2019: We’ll Make Nigeria Work Again, Says Ekweremadu

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has assured citizens that the mistake of 2015 and the attendant hardship would be remedied in 2019 to make Nigeria work again.

He gave the assurance in his acceptance speech at the weekend during the 2017 Silverbird Awards where he received the Silverbird Legislative Award in Lagos.

Reacting to an earlier speech by the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, in which he acknowledged that Nigerians were passing through hard times, Ekweremadu, however observed that the House Leader failed to tell Nigerians how things got so bad and how the All Progressives Congress (APC) government intended to pull Nigerians out of the hardship.

He said: “My friend, Hon. Gbajabiamila, admitted that we are passing through difficult times, but he did not go to the extent of telling us that on account of what they call troubled times, we have over 100 students in Yobe who are now in the forests. We are not sure whether they had food this night. We are not sure of their health situation.

“He didn’t tell us that we have thousands of Nigerians, who are out of school. He didn’t tell us how eight million Nigerians, who lost their jobs in 17 months, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, will regain their jobs. He didn’t tell us how we could regain our glory before the international community in terms of fighting corruption. He didn’t tell us how water would flow from our taps again or how power would be restored.

“He didn’t tell us how fuel would get into our cars because today, our filling stations are on the streets- in jerry cans. And they call them APC fillings stations”.

He, however, assured listeners that the bad situations would be fixed come 2019.

“I want to assure Nigerians that it will be daylight again in Nigeria. Together, we will make Nigeria work again. The Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members of the House of Representatives are determined to work together to alleviate these challenges.

“Importantly, in 2019, we are going to switch on the light that was switched-off by some people in 2015. Those, who have left the family, will return and as a family, we will work together to restore the glory of our land in the best interest of our people”, Ekweremadu added.

Meanwhile, Silverbird said it bestowed the Legislative Award on the Senator in recognition of his outstanding legislative inputs to national development.