The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), urged youths to
acquire knowledge not towards getting government jobs as there are no
“jobs in government anymore.”
He also urged youths to acquaint themselves with history to avoid
making the same mistakes of the past.
According to a statement signed on Wednesday by his Senior Special
Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari said this when
he paid a Sallah homage visit to the Emir of Daura, Faruk Faruk, at
his Palace.
The statement is titled ‘Train, educate your children on right values,
the world is changing, President Buhari tells Nigerians.’
He implored parents to inculcate right values in children, including
deep fear of God, respect for constituted authorities and living a
purposeful life through continuous education.
“We should ensure the children get proper education. The knowledge
they acquire should not be towards getting government jobs.
“We don’t have jobs in government anymore. With technology,
governments are becoming smaller, nimble and efficient.
“Emphasis should now be on skills acquisition and competence in
creation and deployment of technology. During the COVID-19, we asked
all level 12 downwards to stay at home, and surprisingly, the systems
worked effectively,” the President said.
He also noted that the younger children should be guided and taught
history, as they would find it hard to be patriotic, responsible and
respectful, without a thorough understanding of their backgrounds.
“Whoever does not have a good sense of history will easily make
mistakes,” he said.
President Buhari told the Emir of Daura, Dr Faruk Faruk, that he will
be more regular in visits, preparatory to the handing over in May,
2023, adding that the prolonged absence was due to the demands of his
office.
“This is the longest I have been away from home. In fact, the Emir
took to the court of public opinion at the prayer ground, when he
openly told everyone that I had not visited Daura for close to a
year,” he said.
He urged all Nigerians to make sacrifices to move the country forward,
especially the public servants, calling for more selflessness and
inclusion.
“In the end, it is only God that can reward your efforts, not man,”
Buhari noted.
In his remarks, Governor Aminu Masari claimed that, having fed at
least 863,000 children under the school feeding programme in Katsina,
adding that no government has done more to reduce poverty like the
Buhari regime.
He said every contrary view is held by those who “only think of
themselves” and are “never appreciative until something gets to their
pockets.”
Masari said, “No government in the history of this country has done
more to reduce poverty like President Buhari’s administration.
“He asked religious and community leaders to bring enlightenment to
bear on successful government programs such as the Social Investment
Program, SIP through which 120,000 poor citizens in 12 Local
Government Areas of the state receive a monthly payment of N5,000 and
this is happening in all the states.
“Today, we have over 863,000 children in the state being fed under the
school feeding program. This has created 10,000 jobs for women cooks,
14,000 young men and women enrolled in N-Power.
“We have food vendors who are engaged and earning their livelihood.
All the foolish talk on social media is by those who only think of
themselves. Our elites are never happy or appreciative until something
gets to their pockets.”
Masari who said security in the country had improved considerably
under Buhari lamented that “human beings forget easily”.
National Population Commission: Census’ll Require “A Lot Of Time,
Skill, Stamina” Buhari tells NPC
The President, Muhammadu Buhari, said the 2023 census would require
“a lot of time, skill and stamina” from the National Population
Commission.
According to a statement signed late Wednesday by the Senior Special
Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the
President said this when he participated in the first phase of Census
2023, a trial House listing and House numbering in selected local
government areas of the country.
The statement is titled ‘President Buhari participates in trial census
in Daura, congratulates NPC on preparedness’.
To mark the commencement of the exercise, the National Population
Commission accredited the President at his country home in Daura,
Katsina State, where he urged officials to justify the confidence of
the government by returning accurate, verifiable and dependable data.
Speaking to the team led by the NPC Chairman, Nasir Kwarra, he said,
“I am happy you have started the process, and congratulations. I know
this will require a lot of time, skill and stamina.”
After the digital capturing, the chairman explained that President
Buhari had been designated number one on the list, from Daura,
Katsina, and his house was also the first.
The chairman said the trial followed the conclusion of the training of
the field functionaries for the Trial Census exercise, who would begin
the fieldwork of the Trial Census from July 13-30, 2022 in the
selected Enumeration Areas and Local Government Areas in the 36 States
of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory.
