He, however, admitted that Nigerians are facing hardship and challenges, some of which could have been mitigated by better conceptualised and articulated policies.
Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate has described the eight-year administration of President Muhammadu Buhari as a success story for Nigerians when compared to the 16-year rule of the Peoples Democratic Party.
He, however, admitted that Nigerians are facing hardship and challenges, some of which could have been mitigated by better conceptualised and articulated policies.
Tinubu disclosed this in his address ahead of the 2023 presidential poll.
According to him, the dwindling oil prices did not discourage the APC-led government from setting targets for lofty developmental projects and achieving more than the 16 years of PDP’s misrule.
He said, “I have been overwhelmed by the enthusiastic crowds that have trooped out to receive us in all the states we visited. On Tuesday, we had the grand finale of our rally in Lagos State. It is obvious to me from my interaction with our people across the country that, despite our challenges, the APC enjoys tremendous goodwill among the vast majority of our people.
“In all the states we have visited, there are visible landmarks of the huge impact the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has made in terms of infrastructural development in the form of rural and urban roads and expressways, modern railway tracks, as well as improved airport facilities, among others.
“Millions of our poor and vulnerable people have benefitted from the various social intervention programmes of the Buhari administration. The amounts disbursed to these categories of our people are unprecedented in terms of the sheer transfer of resources to the less privileged sections of the population not only in our country but in Africa.
“It is remarkable and ironical that those who were in power for 16 years earned far higher revenues from petroleum than we did and yet were unable to effectively tackle neither infrastructure nor poverty. They now have the temerity to cast aspersions on the APC administration.
“Our campaign tours demonstrated clearly to us that you, our people, are not deceived. Of course, we are aware of the hardships suffered by our people and the challenges confronting our country. Some of these could have been mitigated by better conceptualized and articulated policies. The truth is that there can be no perfect government in any human community.
“Some of the problems are also of global origin such as the unanticipated COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted economies worldwide or the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war that has disrupted global food and fuel supply chains.
“It is clear to me that there is a lot that the Buhari administration has done that are laudable in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture and poverty alleviation. We must build upon these achievements.
“There are also some sectors where we must adopt new approaches and stress new priorities. What is clear is that the Office of the President of Nigeria is not one of pleasure. Rather, it will demand the highest standard of hard work, discipline, focus, determination and commitment on the part of the next President.”