Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that apart from the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigerians were severely hit by what he described as a “lazy and uninspiring leadership” from the Federal Government.
“As a country, we have taken our share of the blow that Covid-19 dealt with the globe,” the former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections noted.
“And worst still, we suffered a multi-facet downcast on account of lazy and uninspiring leadership from the government at the centre – most especially.”
While describing 2020 as a “dramatic” year, Atiku who was Nigeria’s Vice President between 1999 and 2007, admitted that it will take a while for the impact of the pandemic to go away and life returning to normal.
The disease, Atiku argued, once again brought to the fore, the need for cooperation and the bond of humanity.
“It is cheering that we are entering the New Year with refreshing news of a handful of certified vaccines against the dreaded Covid-19 virus,” he added.
“And better still is news of commencement of vaccination in some parts of the world. I am expectant that the vaccine(s) would soon be available for vaccination in Nigeria. It is also hoped that very soon life would return to normal.”
He lamented that apart from the virus, insecurity has become a major threat to Nigeria, saying that the country can defeat these threats if everyone cooperates and “work together irrespective of our intangible differences.
“As Nigerians, we are all aware of the challenges that bedevil the country. We need not begin to enumerate them. But what we must not let happen is allowing our weakness to wall our strength.”
Atiku, therefore admonished Nigerians to embrace the “New Year with brighter hopes of restoration, let us do so with even a stronger commitment to unity, cooperation and mutual love. Let us work as one people, under one God with one country to call home.”
