The Secretary to the Government of Federation, Mr Boss Mustafa, says President Muhammadu Buhari’s tough decisions during his second term will be in the best interests of the country.
Mustafa, who spoke to reporters in Yola on Monday allayed public concern that the Nigerian economy could worsen during Buhari’s second term.
The SGF described the President as “a good man” out to improve living standards in the country.
He said, “When we came to power in 2015 about 27 states couldn’t pay salaries. We had to take tough decisions like giving them bailouts.
“These are tough decisions.”
He also said the ban on rice and fertiliser importation was one of the tough decisions taken by the government.
According to him, the ban on rice and fertiliser yielded positive results because it helped boost local production.
Mustafa said, “By such tough decisions, we are able to raise the number of rice farmers from 4 million to 12 million, and we are about 98 per cent self-sufficient in rice production.”
He added, “Due to the establishment of many fertiliser-blending plants, after we banned the importation of fertiliser and the product is now available and the prize is going down.”
The SGF said anti-graft institutions such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission and Code of Conduct Bureau were being strengthened to tackle corruption.
He said, “It’s better to prevent it (corruption) instead of spending a lot of money prosecuting corruption cases.”