Atiku urges Buhari to form inclusive govt
TO strengthen national unity and cohesion, former Vice President and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has advised the President-elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhar, to form an all-inclusive government.
His team, according to Atiku, should comprise people from various backgrounds.
Abubakar, who spoke as chairman of the 36th Kaduna International Trade Fair seminar, titled “Promoting Domestic Production for National Sustainable Economic Development,” urged politicians who lost elections during the general elections to support the in-coming government and move the country forward.
According to him, the Buhari government, after inauguration on May 29, should reconcile all aggrieved people, before and after the election, pointing out that it would lay solid foundation for success.
“We have to do all that is humanly possible to ensure that there is reconciliation, peace among the various components that make up this country. We are still in the process of nation building and we will do all that is humanly possible to ensure an inclusive government of all the people that make up this country.”
Meanwhile, in his lecture at the seminar, Guest Speaker and former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Obadiah Malafia, said, “Notwithstanding the potentials, the country’s economic and social conditions have remained far below the minimum expectations of ordinary citizens.”
According to Malafia, “some of the socio-economic indices, although much improved, still remain far from the internationally-agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set for 2015.”
He urged the incoming administration to reverse the negative trend and save the nation from collapse.
Atiku said that, apart from the economic challenges that the President-elect Buhari would inherit from President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, Buhari has to confront the nation’s problems head on to put the economy on positive track for development.
On the perennial power problem in the country, he argued: “I don’t think privatisation is the problem of the power reform. I think it is the political will to do the right thing.”
“You know, we have three (3) or four (4) sources of energy in this country, hydro, gas, coal and solar. I think it is up to the leadership of the in-coming administration to take a short term, medium and long term view to solve the power situation in the country.”
“My belief is that it has to be in three (3) stages, so that within two to three years the country will be able to generate enough electricity. Within may be another two or three years we would make sure our transmission base is put right. And again, within another three years we would move on to the gas solution. So, that at any point in time we don’t rely on only one source of energy.”
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, assured that the Federal Government would intensify efforts aimed at reforming investment climate and improving the country’s business environment.
He said the ministry has also embarked on a multi-focused trade strategy to tackle various challenges to domestic, regional and international trade in line with their peculiarity.
President of Kaduna Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA), Dr. Abdul-Alimi Bello called on incoming administration at all levels of governance, to invest heavily in security, macro-economy as well as place priority on how to make the business environment conducive.
Head of delegation and Ambassador of EU to Nigeria, Michel Arrion, said that European suppliers could assist the Nigerian agro-food industry with machinery, equipment and technological know-how, which meet high degree of food safety and compliance with international standards.
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4 Comments
Well said Turaki, there is really the need for the in coming administration to form an inclusive govt so that every one will be carried along, and as for the power sector i think the reverse in the sale of the sector will be a welcome development.
Very well said Atiku.
I believe our President elect will take this advice because that’s the only way we can move forward as a nation.
Let’s bury the past and look forward to greater and better things ahead.
Wonderful counsel Turaki, With statesmen like you GMB is really in safe hands.
Atiku has always pushed for national unity, am so glad he is on the winning side.
It is difficult to form a government of national unity after employing intimidation as a tool to gain power. The stoning of the president in the north was a ploy to disenfranchise PDP supporters and would-be supporters. In addition, there was massive rigging in Kano as well as other northern cities where PDP supporters dared not come out to monitor election proceedings. The electoral officer in charge of Kano mysteriously perished along with his entire family in a strange fire after the election and was hurriedly buried without an autopsy. Just in case anyone thinks I am biased, Maitama Sule, a respected elder statesman was recently reported as saying Buhari did not receive a popular mandate. This is why Atiku, a wise politician knows it is critical for him to reach out and form a broad-based government without which Nigeria will prove ungovernable under a democratic system.
We will review and take appropriate action.