Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has called on Nigerians to reflect and correct their past mistakes for the growth and development of the nation.
The President who made the call at the Public Lecture and Special Juma’at Prayer for the 63rd Independence Day Anniversary in Abuja, the nation’s capital called on the Nigeria Labour Congress, and its counterpart the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria to shelve their plan of embarking on the nationwide indefinite strike from October 3.
President Tinubu who was represented by Nigeria’s Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau congratulated Nigerians on the country’s 63rd anniversary and asked them to work together with the government to bring prosperity to the country.
He said the present administration is still new therefore Nigerians should give them the benefit of the doubt.
We should realise the fact that our country when compared to other countries that we got independence at the same time with, has done very well.
Therefore as we celebrate this anniversary we should use this period also as a time of reflection of what have we done successfully, what our successes and what are our failures, we should look at where we have succeeded and look at our failures so that we can make amendments in other to bring prosperity to our nation. It is a time that we have to look at and also contribute as individuals and as collective people of these countries in making sure that we all work hand in hand with the government of the day to bring prosperity to the country.
Senator Jibrin Barau said the government is doing everything possible to ensure that every Nigerian is comfortable.
This new government is doing everything in its power to bring relief to every citizen of this country, it’s on this note that the government has gone ahead to provide the sum of five billion naira in order to bring about a package of palliative to bring relief to the people of this country as result of fuel subsidy removal already some amount of money have been disposed to the state and the processes of distributing this palliative have started and more will come. Therefore we need to give support to the government, and pray for them as the task of leading the nation does not lie only on the leaders alone but something lies on the shoulders of all of us, so let not look at the leaders alone let’s look at ourselves and pray for a better nation.
Secretary to the government of Federation Senator George Akume in his goodwill message, appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress and its counterpart the Trade Union Congress to shelve the looming strike in the country.
He said the present economic hardship is not peculiar in Nigeria alone but everywhere in the world so Nigerians should make sacrifices for a better tomorrow.
We have been engaging labour, and we will continue to engage labour. As the Sultan said, if the strike should go on, those who will suffer more are the same people. Our economy is very fragile, to be honest, and what is being put in place is intended to revamp, to reactivate this economy. We need to be tolerant, and we need to make even more sacrifices, but there are sacrifices for a better tomorrow, if you don’t sacrifice today tomorrow may never come, but as the President himself has repeatedly stated these are pains of birth of a baby so I want to say that our golden days are still ahead.
The Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Sa’ad Abubaka the III who is also the President-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, stressed the need for stakeholders to adopt dialogue as a way of addressing the issue surrounding the nationwide strike.
He said if the strike is allowed to take place it would be detrimental to the less privileged and the citizens at large.
President is a listening president and when issues are taken to him, he will look at such issues and that’s why I am an advocate of dialogue, I don’t believe we should embark on any strike in the next couple of days, because the common man will suffer more than the leaders you are targeting, and that’s why I am against any strike by anybody, give the government a chance to see what they can do, let’s see what will become of the issues, let see what they can do, give them a couple of months.
The guest lecturer, Professor Luqman Zakariyya, emphasised the need for the government to prioritise security, education, good healthcare system if it is serious about achieving the renewed hope promised to Nigerian citizens.
Professor Zakariyya said socio-economic challenges are peculiar everywhere in the world
“in Islam, there are ways of achieving renewed hope, by being sincere, putting the right people in the right places by enforcing the law, being selfless and importantly spirituality, we need to have the fair of God almighty at all times if can do all this, surely Nigeria will progress”.
Prayers were offered for peace, unity and development of Nigeria as many government officials, and captains of industries attended the Jumma’at prayers.
Dominica Nwabufo
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