Nigerians have an image problem abroad which makes it difficult to emigrate to the West, but they can stay at home where their services are needed, President Muhammadu Buhari was quoted as saying by a British newspaper on Saturday.
A former army ruler from the 1980s who returned to power as a civilian after winning an election in March last year, Buhari has the image of an ascetic disciplinarian keen to tackle his country’s persistent problems with crime and corruption.
“Some Nigerians’ claim is that life is too difficult back home,” he was quoted as telling the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
“But they have also made it difficult for Europeans and Americans to accept them because of the number of Nigerians in prisons around the world accused of drug trafficking or human trafficking,” he said.
This is a contrast to some other Nigerian politicians, who often argue that their countrymen are unfairly victimized in foreign countries.
“I don’t think Nigerians have anybody to blame. They can remain at home, where their services are required to rebuild the country,” Buhari was quoted as saying.
The newspaper said Buhari thought a minority of his countrymen could do with improving their behavior.
“We have an image problem abroad and we are on our way to salvage that,” he said.
Buhari first came to power when he led a military coup in 1983, ousting an elected government.
He ruled for 18 months, during which he imprisoned journalists and opposition activists without trial, executed drug traffickers by firing squad and ordered soldiers to thrash those who failed to queue in an orderly fashion at bus stops.
Buhari was himself ousted in the next military coup.
In the years following Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999, he reinvented himself as a democrat, culminating in his victory against incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in last year’s presidential election.
One Response
I congratulate our president for his victory at the polls in 2015 but am not buying what he just said for nigerians to stay at home…to build nigeria…
How many has he offered employment since he became president…
How stable is the economy since he became president…
How regular is electricity since he became president…
How safe are the people from kidnappers,armed robbers,cultists etc since he became president?
How many roads had he rehabilitated since he became president?
I know he did not cause these problems but he must have envisaged it b4 he became president from reports all over how the economy is being butchered..&should have been better prepared how to tackle these problems..
Whatever…let there be improvement with the lives of people back in Nigeria before canvassing for people abroad to come home..
Has he not thought of how much had been repatriated home from nigerians abroad to better their families lives…