By LEON USIGBE, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday regretted that despite his shoot-at-sight order on non-state actors bearing AK-47, smuggling of arms and other contraband still thrives in the country, saying that people are merciless towards the nation.

He spoke Friday at the presidential villa, Abuja during the 6th regular meeting with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), led by Professor Doyin Salami.

The president decried the situation in which some unscrupulous people tried to undermine every policy of the government, irrespective of the good it was meant to achieve for the country.

A statement issued by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity) quoted him as saying: “Some people are mercilessly against this country,” the President said.

“We closed the borders to control the smuggling of petroleum products, and check the influx of smuggled goods, arms and ammunition. That was when the Comptroller General of Customs called me, saying 40 tankers laden with petrol had been impounded. I told him to sell the fuel, sell the trucks, and put the money in the treasury.

“They still brought arms and ammunition into the country, brought in rice in vehicles and motorcycles. I said shoot anyone found illegally with AK-47, yet they haven’t stopped. People must show consideration for their own country.”

President Buhari assured that his administration will focus on the greater development of irrigation facilities in the country, and encourage more people into agriculture.

He said agriculture was a good way for the country to overcome economic challenges confronting it, stressing: “We need to go back to the land. Technology is doing away with petroleum, but we are lucky we have other resources; Gas, vast arable land, which we are not using enough.”

The President was responding to disclosure by Prof Salami, in his presentation, that only 2 per cent of land under cultivation is irrigated, recommending that apart from government efforts, incentives are needed for private people to enter the sector.

On the security challenges, which PEAC said was having great repercussions on the economy, President Buhari charged leadership at every level to go back to the basics, noting that a bottom-up approach was necessary, from ward to local council, states, and federal.

PEAC submitted that the global economy has continued to improve as COVID infections drop and the roll-out of vaccination intensifies, adding that the Nigerian economy, though out of recession, remains fragile with inflation rising, unemployment high, and external account weak.

Policy, the economic advisory body said, “must urgently address the challenges of rising prices.”

Among other issues recommended by PEAC are; decisive end to all forms of insecurity in the country, mobilization of resources for investment, hastened implementation of agricultural reform policies, the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as a basis for revitalizing the industry, poverty reduction, employment generation, and incentives for private investment in irrigation, to promote all-year-round farming. (Nigerian Tribune)

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