Alhaji Maitama Sule, former ambassador and First Republic minister, has urged the president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to ensure that corruption and impunity are tackled headlong by his administration.
He said further that the country will not disintegrate in spite of the numerous challenges facing it.
Maitama Sule spoke as the guest speaker during a lecture organised in honour of the governor-elect, Barrister Simon Bako Lalong, in Jos, the Plateau State capital, yesterday.
He said, “People expected that this country would disintegrate due to wide agitations from the local and international communities, but the country still remains one; so we are calling on the new governments to ensure that they all meet the needs and aspirations of the masses who voted them into office.”
Maitama Sule went down memory lane on the series of crises the country has witnessed since the First Republic, saying that the country is still suffering from them.
He appealed to Nigerians to embrace change, stressing that change will only be possible if the people have the mindset of accepting the change.
He called on the people of Plateau State to give the incoming administration their maximum cooperation to move the state forward.
He said that Nigeria, India and Brazil were among the Third World countries which were supposed to embrace technological revolution but Nigeria failed to attain it, adding that Brazil and India are now the countries whose achievements in Medicine and Agriculture among others we are celebrating.
Also speaking, the governor-elect said that the creation of chiefdoms by the outgoing administration is not acceptable as there are more pressing issues facing the people.
Lalong also spoke on the challenges facing the civil servants in the state and promised to tackle the issues effectively.