As the President Muhammadu Buhari celebrates his first anniversary today, his party, the All Progressives Congress APC has thanked Nigerians for their support in the past 12 months, promising to do more to improve on their wellbeing.
In a statement signed by its chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, APC said the president has creditably discharged the confidence reposed in him during the last general elections.
The statement reads in part;
“Twelve months ago, President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn into office after the decisive victory of our great Party in the general elections that marked 16 years of unbroken democratic rule in Nigeria.
“On behalf of the National Working Committee, Elders, Leaders and the teeming members of our Party, I wish to convey my immeasurable gratitude to our fellow compatriots for their unprecedented confidence and trust in President Muhammadu Buhari and the Party.
“The APC assures all Nigerians that the Party and the President hold as very sacred this collective trust, which the President has so creditably discharged this past one year.
“President Buhari has, in the last year, worked hard to repair Nigeria’s previously tarnished image in the international community; restored the territorial integrity of our country by ensuring the containment of the erstwhile rampaging Boko Haram insurgency and has waged an unrelenting and vigorous war against corruption as he promised in his electioneering campaign.
“The President, being fully aware of the tough economic challenges facing Nigerians, has directed his focus on the salvaging of our battered and prostrate economy.
“The very parlous state of the economy inherited by this administration, which has been further battered by the collapse of the price of crude oil and the massive corruption by the past administration, does not need any further restating.
However, the government has courageously faced these challenges by taking tough decisions necessary to bring our economy back to buoyancy and self-sustaining growth.
“One of such tough but inevitable decisions is the liberalization of the petroleum downstream sector and the consequent hike in petrol price which led to a call out of workers on an indefinite strike by Organised Labour.
“We thank Nigerians for their understanding of the situation and also Organised Labour for resuming negotiation with government.
“I want to assure that the APC administration of President Buhari holds your trust to be sacred and will do all that is humanly possible to ensure that these tough times do not last.
The 2016 budget which includes N500 billion dedicated to social intervention will begin to have positive impact very soon.
“I call on all our compatriots to put aside any differences and join with President Muhammadu Buhari to design and lay a strong foundation for a new economy that assures self-sustaining growth and shared prosperity for our people.
In the words of our dear President Buhari, ‘this generation of Nigerians and indeed all Nigerians have no other country to call our own, we must work together to salvage it”.