Friday, August 12, 2016
PRESIDENT Muhammadu
Buhari has observed that Nigeria is now a poor country, but that commitment to
transparency and accountability is helping his administration, despite severe
shortage of resources in the country.
He made the remark on
Thursday, at the State House, Abuja, while receiving the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director and Under Secretary General of the
United Nations, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin.
He said: “It has been a
very difficult year for Nigeria. Before we came to office, petroleum sold for
about $100 per barrel. Then, it crashed to $37 and now oscillates between $40
and $45 per barrel.
“Suddenly, we are a
poor country, but commitment to transparency and accountability is not making
people know that there is severe shortage.”
Asking UNFPA to bear
with Nigeria in whichever area the country could not live up to its
responsibilities for now, President Buhari said exploding population and
different cultural practices in the country provided fertile ground for
research to organisations like UNFPA.
The president thanked
the UN agency for its commitment to saving lives in Nigeria, particularly women
and children.
On food security,
President Buhari said reports from the North-East of the country were
encouraging, as people were returning to their farmlands, with the guarantee of
relative security.
Professor Osotimehin, a
former Minister of Health, said UNFPA was determined to promote health care
facilities across the country, noting that reduction of maternal mortality was
doable, if the country paid more attention to accessing health facilities and
human resources to run them.
He also encouraged
Nigeria to commit to providing resources for health care on a rollover basis,
pledging that the UN would work with the country to provide humanitarian
assistance, not only in the North-East, “but even extended to the Lake Chad
basin.”
SOURCE: TRIBUNE