President Muhammadu Buhari special adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has stated the nation would have long been forgotten had the President not taken over in 2015.
Buhari defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to assume office on May 29, 2015.
Adesina, in his weekly column From the Inside, argued Buhari’s emergence saved the nation’s descent into oblivion.
Titled Five years of PMB: We’re glad he came our way, the column focused on the fifth anniversary of the Buhari’s presidency.
Adesina said Nigeria was a failed state until Buhari came along battling insecurity, rabid corruption and a devastated economy.
According to him: “ When he rode triumphantly to power in 2015, the average Nigerian was tired of the state of the country. Massive looting of the treasury by the party in government and no one was being called to order because there was no moral will to do it.
“Terrible insecurity in the country, with at least 17 local governments already annexed in the North-east of the country by insurgents.
“They had planted flags of a funny type of caliphate, and were sitting in palaces of the emirs, who had shown clean pairs of heels.”
He said the coming of Buhari was the game-changer, pointing out the President has reignited hope in the nation.
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“For despite it all, things are not the way they used to be. The descent into the abyss has been checked, arrested, and things are looking up.
“Despite the looming Incubus of another recession, the government continues to work, fulfilling its obligations to the country,” Adesina stressed.
Giving a hint into what has changed, the presidential aide said: “A directive has been given to fund the first phase of the Presidential Power Initiative, being done in collaboration with Siemens of Germany.
“Work on the Second Niger Bridge is not stalled, road projects are to restart as the economy reopens gradually, and salaries and pensions are being paid. The promise made, and promise being kept.”
He urged Nigerians to “count our blessings as a country, instead of dwelling on things that have not been done,” insisting “no government accomplishes everything begging for attention in a country.”
According to him, Nigeria is “doing a lot more with a lot less income. Things we couldn’t do when oil prices stabilised at an average of 100 dollars per barrel for a long time are now being accomplished. We’re glad this President came our way.”
