President
Muhammadu Buhari says the new four-year mandate given to his administration by
Nigerians will be tough as he pursues his campaign promises of securing the
country, transforming the economy and the fight against corruption.
The
President stated this at a special meeting with his cabinet ministers, who were
in the State House, Abuja, on Friday to congratulate him on his electoral
victory.
The
Independent National Electoral Commission had, on Wednesday, declared President
Buhari, candidate of the All Progressives Congress, winner of the 2019
presidential election held on February 23.
Buhari was
declared re-elected, having polled 15,191,847 votes, winning in 19 states, to
defeat other 72 candidates including Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party who scored 11, 255,978 votes.
The
President said: “My last lap of four years I think is going to be tough because
people are very forgetful – that was why, wherever I went, I reminded them of
the campaign by our party of the three fundamental issues – security, because
you have to secure a country or an institution to manage it properly.
“If you
don’t secure it, you can’t manage it, no matter how much propaganda you put in
place.
“Secondly,
the economy, the unemployed able-bodied are the problem of this country as a
whole – more than 60 per cent are youths – that means 35 years and below – they
need to be kept busy.
“I realised
that and I think God heard our prayers that the two previous rainy seasons were
good and we had the foresight to get the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development and the Central Bank to try and give soft loans to farmers so that
able-bodied persons that have land can go back to land.’’
The
President, who also spoke about his campaign tour, stated that the successful
completion of the tour had proved the opposition wrong that he was unfit to
govern the nation.
He said the
campaign tour did not only prove that he was medically fit, but it was also a
clear indication that he was ready to continue to lead Nigeria for the next
four years.
