President Muhammadu Buhari has faulted criticism that his administration is slow.
He said government is only trying to be cautious with a view to avoiding mistakes.
“People say we are slow. We are trying to change structures put in place by our predecessors in office for 16 years,” Buhari said in Abuja in response to a goodwill message delivered to him by a group, Women In Politics Forum (WIPF)
“If we hurry it, we will make mistakes. That will be a disaster,” he said.
President Buhari described the 2016 budget proposals as a reassuring for employment and manufacturing.
His words: ”By the end of the second quarter, the full impact of these positive measures will be felt.”
He also announced that a committee to rehabilitate infrastructure and resettle Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-East will soon be inaugurated.
The committee, to be led by former Defence Minister, Lt.-Gen Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) will also include Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the President confirmed that all forms of assistance and aid generated locally and internationally would be channelled through the committee when it is inaugurated.
The President has already compiled a list of damaged infrastructure, including schools and bridges which he has handed to the G7 and the United States both of which have promised to assist.
The President added: “I didn’t ask for a Kobo (in cash). It is up to them to choose what they will undertake. Already,some of them have sent teams to verify our assertions.”
President Buhari decried the impact of the Boko Haram violence on women and children declaring that they are the worst victims of the sect.
He said: “In the North-East, what I saw for myself and on those clips is a source of concern for people with conscience. They are mostly women and children who are orphaned. Some of them don’t even know where they come from. This is the pathetic situation in which the country has found itself.”
He said that the fight for the return of the Chibok girls is ongoing and “continues to be a most worrying issue” to his government, emphasizing that the administration will do all within its powers in making the best efforts to secure their freedom.
The President acknowledged the case made by the WIPF for better representation of women in his government and assured that women would fare well in the composition of parastatals and their boards in the first quarter of this year.
The WIPF, made up of women leaders from 26 registered political parties led by Barrister Ebere Ifendu of the Labour Party expressed their full support for the government’s war on corruption and insecurity.
They asked the administration to usher in laws to promote gender equity as well as action towards the implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act.
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