President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said that he would work very hard
\nto sustain the current goodwill his government had received at home and
\nabroad.<\/p>\n
The President, who was reacting to a question after his address at the
\nUnited States Institute for Peace, in Washington DC on how he intended to
\nleverage on the enormous goodwill being enjoyed by his administration and
\nmeet the huge expectations of the people, said despite his perceived
\nslowness and the reality of lack of resources, he would work very hard \u201cso
\nthat people will see and believe that we are trying and can deliver and
\nhopefully become less critical.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Buhari, while acknowledging the huge challenges confronting his
\nadministration such as the crash in the price of crude oil, its theft,
\npipeline vandalisation in the Niger Delta, hostage taking and insecurity
\nin the North East, restated his determination to sustain the goodwill by
\nworking very hard. \u201cAnd I believe I will succeed,\u201d he declared
\nemphatically.<\/p>\n
In his main speech to the distinguished audience, the President also
\nreaffirmed that, \u201cdespite our current challenges, Nigeria\u2019s commitment to
\ngood governance, anti-corruption, democracy and security of lives and
\nproperty remains firm. Similarly, I must reaffirm that despite the current
\nchallenges that we face domestically, we are ready and willing to face our
\nduties\u2026\u200bFixing Nigeria\u2019s problems as formidable as they are is the
\nresponsibility of Nigerians.\u00a0 The international community can only assist,
\nbut the hard work belongs to Nigerians and their government.\u00a0 I will as
\nPresident, lead from the front, but all Nigerians, including the
\nopposition parties, civil society, business and religious leaders, public
\nservants, labour unions, the youth and professional associations all have
\nimportant roles to play to get our country back on a sound economic
\nfooting.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the required external support in the anti-insurgency and terrorism
\ncampaign, he expressed regret that, \u201cthe blanket application of the Leahy
\nLaw by the United States on the grounds of unproven allegations of human
\nrights violations levelled against our forces has denied us access to
\nappropriate strategic weapons to prosecute the war against the
\ninsurgents.\u201d He noted that in \u201cthe face of abduction of innocent school
\ngirls from their hostels, indiscriminate bombings of civilians in markets
\nand places of worship, our forces have remained largely impotent because
\nthey do not possess the appropriate weapons and technology which they
\ncould have had, had the so called human rights violations not been an
\nobstacle.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to President Buhari, \u201c\u200bUnwittingly, and I dare say,
\nunintentionally, the application of the Leahy law amendment by the U. S.
\nGovernment has aided and abated the Boko Haram terrorist group in the
\nprosecution of its extremist ideology and hate, the indiscriminate
\nkillings and maiming of civilians, in raping of women and girls, and in
\ntheir other heinous crimes. I believe this is not the spirit of the Leahy
\nLaws. I know the American people cannot support any group engaged in
\nthese crimes. \u200bI therefore strongly appeal to both the Executive
\nArm and the US Congress to examine how the US Government can provide us
\nwith far more substantial counter-terrorism assistance with minimal
\nstrings. The longer we delay, the deadlier the Boko Haram gets. At all
\nevents, we have re-written the rules of engagement protecting the rights
\nof combatants and in particular safeguarding civilians in theatres of
\nconflict.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the President\u2019s address at the last programme of his four-day
\nvisit, the former United States Secretary of State for African Affairs,
\nAmbassador Johnnie Carson, who moderated the interactive session, had
\ndescribed President Buhari as a \u201cvery humble and strong personality with
\nenormous integrity and commitment to good governance and uplifting the
\nlives of the citizenry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said that he would work very hard to sustain the current goodwill his government had received at home and abroad. The President, who was reacting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n