President Muhammadu Buhari has called on Nigerians to rekindle hope in the country, urging them to use the Christmas season to show love to one another.

In his Christmas message on Friday, Buhari said Nigerians should use the season to “encourage ourselves so that the machinations of the wicked ones in our midst will find no place to thrive”.

“It is in the midst of hardship that the true test of a nation emerges,” he added in the message.

“I urge Nigerians to invoke the indomitable spirit in us and see the present order of things as a phase that will also pass, just like other unsavory situations in the nation’s history.

“This government will not abandon the promises made to Nigerians for a better lease of life.”

While noting that the diversification drive of the government “is yielding fruits,” Buhari restated the resolve to do more.

“We shall continue to create opportunities for our teeming youths to ventilate their tremendous energy,” he said.

On the fight against insecurity, Buhari assured that with the renewed commitment of security agencies, Nigerians would soon witness an improvement.

According to him, his administration has continued to support the security personnel in the discharge of their duties, leading to “remarkable successes”.

“I am confident that with the renewed commitment and empowerment of our committed security personnel, all these issues which inflict pain and trauma on us will soon be history,” Buhari said as he called for “encouragement to our gallant security personnel fulfilling their oaths to keep us safe”.

Friday’s comment also touched on the country’s fight against the pandemic.

Two days before the president’s message, Nigeria recorded a new high in the daily COVID-19 infection with 4,035 cases.

The figure, which dropped to 1,940 on Thursday, is coming days after the country confirmed the fourth wave of the pandemic.

And as more states join the vaccination drive, President Buhari is also calling on Nigerians to get the jabs.

“I want to use this opportunity to appeal to our dear citizens to embrace vaccination, which is the best scientifically known bulwark against the pandemic,” the message further read.

“Recent events have shown that vaccination greatly reduces the effects of the virus on the human body.” (Channels TV)

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