Buhari to Nigerians: I won’t fail you, don’t lose faith in my administration

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured his government

will deliver on its promised change.

In his Easter Message Saturday, the president thanked

Nigerians for being patient with his government in its first

10 turbulent months in office.

The president’s full text:

EASTER MESSAGE TO THE NATION FROM

PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI

Fellow Nigerians,

I rejoice with you all, especially our Christian brothers and

sisters, as we celebrate Easter.

For Christians all over the world, this celebration is in

commemoration of the supreme sacrifice which Jesus Christ

made for the salvation of mankind.

The Gospels also tell us that during his earthly ministry,

Jesus Christ repeatedly urged his disciples and followers

to “love one another as I have loved you”.

As we celebrate Easter this year, I sincerely believe that it

will serve our dear nation very well if we all imbibe this

essential message of Jesus Christ and truly learn to love our

countrymen and women as we love ourselves.

Indeed, we will surely make faster progress towards the

achievement of the peaceful, united, strong, progressive and

prosperous country we all desire if, as a nation, we eschew all

divisive, parochial, ethnic and religious sentiments and

rivalries, and begin to live more harmoniously with our

compatriots, as Jesus Christ and the founders of the world’s

other great religions enjoined mankind.

Our unfortunate notoriety in recent years as a country where

the blood of men, women and children are wantonly and

callously shed in frequent orgies of criminal, political,

ethnic and religious violence has become very embarrassing

and utterly unacceptable.

My administration is determined to achieve greater peace

and security across our nation by ending the avoidable

conflicts and crises that hinder our national progress.

I ask for greater support from all Nigerians in this regard. We

must put a stop to politically motivated killings. Our

communities must be made safe again for all inhabitants to

live together in peace and harmony.

Our armed forces, police and other security agencies are

being progressively reformed, repositioned and empowered

to win the war against terrorism and make mass killings,

abductions and other criminal atrocities things of the past in

our beloved country.

Let us all also play our parts as patriotic citizens and do all

that we can to ensure that we make Nigeria a safer, more

peaceful and happier place for its people and others.

Faith, belief and the fulfilment of expectations are also key

themes of the Easter celebration. I urge you all therefore, to

continue to have faith in the future greatness of our country

and to believe that the CHANGE my administration

promised will surely come to fruition.

That CHANGE, which we all yearn for, will certainly occur

more rapidly if we all place the love of our country above

selfish personal and group interests.

The National Assembly has just passed the 2016 budget. I

assure all Nigerians that we will do our utmost best to ensure

that the budget, the first since my election as President, is

efficiently and successfully implemented towards achieving

our objective of faster economic growth and development.

I thank the vast majority of Nigerians for their patience and

understanding in the first ten months of this administration.

As we go forward, I assure you all that we are working very

hard to overcome the challenges we encountered on

assumption of office.

We are moving on with an unshaken resolve and

determination to deliver on the mandate you gave us

on March 28, last year.

I wish you all very happy Easter celebrations.