Buhari to Nigerians: Bear with us if we haven’t done enough

President Muhammadu Buhari has pleaded with Nigerians yet to feel the impact of his government to bear with the administration.

He spoke in Ilorin through the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, at a town hall meeting with traditional rulers, youths, students, organised labour, market women and other stakeholders on the #EndSARS protest and its aftermath.

The forum was attended by the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman, Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly, Yakubu Danladi; the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji  Sulu Gambari, and other traditional rulers, representatives of market women, traders and other stakeholders.

In the President’s message delivered by the minister, he said the administration had the interest of the youths and the people in general at heart and was doing a lot to touch their lives.

The President said the government was constrained by dwindling resources occasioned by the impact of COVID-19 which also affected the global economy.

He said, “If we have not done enough or we have not touched everybody, we appeal that you please bear with us.

“In the first instance, what we have is less than 60 per cent of the revenue that was available to other governments that came before us.

“We all know what we suffered during COVID-19, and as we are just trying to recover from this we also faced another crisis.

“We appeal that you should please assist the government and be patient. This government is dedicated to serving the people and we will continue to try our best to do so.

“I thank you all for your perseverance, understanding and patience.”

The President said the administration had many initiatives targeted at creating jobs for the youth and alleviating poverty among women and vulnerable groups.

He said the government initiated a N75bn National Youth Investment Fund to provide opportunities for the youth.

He said the fund was part of the N2.3tn economic sustainability plan aimed at cushioning the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on most vulnerable Micro Small Medium Enterprises across the country.

The President said other initiatives targeted at the youths included N-POWER which had engaged 500,000 beneficiaries with 400,000 more in December.

He said 10,000 youths had been trained and benefitted under N-TECH and N-AGRO respectively.

The President said the federal government FINTECH created enabling environment for growth of businesses that use technology to enhance or automate financial services and processes.

He said over two million farmers, traders, mostly youths, were empowered under FARMERMONI, TRADERMONI and MARKETMONI.

The President said over 500,000 youths had also benefited from the Graduate Internship Scheme which provides short-term employment graduates.

He said 1,000 farmers from each of the 774 LGAs in the country were empowered and guided under the Youth Entrepreneurship Support programme.

Also, Governor Abdulrazaq thanked the President for the initiative of directing ministers to interact with the people at the state level.

He prayed for peace, unity and stability of the country.

Emir of Ilorin said the town-hall meeting was a good forum for the people to express their minds and grievances to government.