President Buhari condemns attack on Enugu community, orders crackdown on perpetrators
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered security chiefs to hunt down those who perpetrated the attack on Ukpabu Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani area of Enugu State on Monday.
The President gave the order in his address delivered by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at the public presentation of a book entitled “Who will love my country: Ideas for building the Nigeria of our dream’’, written by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, in Abuja on Wednesday.
“Before making my remarks about the book, let me use this platform to condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the attack perpetrated on the Ukpabu Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani area of Enugu State on Monday. I deeply sympathise with all those who lost dear ones, as well as those who lost their properties, in the attack.
“I have directed the Chief of Defence Staff and the Inspector-General of Police to secure all communities under attacks by herdsmen, and to go after all the groups terrorizing innocent people all over the country. This government will not allow these attacks to continue”, he stated.
President Buhari said in writing the book, the author struck the right notes when he enjoined leaders to carry out programmes that will enhance the prosperity, happiness and living conditions of citizens and stressed the need for change in several areas, including attitudinal change, especially as it concerns corruption and impunity and the need for Nigerians to love their country.
“He (Senator Ekweremadu) demonstrated in the book that Nigerians can only build a Nigeria of their dreams if they make bold efforts to love her above their individual selves and narrow interests,” the President remarked.
He aligned with the views canvassed by Senator Ekweremadu in the book and said for his government, those words propounded by the author amount to preaching to the converted.
“Our mantra is CHANGE, starting with individual attitudinal change. That explains why this Administration will soon launch a major campaign, tagged ‘CHANGE BEGINS WITH ME’, aimed at getting Nigerians to realize that the change they so much desire starts with them. If we all change our ways for the better, the society itself will change” he said.
While endorsing the need to secure the social welfare of the people as encapsulated in the book, the President said it was in line with this that his administration designed the 2016 budget to bring millions of Nigerians out of poverty, enhance the living conditions of the citizens and put smiles on their faces.
“Our 500 billion Naira Social Intervention Fund, which is unprecedented, will, among others, create jobs for 500,000 unemployed graduates and 370,000 unemployed non-graduates; provide loans for 1 million Nigerians, including market men and women as well as artisans, to start up small businesses; feed 4.5 million school children; ensure conditional cash transfers to the most vulnerable (not unemployed graduates) citizens and provide scholarships to students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” he said.
President Buhari challenged Nigerians to make bold efforts to love their country above their individual selves and narrow interests, saying anyone who puts his or her country over and above other interests will not engage in unbridled corruption, divert money meant for public use to private purposes or divert money for the national treasury into private pockets.
“When we put the public interest above our personal interests, the society benefits, but when the reverse is the case, the society suffers,” he said.
The President congratulated the author for investing his time and energy in writing such a relevant and well-written book that inspires love of country among Nigerians.