“It is a process in which all census operations are tested in a
detailed and comprehensive manner to assess the level of preparedness
of the Commission to conduct the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
“The Trial Census shall cover a total of 7,681 Enumeration Areas in
the 36 States and the FCT. Six LGAs have been selected from the six
selected states in the six geo-political zones of the country for full
population enumeration while forty-five EAs in nine LGAs cutting
across three senatorial districts were selected from each of the
thirty states and the FCT for enumeration,” he explained.
The Trial Census fieldwork includes, building numbering and household
listing from July 13-15, 2022; validation of EA frame from July 16-18,
2022; person’s enumeration from July 19-25, 2022; and enumeration mop
up from July 26-30, 2022.
Kwarra added that at the end of the trial census exercise, the NPC
expects to take away lessons on their chosen methodology, work load,
challenges of data collection in peculiar areas and the education as
well as the adequacy of the preparation of their enumerators.
According to the ASUU chairperson in a statement made available to our
correspondent in Abuja, he noted that the president who had been vocal
about the struggles of ASUU before he became president, failed to put
his knowledge of the struggles of the university lecturers into use.
“The media space was inundated with a statement credited to President
Buhari regarding ASUU’s struggle yesternight, and with spill over till
this morning. Hence, the need to give this brief response so that
Nigerians would know if ‘Enough is actually enough’.
“Firstly, Mr President was very vocal about the ASUU struggle some
years back before becoming the President and one would have expected
him to know about the struggle more than some people but
unfortunately, his statement yesterday suggested otherwise. I won’t
blame the president that much, I can only say that his handlers are
his enemies because if the president was properly briefed about the
matter, he wouldn’t have made that statement.
“Again, the president said enough is enough, what is actually enough?
Was he talking about the attitude of his appointees to direct order,
as evident in the directive he gave on February 1, 2022, and was not
executed for over two months? Was he tired of going through reports on
assignments given to different agencies? These are more of his faults
and not that of the Union.
“The president was trying so hard to play a psychological game by
bringing students (next generation) into the statement forgetting that
the lecturers like any other common Nigerian have their kids and wards
in public universities but his kids are/were not/never in public
universities.
“Unfortunately, the government after six months of keeping the
students at home due to its poor handling of the strike issues is just
realising that they are parents when their children do not even know
what the gates of public universities in the country look like. There
is no need to paint ASUU’s struggle in such coloration because we all
know that the political class hardly cares about the rest of us
because they only believe the students are good for political
thuggery.
“I was so happy when the president mentioned that, we should be
inclined toward technology, the question again that we need to ask is
this; do we have the facilities to make us an innovative nation
through our universities? Is the upgrade of facilities in our
universities to make us competitive not part of ASUU’s demands? Then,
I think enough is enough of daydreaming.
Speaking further in the statement, the ASUU chairperson cautioned the
presidential spokesperson and other government officials against
making issues of ASUU political.
“Unfortunately, some aides to the president think that academic staff
can only think maximumly at their own level of reasoning. The Media
Aide to the President, Mr. Garba Shehu, was on Channels TV yesterday
saying that “why is ASUU holding President Buhari to ransom?” This is
as if the fight is personal. He should go back in time and tell us if
President Buhari was in power in the 90s, 2009 (the strike that led to
the famous agreement), 2013 (the six-month strike), etc.
“Government agents should stop playing politics with everything,
especially when lives are involved. He was also saying that ASUU
should bend, the question is this, which item on the demand has been
resolved that can make any right-thinking person bend?
“I am very disappointed when I heard “they should go back to classes
while we continue to negotiate with them,” do they think we are stupid
or a bunch of idiots that can not process things properly? We have
been on strike for close to six months and you have not been able to
resolve just one of the issues and you want us to go back to classes
so as to declare another strike in the next three months?
“Haba, Mr. President, enough of this talk, it is time for action that
will lead to permanent resolution of the issues quickly going by what
you were saying before 2015 and history will be kind to you that the
president that brought enough to ASUU strike was you.