Tom Okpe, Abuja
The leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC United Kingdom, UK chapter Prince Ade Omole has admitted that despite insecurity and hard challenges in the country, Nigerians still believe in the government led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He also said the present economic situation in the country is not peculiar to Nigeria but a global phenomenon pointing that though Nigeria is not where it should be yet, but are better than some years ago.
Speaking with journalists yesterday in an interactive session in Abuja, Omole said: “I will make bold to say that the APC-led administration headed by President Muhamadu Buhari has done well. We are not where we should be, where we left where in 2015, though we have challenges now, we shall overcome these challenges.
“I can actually bet on that we will, the terrorists will not defeat this country. We will defeat the terrorists and Nigeria will be better again. So in terms of security, yes, presently, we have challenges but we will keep working on it until we resolve the terrorism and banditry issues that we have at the present time”.
The UK party leader talking about the economy noted that it is a global thing saying it’s not just Nigeria that is in recession at the moment but other countries of the world today are also, struggling to survive due to the global pandemic caused by COVID-19.
“People are borrowing helter skelter and the reason for that was actually called upon by the COVID-19 pandemic which is actually global.
“In fact, most countries are actually doing worst than Nigeria at this present time. We have a President and a government that is actually responsive, at least in terms of economy. If it wasn’t that responsible, by now, only God knows where we would be.
“I did mention that as of today, we have just increased from 500, 000 to 1 million N-Power Youths that will be employed. That means, this same government despite the challenges is still trying even though with low income, the economic issues brought upon us by COVID-19, we are still trying to survive and we will overcome,” he stated.
Talking about anti-corruption, he said from 2015 to 2019, money recovered from looters had formed part of budget funding for this government which he said had not happened before.
When asked how confident he is about the present administration he said;”I think the confidence is coming from we as Nigerians, we are not weak people, we are people of strength, we are people of valour, we are people that never give up, we are people with tenacity, we as Nigerians never give up. Are we just going to raise our hands and said Boko Haram just go ahead and take over, No! Because we are very strong will people and I know that is where the confidence is actually coming from.
“I know that we will overcome this and this party is genuinely committed to lifting Nigerians out of poverty. It might be quite challenging but this government is doing everything possible to ensure that they lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty and you can see from all the youth programmes, the GEP, the SIP, the N-Power, and all the youths programmes have been put in place.
“It’s all about taking more people out of poverty. You also have the conditional cash transfer to people, the old, pensions are being paid, Nigerian Railway that wasn’t paid for years, they have been paid, the Biafran Soldiers that were actually dismissed have been paid. This is the government that is genuinely committed to the people.”
