Buhari greets Muslims, says ‘We are tackling hardship, hunger in Nigeria’

President Muhammadu Buhari sends Eid greetings on the occasion of Eid El-Adha that is being celebrated across the world.

In his messag, the President, through his media aide, Garba Shehu,reiterated the determination of his administration to create a just, harmonious and prosperous country in which the safety of life and property is assured.

President Buhari while reflecting on current challenges facing the country, urged Nigerians to be patient with his administration.

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He said, “COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the economies of all countries, including Nigeria, in addition to the fact that floods have caused large scale destruction to agricultural farmlands, thereby impacting negatively on our efforts to boost local production in line with our policy to drastically reduce food importation.”

According to President Buhari, “no government in our recent history has invested as heavily as we are doing to promote local production of about 20 other commodities, through the provision of loans and several other forms of support to our farmers.”

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He said that apart from the destruction caused to rice farms by floods, middlemen have also taken advantage of the local rice production to exploit fellow Nigerians, thereby undermining our goal of supporting local food production at affordable prices.

“As an elected president who enjoys the goodwill of the ordinary people that gave us their mandate, let me assure you that we are continuing with measures to bring relief to Nigerians, including making fertilizer available at affordable prices to our farmers,” he said.

The President also noted that the current insecurity in the country “has produced severe and adverse effects on agriculture because farmers are prevented from accessing their farms by bandits and terrorists.

“Let me also use this opportunity to reassure Nigerians that we are taking measures to address our security challenges. We have started taking delivery of fighter aircraft and other necessary military equipment and hardware to improve the capacity of our security forces to confront terrorism and banditry,” he added.

Speaking on the significance of the Eid El-Kabir celebration, the President called on Muslims to demonstrate the good virtues of Islam through personal examples and practices.

“As practising believers, we shouldn’t seek obscene profits by making life difficult and miserable for others. We should not seek happiness at the expense of others. Remember that Islam is a religion of charity that urges us to love our neighbour as we love ourselves.

“I urge all Muslims to continue to live in peace and harmony with their fellow Nigerians of other faiths in the spirit of peaceful coexistence. Let us pray for the progress of Nigeria at all times. Let us expose undesirable elements among us who are creating security problems for the country,” Buhari said.