Brace up for Devt, Yar'Adua, Mark, Urge Nigerians

admin · Brace up for Devt, Yar'Adua, Mark, Urge Nigerians

Brace up for Devt, Yar'Adua, Mark, Urge Nigerians

Chuks Okocha
01.01.2008

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and Senate President, David Mark, have urged Nigerians to brace up for development in 2008. In a New Year message to Nigerians yesterday, President Yar'Adua said this year would be the first in which a national budget entirely conceived by his administration would be implemented in furtherance of national aspirations. "We have already presented an appropriation bill to the National Assembly which clearly underscores our determination to give urgent and serious attention to the task of rehabilitating, expanding and developing our essential national infrastructure to accelerate the pace of growth in all sectors of our national economy."

"We will work in close cooperation with the leadership and members of the Senate and the House of Representatives in the coming days to ensure the speedy passage of the bill and guarantee adequate and timely funding for projects which have been conceived to fulfill our promises to Nigerians, especially in critical sectors which require urgent attention," he said. He urged Nigerians to include as their New Year resolutions, a renewed commitment to earnestly and actively support his administration's efforts to rapidly move the country further along the path to true greatness.

Senator Mark has urged Nigerians to brace up for a new dawn of rapid socio-economic development in 2008. Also, the National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, called on Nigerians to be prepared for the new economic policies of President Yar'Adua's administration that would usher in economic development.
Mark in his New Year message to Nigerians, affirmed that the Executive and the Legislature had resolved to work together in order to bring the needed development across the country. The Senate President said: "It is the resolve of the present administration to improve all sectors of the economy. This administration is prepared to get it right this time. "Our focus is the people. Our people must get priority attention and we are determined to provide the needed ingredients for rapid transformation of the economy."

In his new year message, Ume-Ezeoke said 2008 would usher in economic prosperity. "Nigerians have endured enough and democracy has come to stay. This year, we shall begin to harvest the gains of democracy in Nigeria," he said.

Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, charged Kwarans and indeed Nigerians to elevate themselves in the out-going year and brace up for the challenges in the new year towards making our society a better place to live. In a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mas'ud Adebimpe, Saraki urged the people to rededicate themselves for better performance in the new year so as to be able to contribute more meaningfully to the progress of the nation.

The former vice president and presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC) in the April 2007 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, urged Nigerians to face the new year with hope and confidence. In a new year message by the Atiku Campaign Media Office in Abuja yesterday, Atiku expressed gratitude to God for keeping Nigeria a united and peaceful country in spite of the turbulent elections and other political issues that it grappled with in the passing year.

According to the Turaki Adamawa, "My expectation in the new year is to see the Nigerian people become more politically and democratically conscious and active. I expect Nigerians in their millions to demand responsible leadership and quality governance from those who govern at all levels." The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, said the resilience and doggedness that saw Nigerians through 2007 would definitely ensure that they attain the greatest heights in the new year irrespective of age vocation, religion, creed or social status.

The speaker in a New Year message by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, said all hope was not lost for the nation as Nigeria was gradually returning to the path of sanity and economic prosperity.
According to him, "There is no doubting the fact that Nigeria will fulfill all the hopes and aspirations of its people, as I personally believe so; but we should all remain committed to the national goals and aspirations."

The Oyo State Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, revealed yesterday that the state economy would experience a turn-around in the New Year based on the activities the administration had embarked upon since assuming office in May 29, 2007. In a statement by the Special Adviser to the governor on Public Communications, Prince Dotun Oyelade, Alao-Akala said to give vent to a successful free enterprise, government would not compete but create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive in the state.

In his goodwill message, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), said the greatest attribute Lagosians must bring to bear on their collective psyche in this New Year is the fact that "the government belongs to all of us." "As a state government that believes in participatory democracy, we believe that the realisation of the goal of building our state which we have set before us from the beginning, depends on our collective will to maintain peace through obedience to law and order in the state," the governor said.

Governor Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi of Zamfara State yesterday urged political leaders in the country to discharge their responsibilities with all sense of fairness in order to ensure peaceful coexistence in their various localities. Shinkafi while addressing the weekly preaching session organised by the state Ministry of Religious Affairs, in Gasau, said he foresaw a bright New Year for all Nigerians devoid of rancour.
He said partisanship and lack of fairness exhibited by leaders had the tendency to divide the people and create room for unnecessary chaos and misunderstanding.

The Edo State Governor, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, commended the people of the state for keeping hope alive in 2007. He said: "We should be determined as we enter the New Year with renewed hope and determination to continue our mission of reconstruction and the rebuilding of Edo State." Ekiti State Governor, Mr Segun Oni, charged the people on the need to shun petition writing, deliberate peddling of falsehood, blackmailing, bickering and other vices that have been holding the state down over the years.

"We should embrace love, harmony and unity in the new year. It is only in an atmosphere of all these virtues that we can move the state forward", the governor admonished. Also, the governorship candidate of the Action Congress (AC), Ekiti State chapter, Dr Kayode Fayemi, called on the people to be sober and pause for the quick deliverance of the soul of Ekiti from the confines of the PDP and its evil managers.