The senate president Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan has said that ‘Nigeria was never and is not a rich country.’
Lawan made this remark while speaking at a book lunch “How I Became A Senator in 30 Days” which was authored by Senator Sadiq Suleiman Umar, a representative of Kwara North Senatorial District.
He said:
“Nigeria was never and is not a rich country, It may be controversial but it’s true. When we used to say in the 70s that our problem is not money but how to spend it. It’s like someone with a fat bank account and yet has no house, no food and nothing at all. In fact, the entire bank account, cannot provide him an accommodation. Yet we felt we were rich, but we weren’t.“But given the resources that we had and still have, we should be somewhere far ahead than where we are today. We shouldn’t have been with this massive infrastructure deficit, we shouldn’t have 14 million children out of school. In fact Our roads, railways, dams and everything should be far better. When we realize that we have challenges, then we must brace and address the challenges.”
The senate president charged the political leaders in attendance to serve Nigerians with utmost effort not to seek personal interests.
“We are in position of leadership by the grace of God and by the endorsement of our people. We owe our people the responsibility and obligation that with the little that we have, we must provide security for our people. It may look a difficult task, but it is doable if we are willing. We must continue to insist that we get the services required, we must insist on performance where there is no performance,” Lawan said.
He further stressed that it is not the responsibility of senators to build roads and infrastructure, but to ensure that the federal government budgets reflect the various infrastructural needs.
