Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the All Progressives Congress,on Thursday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to do more to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians.
He said although the administration had achieved a lot in the two years of its existence, too many Nigerians were still too poor to be ignored.
Tinubu made the call in his keynote address at the public presentation of a book, “Making Steady, Sustainable Progress for Nigeria’s Peace and Prosperity” at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The 360-page book is a mid-term scorecard of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration authored by the Presidential Media Team.
The former Lagos State governor said though the present administration worked hard to fix the country, it must recognise the situation of millions of people who had been denied for a long time and were still suffering.
He said, “True, much good has been done by this government to ignore. However, too many of our people remain too poor and put-out to ignore as well. Daylight comes but not yet to all and not in equal measure.
“Due to the neglect of prior governments, our economy was not allowed to blossom in a way that offered jobs to the poor and empowered the common man.
“Where prosperity should have stood, poverty was erected. Where progress should have been established, stagnation assumed residence. We are trying hard to escape this deep hole.
“While we work towards this good end, we must recognise the situation of millions of our people. Wrongfully denied for so long, they suffer still. But we ask them to take heart. Don’t forfeit hope. Understand that tomorrow will not be as the past when what was built and bought was not intended for you.
“What we are now building, is meant for you. This is your government and you will be the beneficiaries of its policies and programmes. You are no longer the forgotten. You are the hope and promise of a nation and its future.
“As this government implements its economic plans, the griping poverty you have long suffered will give way and ultimately turn into the fertile progress and prosperity that only good governance can bring. We do this with a sense of urgency!”
Tinubu said the country was racing against unrelenting time and that a time would come when the nation’s oil would lose its value and would become “merely liquid beneath our feet.”
He said the government must train its policies to avert the impending problem, adding that the history of a depressed economy must not be allowed to repeat itself.
