(3rd left)Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, (3rd Right )Permanent Secretary Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Dr. Ngozi Onwudiwe and other dignitaries, during The World Press Conference for the 63rd Independence Nigeria’s Anniversary. On 25th September, 2023. In Abuja.
...Insists On Low Key Celebration
Following the prevailing economic hardship in the country, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved that the celebration of 63rd anniversary would be low-keyed, Senator George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF had said.
The SGF gave the hint Monday at a world press conference organized by the Ministry of Information and National Orientation to unveil activities lined up to mark the celebration of the 63rd of Nigeria’s Independence day.
According the SGF, Federal Government would kick start the programmes a “World Press Conference which held on Monday, 26th September at the National Press Center, Radio House Abuja at 11:00am.
Other programmes lined up include: Anniversary Symposium/Public Lecture, Thursday, 28th September, 2023 at State house Conference Center @ 10 am; Lecture on Friday, 29th September 2023 National Mosque Conference Center at 10:00 am and Juma’at Prayer at the National Mosque at 1:00 pm; Presidential Broadcast, Sunday, 1st October, 2023 at 7:00 am; Inter-Denominational Church Service on Sunday, 1st October, 2023 at the National Christian Center at 10:00 am and finally, a Military Parade on Monday, 2nd October, 2023 at the Presidential Villa, at 9:00am which would mark the end of the celebration.
He stated government is fully aware of the economic challenges that Nigerians are confronted with since the removal of the fuel subsidy as well as the impact of the global economic downturn.
Akume blamed the present hardship to bad governance from past governments, assuring that the government is working assiduously to provide the necessary palliatives so as to mitigate such challenges and also the provision of buses to ease hardship on transportation among others.
“Most of these problems confronting us is because of bad governance. The present government has confronted and is confronting these challenges. When president Bola Tinubu came on board, he took a very sound decision at the CBN, that singular act led to the massive improvement in the capital market, as experts have told us, it is something that can never happen in the past 15 years. We have a new team at the CBN and a special investigator has been in the CBN for sometime now and his result will soon be released and Nigerians will know what really went on and what brought us to where we are today” he said.
