President Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari says the next four years of his administration will be a harvest and consolidation of successes in the three-point agenda of fixing the economy, fighting insecurity and corruption.

Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, in a statement in Abuja, said President Buhari stated this at a town hall meeting with members of the Nigerian Community in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Tuesday.

The President promised that the prudent economic management, diversification of production and revenue bases of the administration in the last four years would be sustained for better prospects for all Nigerians.

He also pledged more government investments in research and development, as well as technology and educational institutions.

‘‘The Next Level is to consolidate whatever we have done till 2023 and it makes common sense that in order to manage any outfit, whether a nation, state or organisation, you have to secure it.

‘’We all know how many local governments Boko Haram were occupying. People from the North-east know that they are not holding any local government today.

“They were holding 17 out of the 774 local governments before we came in 2015; they are not holding any now,’’ the President said.

At the interactive session, the Nigerian leader noted that a key objective of his administration, which had yielded positive results in the last four years, was the campaign for the nation to return to agriculture.

According to him, the nation cannot afford to lag behind again in agriculture.

He said: ‘‘What we did was to encourage agriculture and fertiliser was made available at half its price.

‘‘We encouraged people to go back to land. The response was excellent. We have virtually achieved food security; we have stopped the importation of rice.

‘‘The money we have saved in foreign exchange is in hundreds of millions of dollars, not even in naira. We are putting that into infrastructure.”

Responding to a question about the pace of anti-corruption war, the President said: ‘‘Whoever calls me Baba-go-slow, I’m very conscious of historical antecedents.

”You know what happened to me the last time… people (now) have to be proven guilty before they are locked up.’’

Buhari also reflected on the 2019 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign and the outcome of the polls.

‘‘I was very impressed by the turnout of every state to see and hear me. The crowd is more than what you can buy or force to come. Nigerians voluntarily came out,’’ he said.