President Muhammadu Buhari has asked Nigerians to ‘sweat’ and ‘work’ hard to survive because his administration if given another chance, will continue to close all leakages and stamp out corruption.
“I assure you that you will not regret trusting us.
“We are going to secure this country, we are going to manage it properly, we are going to stop corruption so you better sweat and work for a living because there are no more handouts,” he said on Friday during the flag off of his presidential campaign in Akwa Ibom.
Defending his administration’s anti-graft war, the President said he will continue to prosecute those who are found guilty and all monies recovered in the process would be sent to the government’s account, details of which will be made plain to Nigerians.
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He said, “when I was around in uniform and much younger, I arrested from the President, the Vice President, the governors, the ministers and told them that they were guilty until they can prove themselves innocent.
“I, myself, was arrested and detained.
“So, when I came into agbada, I decided to follow what this system accepts and those who are corrupt will be investigated and prosecuted and we will not stop.
“I assure you, we have collected properties, we have collected cash and we have gone back to Single Treasury Accounts that all monies that are going into the government purse which means it can be traced and accounted for.
“Nigerians will be informed from time to time about how much we’ve recovered and from who and how we are going to use it to develop this country”.
President Buhari also promised to provide more security for citizens.
According to him, the insecurity especially in the northeast, has drastically reduced and the insurgents are no longer in control of any local government.
He said, “If you could recall, in 2015 we went across the length and breadth of this country and we based our campaign fundamentally on three fundamental issues. Security, economy and fighting corruption.
“Firstly, the civil war in the northeast has been rarely won in the sense that when we came, they were holding (Boko Haram) about 17 local governments in Borno and Yobe states.
“They are not holding physically, any local government now.
“They have resorted to indoctrinating young men and women, especially girls, wrap them up in explosives and explode themselves in churches, mosques, marketplaces and motor parks. I assure you that eventually, we are going to clear them off from our country”.
In the area of economic development, while admitting that employment is a major problem faced by the nation, the President, however, noted that the more farmers are being supported and the nation has achieved more food security in the past three years.
“About economy, our population is over 60 per cent of young men, that is, 30 years and below. Our main problem is employment.
“We are very lucky, the two previous rainy seasons were good and we virtually achieved food security. We seldom import any rice now. We are encouraging our farmers and we have regained food security,” he said.
