President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday again called on Boko Haram insurgents to lay down their arms and embrace peace.
In his speech delivered to mark Nigeria’s 54th independence anniversary, the President commended the members of the Nigerian Armed Forces who have relentlessly confronted the terrorists waging war on the nation, particularly in the North east.
“Night after night, day after day, our forces continue to engage the terrorists in battle. My gratitude goes to the armed forces whose will has been greatly challenged by this insurgency more than any other time since the civil war,” he said.
While promising to do everything to enable the military defeat the insurgents, President Jonathan solicited the support of all Nigerians for our troops in the fight against terrorists.
“As commander in chief I will continue to do all it takes to enable them continue to inflict devastating blows at the heart of terror. Fellow Nigerians, it is collective our duty as patriots to avail our men and women in uniform all the support they need to fight and win this war,” he said.
Looking back, Jonathan expressed happiness at the progress that has been made in building a strong, united and prosperous nation but said that the country is still very much in a sober mood following the current level of insurgency and the activities of the insurgents.
“Our overall objective is to do all we can to sustain in the North East yhe momentum of economic advancement which is on-going in other parts of the country, despite the machinations of the terrorists and their sponsors” he said.
While he commended the international community for working in collaboration with Nigeria in confronting the challenge of terrorism, he called on all Nigerians to put aside political, sectional or other parochial considerations and join hands with the government and the military to contain the activities of Boko Haram.
The President also addressed other issues bordering on the economy, security and the coming general elections even as he reeled out the achievements of his administration.
Speaking on the just concluded national conference, President Jonathan reiterated the commitment of the federal government to implement the recommendations of the conference, saying that he had started by setting up the ministerial committee headed by the Attorney General of the Federation to work out the modalities for the implementation of the report.
Ahead of the 2015 general elections, he urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, all security agencies, politicians and the electorate to work peacefully to consolidate on the gains of the recent elections in Ekiti and Osun states.
He also called on politicians not to heat up the polity as the country moves towards the general election.
“As we move into an election year, desperate moves to overheat the polity are becoming a regular occurrence. Our political leaders must know that the contest for power must not translate to the destruction of the polity,” Jonathan urged.
On the economy, the President said the implementation of the Nigerian Content Act in the oil and gas sector had ensured major increase in the participation of indigenous companies in the industry, prompting international and rating agency to acknowledge Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa with a Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of $510 billion and the country as the 26th largest economy in the world.