Dr Andrew Kwasari, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Agriculture, has advised Nigerians to be more patient with government as it rebuilds infrastructure.
Kwasari gave this advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.
He spoke against the backdrop of the numerous projects put in place by the government to cater for welfare of its citizens, especially during the COVID-19 period.
NAN reports that Kwasari is also the Special Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture on projects and a member of the Agric sub-sector of the National Economic Sustainability Committee (NESC) under the leadership of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
“Nigerians need to be patient with one another and we need to be patient with our government first.
“We need to understand also that as a country of 200 million and counting, it is a herculean task to deliver change because we’ve not built systems to deliver change in the past.
“We need to put our hands all on this deck to re-establish the Nigeria that we want; to build that architecture beginning with me,” he said.
He emphasised his confidence in the integrity of the Buhari-led government, adding that this was the first time citizens have had it this good.
“I have full confidence that the president and his vice president are very very sincere citizens and they mean well for this country.
“And I also believe with all of my heart that they are not interested in this game of benefitting from the common purse; this is the first time we have had it this good,” Kwasari said.
The presidential aide, who decried the state of corruption, said the country got to its present stage for over prioritising material success to the detriment of rewarding hard work, honesty and integrity.
“Nigeria is in a difficult situation and this didn’t suddenly come on us; it is a product of our years of decisive move towards doing the wrong thing.
“Particularly when we departed from rewarding hard work, honesty and integrity and closely linked to that was where we over prioritised material success; so all of these entrenched corruption.
“The easiest corruption Nigeria is dealing with is material corruption; there’s a bigger corruption, the moral corruption.
“Where today we do not hear messages that the morals of this is that and people are happy,” Kwasari said.
He expressed faith that with prayers and deliberate commitment at change, the country would get to the promised land.
“If this administration is preaching change; what is it that I do on my own, in my own household that is not right, and I do it because nobody can hold me accountable.
“So once we start from there, then you will see that change will come and I think that this is the most difficult change but I’m sure that Nigerians will come through this.
“We are a people of faith unless if God doesn’t exist, if Nigerians continue faithfully to pray and keep faith with the national pledge that we recite every day, we will get out of this trouble,” he said.
NAN reports that The Green Imperative, National Livestock Transformation Plan, and the Agric for Food and Job Plan(AFJP) are among projects being supervised by Kwasari with the AFJP under the National Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP).
The NESP was set up by Buhari in March to cater to the issues that could arise from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation’s economy.
