President Buhari is celebrating his first year in office today May 29th.
He addressed the nation this morning. Read full text of his speech
below
My compatriots,
It is one year today since our administration came into office. It has
been a year of triumph, consolidation, pains and achievements.
By age,
instinct and experience, my preference is to look forward, to prepare
for the challenges that lie ahead and rededicate the administration to
the task of fixing Nigeria.
But i believe we can also learn from the
obstacles we have overcome and the progress we made thus far, to help
strengthen the plans that we have in place to put nigeria back on the
path of progress.
We affirm our
belief in democracy as the form of government that best assures the
active participation and actual benefit of the people. Despite the many
years of hardship and disappointment the people of this nation have
proved inherently good, industrious tolerant, patient and generous.
The
past years have witnessed huge flows of oil revenues. From 2010 average
oil prices were $100 per barrel. But economic and security conditions
were deteriorating. We campaigned and won the election on the platform
of restoring security, tackling corruption and restructuring the
economy. On our arrival, the oil price had collapsed to as low as $30
per barrel and we found nothing had been kept for the rainy day. Oil
prices have been declining since 2014 but due to the neglect of the
past, the country was not equipped to halt the economy from declining.
The
infrastructure, notably rail, power, roads were in a decrepit state.
All the four refineries were in a state of disrepair, the pipelines and
depots neglected.
Huge
debts owed to contractors and suppliers had accumulated. Twenty-seven
states could not pay salaries for months. In the north-east, boko haram
had captured 14 local governments, driven the local authorities out,
hoisted their flags. Elsewhere, insecurity was palpable; corruption and
impunity were the order of the day. In short, we inherited a state near
collapse.
On
the economic front, all oil dependent countries, nigeria included, have
been struggling since the drop in prices. Many oil rich states have had
to take tough decisions similar to what we are doing. The world,
nigeria included has been dealing with the effects of three significant
and simultaneous global shocks starting in 2014:
a 70% drop in oil prices.
Global growth slowdown.
Normalization of monetary policy by the united states federal reserve.
Our
problems as a government are like that of a farmer who in a good season
harvests ten bags of produce. The proceeds enable him to get by for
rest of the year. However, this year he could only manage 3 bags from
his farm. He must now think of other ways to make ends meet.