Amid the jubilation over the
return of President Muhammadu Buhari to the country –103 days after he flew to
London for a medical vacation, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State says the
President has significant changes to make.
With less than two years to the
next general elections, and after spending months away for health reasons, Mr
El-Rufai, a close ally of the President, believes he must change the way he
operates.
The governor spoke about his
expectations in a phone interview during Channels Television’s special coverage
of the President’s return to the country on Saturday.
Like many Nigerians who were
thrilled to have the President back, governor El-Rufai was excited – personally
and politically.
“Personally, I am very excited
and very relieved that Mr President is back. Politically, of course, it raises
Nigeria’s stability significantly and I’m sure (that) from Monday, you will see
even how the markets will respond,” he said.
“For us in the APC and for many
of us that are beneficiaries of Buhari’s political ascendance, this is a time
of great happiness and gratitude to almighty God for bringing him back safely
and well as well.”
Excitement aside, the governor
believes this is a time for the President to be more cautious and restrategize
to deliver on his campaign promises.
Asked what he expects of the
President going forward, Governor El-Rufai said, “I still believe that the
President needs to be measured in his work hours. I would not want him to work
between 12-18 hours a day as he used to. I think the traffic into his office
and residence needs to be curtailed so that he would have more time to reflect.
“We have less than two years to
deliver on most of our promises so I expect the President to refocus, make some
administrative adjustments, (and) prioritise the three areas that he has always
promised Nigerians.”
The three areas, according to the
governor are the war on corruption, the diversification of the economy and the
war against the Boko Haram insurgency and insecurity.
With regard to the war against
corruption, Governor El-Rufai does not think things have gone according to plan
and there is the need to “refocus the war against corruption”.
“We’ve been losing lots of cases
in the courts. I think there is need to refocus work on that and bring back the
anti-corruption war on track fully,” he said.
In diversifying the economy in
earnest, state governments have to be given bigger roles to play.
“The efforts to diversify the
economy should continue in earnest – and, here, I believe the 36 state
governments have a major role to play because Nigeria consists of 36 states and
any improvement in the business environment must begin from the 36 states, not
just Abuja,” the governor said.
After an upsurge in attacks by
Boko Haram in recent months, Governor El-Rufai believes more attention is
needed to finally defeat the terrorists.
He said, “Boko Haram has resurged
in the absence of the President. Now that he is back, I expect more focus on
the war against Boko Haram – to finish them off, whatever is left of them and
to make Nigeria safer.”
Now that President Buhari is back
in the country, the Kaduna State governor is confident that he will move
quickly to address the issues and fulfil his promises.
“We are very optimistic that
these issues will be the ones Mr President will look at among other things, and
bring back our country on track towards progress and as we prepare towards 2019
beginning from next year,” he said.
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