PRESIDENT BUHARI AND OTHER SENATORS HAVING DINNER IN THE PRESIDENTIAL VILLA.

Courtesy Vanguard
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday
lamented that the nation’s roads are in dire
need of attention by the Federal Government.
The President also called for the immediate
development of infrastructure such as rail
and power.

Buhari spoke during a presidential dinner he
hosted in honour of senators at the new
Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The dinner was also attended by Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo; Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu; top government officials and
presidential aides.
Leading the delegation of lawmaker to the
Presidential Villa is the Senate President
,Bukola Saraki and his Deputy ,Ike
Ekweremadu ,who is visiting the Villa for the
first time since his emergence as the Deputy
Senate President .
LEADERSHIP recalls that the Senate and the
executive has had a frosty relationship since
the emergence of Ekweremadu who is of the
opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
as the number two man in the senate.
Addressing the lawmakers, Buhari said the
roads are dead, adding that “ Those who
drive between Lagos and Ibadan will have a
lot of stories to tell you. Those who drive
from Kaduna to Jebba may have more
stories to tell. The same thing is applicable to
the East West roads,”.
He appealed to the Senate to join hands with
the executive in making the problem of
infrastructure such as rail, road and power a
thing of the past.
Buhari also asked the Senate Committees to
look at the various agreements the nation
had entered into in the last six years and see
where Nigeria is defaulting in in terms of
counterpart fundings.
According to him, if the nation could get the
railway working, lives and fuel would be
saved.
On the free fall of crude oil price in the
international market, the President lamented
that it’s affecting the economy negatively.
As the Senate received the Supplementary
Budget last week,the president urged the
lawmakers to treat the nation’s budget with
same sense of urgency the same way they
treated the ministerial list.
He said; “We are enjoying tremendous
goodwill outside this country. Whatever we
do, let us have it in mind that people have
confidence in this government”.
In his remarks, Saraki, thanked Buhari while
pledging the Senate’s continuous support for
the government.
According to Saraki,the challenges ahead are
enormous, saying that he believed that when
God gives man a position, He would also
equip him with the capacity to carry out the
task.
Saraki also promised that the Senate under
his watch would not be sentimental in
treating national issues, adding that”Petrol
does not know APC or PDP. We will always
work hard in the interest of the country in
everything we do,”
Journalists were later excused as the
president engaged the lawmakers in an
interactive session behind closed-doors.