Independence Day Address by His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, announced the development on Wednesday in a statement titled, ‘October 1: President Buhari to address the nation from Eagle Square.’

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The statement read, “As part of activities commemorating the 60th independence anniversary of the country, President Muhammadu Buhari will address the nation from the Eagle Square, Abuja, on Thursday, October 1, 2020. 

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday address Nigerians on the Nation’s 60th independence from the Eagle Square, Abuja. 

He states that this administration has been focused on rebuilding and laying the foundations for a sustainable Nigeria. Of course, we have met and are still meeting the challenges inherent in any rebuilding initiative – more so that of a nation like Nigeria that has undergone avoidable levels of deprivation – but can be surmounted if we all work together.

In this wise, the need to return to our age-old ethical and high moral values would be necessary and this informed my launching of the National Ethics and Integrity Policy on Monday 28th September 2020.

The policy would not implement itself and the first contact of the visibility of its implementation is the Public Service whose on-going reforms would be expected to be sustainable and give a radical re-direction in providing services to all Nigerians.

Fellow Nigerians, in addition to public health challenges of working to contain the spread of the Coronavirus, we have suffered a significant drop in our foreign exchange earnings and internal revenues due to a 40 percent drop in oil prices and a steep drop in economic activities, leading to a 60 percent drop in government revenue.

Our government is grappling with the dual challenge of saving lives and livelihoods in face of drastically reduced resources.

In this regard, sustaining the level of petroleum prices is no longer possible. The government, since coming into office has recognized the economic argument for adjusting the price of petroleum. But the social argument about the knock-on effect of any adjustment weighed heavily with the government.