President Muhammadu Buhari has lamented over the security challenges confronting the country.
He disclosed that despite the closure of the borders to control the smuggling of arms and ammunition, “Some people are mercilessly against this country.”
“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,” he explained.
The President stated this on Friday, during the 6th regular meeting with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), led by Professor Doyin Salami in Abuja.
President Buhari urged the 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 the government, irrespective of the good it was meant to achieve for the country.
He said, “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.”
President Buhari also pledged that the Federal Government will focus on the greater development of irrigation facilities in the country, and encourage more people into agriculture.
He said agriculture was a good way for the country to overcome economic challenges confronting it, stressing, “We need to go back to the land. Technology is doing away with petroleum, but we are lucky we have other resources; Gas, vast arable land, which we are not using enough.”
