NIGERIANS ARE BLESSED"- BUHARI

Am really beginning to like this president. well, the
President Muhammadu Buhari at the opening of the 45th Annual
Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria,
ICAN, in Abuja, said Nigerians have no business with poverty given
the enormous resources the country has. He then promised to take
appropriate measures to stamp out corruption and reposition
Nigeria as a prosperous nation that can adequately cater for its
citizens.
The President, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Nwaobia, blamed the poverty
in the land on mis-governance and lack of transparency.
Meanwhile, former Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Remi
Babalola, has recommended compulsory declaration of assets for
all principal officers in the executive arm of government as a
means of checking the menace of corruption. President Buhari said
the nation’s ability to create wealth had increasingly been
hampered by lack of good governance and accountability in the
management of public resources at all levels in the past.
Buhari said:
“As blessed as we are as a nation, Nigerians have no business
being classified as poor. Yet, through the greed of some
unpatriotic few, our commonwealth has been badly pillaged in the
name of public service. “Our ability as a nation to create wealth
has increasingly been hampered by the lack of prudence,
transparency and honesty in the management of public resources
by some of those entrusted with the duty of governance at all
levels in the past, so much that in the midst of plenty, Nigerians
are now suffering great deprivation.
“This should not be allowed to continue. The project called Nigeria
must be given our all. The nation ought and must leave the throes
of poverty and underdevelop-ment because I believe we are
naturally destined for greatness.’’
He expressed optimism of a glorious future, and urged Nigerians
not to thrive on the illusion that the battle for enthronement of the
right values will be easy.
He said:
"Corruption will certainly fight back’. But he said his
administration is resolute in its desire to effect a change in the
nation’s value system.
‘‘To achieve this, we must collectively resolve to build today for a
blissful tomorrow. I am optimistic that the glorious dawn we all
hope for will not be long in coming.
“But we are resolute in our commitment to effect change in our
value system. We will give the battle our all to guarantee victory,’’
he said.
Buhari said he would lead by example by making effort to live
above board, and promised to overhaul the bureaucracy of the
public sector to further engender transparency and improve
productivity in public governance.