Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has referred to the country as one of the greatest in the world while he was paying a courtesy visit to the Emir of Gusau, Alhaji Ibrahim Bello in Zamfara state on Tuesday, July 18, 2017.
The Acting President was in the state on a one-day visit to commission some projects.
He was accompanied to the monarch’s palace by Zamfara state governor, Abdul’aziz Yari.
While addressing the monarch, Osinbajo lauded the country’s resources and advocated for unity to take the country to greater heights.
He said, “The message that l have is only to say that this country is one of the greatest countries in the world, there is no question at all about that. We see that in another ten years, probably we will be measuring with the 15th largest economies in the world.”
The Acting President’s full speech was released by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a press release made available to Pulse.
The speech read, “Let me begin by saying that I’m very honoured by this warm welcome that has been given me and I bring very warm greetings from President Muhammadu Buhari whom I had the pleasure of seeing in London just about this time last week.
“It’s important that everywhere in our country is safe for our people to work and live and I am especially pleased to see that His Royal Highness has maintained this within this kingdom and anyone can approach him and everyone can live here.
“This I think is very worthwhile and l must commend you for this great work that you are doing.
“And we have been around to see the works of his Excellency, the governor and in-fact that’s what we are spending the whole of today doing.
“We have been here since 11am in the morning and we have been to Gunmi, we are still going round the state and all of these shows that there is lot of work going on and we are extremely proud of the work that Governor Yari is doing and that our great party, the APC is doing also in this state.
“The message that I have is only to say that this country is one of the greatest countries in the world, there is no question at all about that. We see that in another ten years, probably we will be measuring with the 15th largest economies in the world.
“A lot of that will depend on how hard we work but more importantly on our staying united. The reason why we are such an important country is that we are a big country and we are diverse, we have arable land everywhere, solid minerals everywhere, even here in Zamfara State.
“The Federal Government is committed to developing all of the mineral resources especially here in Zamfara state. We intend to work very hard on developing mineral resources and we must ensure that all of these places are safe to live and to do business.
“Our country’s size is important and the diversity of our people and resources are important. But we must stay together to be able to reap the fruit of our size and the development of this country. We must remain united to reap the fruit.
“There are many countries in Africa, some of them are not bigger than Zamfara state, in fact, many of them are not as big as Zamfara state and they are countries in Africa.
“When you look at the sheer size and the diversity of Nigeria, we have the potentials of becoming one of the truly great countries of the world and I think that with the hard-work that we are seeing and with the right leadership, leadership committed to the people, committed to delivering services to the people, we can really make a difference, we can become what God has purposed and planned for us to be.
“I want to thank you again, Your Royal Highness for this warm welcome and to say that we remain solidly with you and will work with you to ensure peace and stability in this place and also to thank you for all that you are doing to support the governor for ensuring that this place is safe for all to live in.
“Thank you very much, God bless you.”
Support InfoStride News' Credible Journalism: Only credible journalism can guarantee a fair, accountable and transparent society, including democracy and government. It involves a lot of efforts and money. We need your support. Click here to Donate