Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has urged Nigerians to use 2020 to stand together with renewed vigour and determination to fight insecurity.
Abubakar said this in a new year message issued on Tuesday in Abuja in which he also enjoined Nigerians to use the year for addressing the cause of poverty.
This new year will require us all to stay together more than ever before to take on, head front, the common enemy of insecurity that challenge our everyday lives as Nigerians,’’ Abubakar said.
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Abubakar said that the challenges came with attendant outcome of more children being out of school and more families having hard time in accessing basic needs of life.
“These are the challenges that this new decade has thrown at us and we cannot afford to slumber and submit to defeat,’’ he said.
Abubakar also said that the problems of extreme poverty and scant investments in education played huge roles in fueling the problems of violent extremism that Nigerians spent the past decade to contend with.
“We cannot win the fight against terrorism if we do nothing to reduce or eliminate poverty and illiteracy.
“The reality of this new decade requires of us to recalibrate our approaches and to pursue some tough choices; if failure is not an option, then we must let go of our egos and conveniences.
“In this new decade, we must start to do things differently if we are honest about our desire for a better and prosperous future,’’ he said.
Abubakar advised government at all levels to pursue policies that would provide decent housing to the mass majority; put food on the table; provide healthcare and education.(NAN)