President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in Abuja attempted a remake of a popular Barack Obama style of hosting and serving selected American citizens in the White House when he hosted and served less-privileged members of the society to the breaking of Ramadan fast with a pledge that his administration would adequately address their challenges.
The president, who personally served food to his guests at the Aso Rock presidential villa, stated that his administration was conscious of their needs and desire but that the government met very poor conditions on ground.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the guests included some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Taxi drivers, hair dressers, motorcycle riders, barbers, transport workers, butchers, tailors, and junior staff of the campaign office of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
President Buhari noted that the drastic fall in the prices of oil in the international market, from 100 dollars to 30 dollars per barrel had adversely affected the economy.
The president pledged that the APC-led Federal Government would improve the nation’s medical services and other social amenities to uplift the quality of life of the less privileged members of the society across the country.
“Please, I want you to bear in mind as from today that we care about you, on daily basis. We will try and improve the medical care and other services so that you spend less time looking for treatment or looking for sympathy,’’ he added.
On the ongoing fight against corrupt practices in the country, the president warned that those planning to deter his administration from fighting corruption in the country would face the consequences.
He said: “Whoever deters us from fighting corruption will suffer the consequences.”
The President said that it was unfortunate that some members of the elite were self-centred and only cared for themselves.
He lamented that very little was on ground to show for the huge income the nation generated from sales of oil in the 16 years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rule.
President Buhari frowned at the inability of the past administrations to address the problems of epileptic power supply, railway and portable drinking water for the populace among other problems.
Recall that just two days ago, a video of Barack Obama and the US first family serving a meal at the White House popped up on social media and was thought by many to be an Iftar dinner at the presidential house so much so, that ever since the video was uploaded on Facebook on July 1, it garnered over 350 million views in less than 72 hours, with thousands of shares. However, the video was not of an Iftar party, as suggested in the title, but of an old event at the White House.
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