Mr. Babachir Lawal, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), has assured Nigerians that the country was in safe hands under the leadership of President Mohammadu Buhari.

He gave the assurance on Saturday in Abuja at a reception organised in his honour by his friends and well wishers.

“The country is in safe hands and we will try our best to deliver the change the All Progressives Congress (APC) promised Nigerians, we have no time to waste in ensuring this.”

He expressed optimism that the ministerial nominees would do well to advance the course of the nation and the people when they were eventually allotted portfolio.

The SGF said that his faith in the ministerial nominees to deliver was based on his personal relationship with some of them over the years.

He thanked God and the organisers of the reception and assured Nigerians that he would live up to their expectations in office.

Lawal said that although many Nigerians had been praying for his success in office, he saw his assignment as SGF as very simple because of the supportive staff he met in office.

He promised to continue to do his best to advance the success of the President Mohammad Buhari-led administration and the country generally.

Earlier in his remarks, the APC National Chairman, Mr. John Oyegun, described the SGF as ‘a fiat loyalist and a man of impeccable character.’

He said that the SGF was humble to a fault and ‘brutally frank and ferocious in defending whatever he believes in.’

Gov. Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), while congratulating the SGF, described him as a man of integrity who could be relied on always.

The NGF chairman was represented at the reception by the Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal.

He said that though Lawal became the SGF at a challenging period, he would succeed because he had the right pedigree.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lawal, an engineer, assumed office as SGF on September 12.

The reception was attended by APC chieftains, state governors, members of the House of Representatives, clergy men, traditional rulers, professional associates of the SGF and some PDP governors, among others. (NAN)

•Photo shows President Buhari.

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