We Are Making Genuine Efforts To Correct Our Lapses As A Nation – President Buhari Says

Read the press statement from Femi Adeshina below…

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that lapses that have characterized Nigeria as a nation would be corrected. Receiving a team led by Dr. Seth Berkley, Chief Executive Officer of Gavi and The Global Fund in State House, Abuja, on Thursday, President Buhari said he was impressed with the patience and steadfastness of leading supporters of health care in Nigeria, “despite our shortcomings as a nation.”
“We are making genuine efforts to correct the lapses. We are very serious about people behaving themselves, and being accountable,” the President said. “We thank you for deciding to re-engage with us, despite our inefficiencies. You decided to be here, not minding our shortcomings. There are other countries that would bring less problems. We appreciate your commitment, and we will do our best to put ourselves in the best shape to help us,” President Buhari said.

Dr Berkley, who noted that the three focal points of the Buhari administration; security, economic development, and anti-corruption were critical to the future of Nigeria, had raised issues over the way donor funds for health care were utilized in the past.

He said Gavi and the Global Fund were disappointed when forensic audit revealed systemic weaknesses and corruption in the utilization of funds given in the past, adding that there is now a “breath of fresh air” under President Buhari’s leadership and fight against corruption and they were willing to “close the books of the past, and look into future support.

” Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, who was also at the event, disclosed that those indicted in the audit of the donor funds in the past, which was done between 2010 and 2015, had already been questioned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and would be arraigned in court soon.

FEMI ADESINA Special Adviser to the President

Buhari condemns latest Boko Haram attacks

President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned in the strongest language the latest terrorist attacks on Borno and Yobe communities by the Boko Haram bandits. In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the president said he was deeply touched by these mindless incidents of violence on innocent people during the month of Ramadan.
According to President Buhari, the terrorists are enemies of everybody, and enemies of humanity everywhere. He explained that no sane people who believe in any god would be destroying the lives of innocent people in cold blood, adding that terrorists don’t represent any religion.
The President said the pattern of their indiscriminate violence against innocent people shows that they represent nothing else but anarchy and devilry. In what appears to be one of his toughest expressions of outrage, President Buhari reminded the terrorists of his uncompromising resolve to tackle them with all the resources at the disposal of his government. “Make no mistake about it: this government is ever determined to discharge its fundamental duty of protecting the lives of its citizens from physical threats from any groups bent on creating chaos, confusion, and on destroying social and economic life of the people”, he further warned. President Buhari who extended his sympathy to the families of the victims, reassured all Nigerians that his government would never tolerate to terrorist blackmail, and that our security forces would confront the Boko Haram bandits to the last man. Describing terrorists as “cowards who lack any moral inhibition and any iota of humanity to reason compassionately” would not find Nigeria a safe haven, because “they would be “hunted down without mercy and compromise.”
He reassured Nigerians that security would be tackled by his administration with vigorous determination. The President, however, advised Nigerian to show more vigilance and be alert to the presence of suspicious people around them, adding that “the terrorists are enemies of religion and humanity.”
He explained that “no true believers in any God would target worshipers, holy places, or people who are fasting and other innocent Nigerians.”