
He further urged the youths to start preparing themselves to lead the country.
“There is a tendency for you to think that you can do better than anybody, but it is very good for you to know the facts that
leadership entails,” he said.
Buhari also assured the Labour leaders that, having been in positions
of leadership at various stages in life, and with the experience, he
means well for Nigerians and indeed, workers, and should be allowed to
fix infrastructure so that more Nigerians could be taken out of the
poverty cycle.
“I am totally loyal to this country. Whatever I do is in the interest of the ordinary people especially those who do not have the benefit of
being educated like you, and are just trusting whoever is leading
them,” he said.
He expressed gratitude to the students for appreciating some of the
things his administration has been able to put in place and called on
them to mobilise support for government, as it strives to make Nigeria
a better place.
Responding, the President of NANS, Comrade
Danielson Bamidele Akpan, expressed appreciation of the efforts of the
administration, especially in the transformation of the transportation
sector as well as the decimation of terrorists in the Northeast.
He, however, requested the government to intervene in the incessant
strikes in the education sector; involve more youths in governance;
and look into the plight of students in different institutions who
have been expelled for ‘political’ reasons.
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