*As South West monarch wants Buhari to re-contest
*Says we now see the need for our sacrifices
*What Buhari should do to earn more popularity – Source
Shehu said the price of a bag of fertiliser had come down from between N9,000 and N10,000 to N5,500, adding that Nigeria has about 32 fertiliser blending plants which had remained idle for many years, but that about half of them were now in production. On Buhari’s administration’s efforts towards boosting rice production, Shehu said while Nigeria purchased 1.2 million tons of rice from Thailand in 2014, only 58,000 tons was imported in 2016.
The Presidency has explained that the reason the Nigerian elite are accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of non-performance is because they do not care for the ordinary people.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said this in a statement on Sunday.
The presidential spokesman maintained that Buhari’s administration was doing a lot to improve the lot of the masses.
Garba Shehu spoke just as two prominent Nigerians, on separate occasions on Sunday, told The DEFENDER under strictly requested condition of anonymity what they wanted Buhari to do that would make Nigerians happier with him.
One of them, a senior monarch, vowed that he would lead delegation of some traditional rulers to the Villa to appeal to the President to re-contest the 2019 presidential election to avoid a situation where the fiercely fighting back corrupt elite regain power in the land. He said Buhari’s refusal to re-contest would return Nigeria to the hands of the corrupt elite who have no interest of improving the condition of the poor masses at hearts.
According to the traditional ruler, “I must be frank with you; Nigeria is now better than we have ever had in the history of the nation. If our problem is hunger, it is a sacrifice that we must go through in the process of getting ourselves back to commonsense and that is getting over as I have been hearing lately now that prices of things in the market are coming down. Rice that is sold for N22,000 per 50kg bag is now sold for N14,000. I know of other things that are now coming down. Once we get over this hard time, we have succeeded forever as Nigerian people but Buhari must do another term to consolidate those gains of restoring commonsense to our public and private lives, entrenching the confidence that we can actually grow what we eat and produce what we need and so on,” the monarch said.
In his own comment, the other source, who is a retired General, gave advice that President Muhammadu Buhari should make Hameed Ali to spread his anti-smuggling war beyond Lagos through Ogun, Oyo, Niger, and other border areas in the country to the last point.
He added that Ali seemed to be concentrating only on Lagos alone in his anti-smuggling war, “whereas there are over a thousand other bothers scattered all over the country which these evil activities of corruption called smuggling take place. If I were Col. Hameed Ali, I will go to Kaduna State or any international border point nearest to my state and use one major smuggler as scapegoat. This will silence all these evil doers who are after his life just because he is not wearing Customs uniform whereas uniform is not any issue in this matter but things that are being done and should be done which have their effects on our collective national interest,” he said.
Corrupt elite blocking information about Buhari’s performance
The statement by the President’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, stated that, “Because the elite do not care for ordinary people, they are saying that government is doing nothing. But we are doing a lot for ordinary people.
“They don’t want us to talk about the 14 solar power projects that have been licensed to boost electricity supply in the country; the Mambila power project which will soon leave the drawing boards and the many Chinese projects including the standard gauge railway. This country has more important things to talk about instead of dwelling on trivia.”
Shehu said the price of a bag of fertiliser had come down from between N9,000 and N10,000 to N5,500, adding that Nigeria has about 32 fertiliser blending plants which had remained idle for many years, but that about half of them were now in production.
On Buhari’s administration’s efforts towards boosting rice production, Shehu said while Nigeria purchased 1.2 million tons of rice from Thailand in 2014, only 58,000 tons was imported in 2016.
“As a result of the country’s growing rice production, assisted by the decision of government to deny foreign exchange through the Central Bank for the importation of rice; parboiled rice mills in some Asian countries are shutting down because Nigeria, one of the world’s largest importers is not buying. Five of such mills in Thailand servicing Nigeria have stopped production due to the withdrawal of our patronage.
“Currently, government is watching with keen interest, the growing investment in rice milling by the private sector and will continue to give encouragement through the Ministry of Agriculture to such efforts by BUA Industries in Jigawa, Dangote in Kano, OLAM and WACOTT in Nassarawa and Kebbi and what a consortium of businessmen led by a former Governor in Anambra State are doing.
“The increase in the volume of rice production and processing is already saving this country a lot of money,” Shehu said.
