By Hosea Parah, Abuja

President Mohammedu Buhari has called on striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to return to the classroom while assuring them of his readiness to deal with the contending issues within the limits of the available resources

The president said to the nation on the occasion of Nigeria’s 62nd Independence Day Celebration on Saturday 1st October 2022 in Abuja.

He said his administration has made appreciable progress in redressing issues that have been lingering for over eleven years.

President Buhari said the Federal Government will continue to mobilise resources both locally and internationally towards funding education to ensure that citizens are well educated and skilled in various vocations in view of the fact that education is a leading determinant of economic growth and employment generation.

Said he “we have also improved our health facilities, especially during and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which attracted commendation of the global community.” He said

President Buhari added that Nigeria was one of the countries that defied global predictions of the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic because of her resilience, commitment and passion with which Nigerians individually and collectively managed the pandemic.

President Buhari emphasized that his administration embarked on addressing critical ecological challenges across the country in order to mitigate the impact of Climate Change manifesting in the form of flood, soil erosion, desertification, air pollution amongst others.

Buhari assured Nigerians of the Federal Government’s plans of expanding ports operations to ensure that they provide opportunities for the growth of the Nigerian economy to improve the capital inflow and increased revenue generation.

He further emphasized on infrastructural development with its attendant opportunities for job creation, employment generation and subsequent poverty reduction, our focused intervention directly to Nigerians through the National Social Investment Programme.

The President implore all aspirants to conduct issues-based campaigns devoid of hate speeches as well as other negative and divisive tendencies as we begin the transition process.”my wish that we see more female and youth participation in the forth-coming electoral cycle.” that our teeming and energetic youths now realise that violence generally mar elections and so should desist from being used by politicians for this purpose.