Insecurity: “Some people are mercilessly against this country” - Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari says some unscrupulous people try to undermine every government policy irrespective of the good it was meant to achieve for the country.

According a Friday statement signed by presidential media aide, Femi Adesina, President Buhari stated this during the 6th regular meeting with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), led by Professor Doyin Salami at the State House, Abuja.

In a presentation, the the council lamented that insecurity was having great repercussions on the economy.

PEAC submitted that the global economy has continued to improve as COVID infections drop and roll-out of vaccination intensifies, adding that the Nigerian economy, though out of recession, remains fragile with inflation rising, unemployment high, and external account weak.

Policy, the economic advisory body said, “must urgently address the challenges of rising prices.”

Among other issues recommended by PEAC are; decisive end to all forms of insecurity in the country, mobilization of resources for investment, hastened implementation of agricultural reform policies, passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as a basis for revitalizing the industry, poverty reduction, employment generation, and incentives for private investment in irrigation, to promote all-year-round farming.

Responding, the president charged leadership at every level to go back to the basics, noting that a bottom-up approach was necessary, from ward, to local council, states, and federal.

He decried the situation in which some unscrupulous people tried to undermine every policy of government, irrespective of the good it was meant to achieve for the country.

“Some people are mercilessly against this country,” the President said.

“We closed the borders to control the smuggling of petroleum products, and check the influx of smuggled goods, arms and ammunition. That was when the Comptroller General of Customs called me, saying 40 tankers laden with petrol had been impounded. I told him to sell the fuel, sell the trucks, and put the money in the treasury.

“They still brought arms and ammunition into the country, brought in rice in vehicles and motorcycles. I said shoot anyone found illegally with AK-47, yet they haven’t stopped. People must show consideration for their own country.”