I Won't Rest Until Issues Affecting the Nation is Addressed - Buhari

President Muhammadu Bu­hari has turned down a re­quest by governors for him to find time to rest some more following his return from a med­ical vacation in London where he underwent blood transfusions for an undisclosed ailment.
Buhari, who directed the Min­istry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to imme­diately release the second tranche of the London-Paris Club re­funds to state governments in or­der to ease their financial hard­ships, said he would not rest until he addresses issues affecting Ni­gerians.

“I will not rest until I address those issues that affect our peo­ple. One of these basic things is the issue of salaries.
“It is most important that workers are able to feed their families, pay rent and school fees, then other things can follow,” the statement quoted the president as having told the governors.
The president had late last year released the first tranche of the refunds, about N388 billion then, to the governors to enable them offset backlog of workers, salaries and over challenges occasioned by the prevailing economic re­cession.
He gave the latest order yester­day when he addressed a meeting of the National Economic Coun­cil (NEC) made up of State Gov­ernors and chaired by the Vice-President on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, accord­ing to a presidency statement.
Buhari, however, made a strong case for the governors to use the funds for the settlement of unpaid salaries and pension liabilities of their workers, saying this was of special concern to him.
Buhari, who went round the Council Chambers to greet the governors one after another, praised the unity of the Gover­nors Forum and thanked them profusely for showing him love and respect.
He said he was overwhelmed by the recent experience in which states, irrespective of political dif­ferences charged their citizens to pray in mosques and churches for his wellbeing while away in Lon­don.
He however, apologised to the governors for barring them from visiting him in London, saying that “I didn’t want government to move to London. I wanted it to re­main here and I am glad it did”.
The statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Me­dia, Garba Shehu, continued that “after narrating what he went through while on that vacation, President Buhari noted the sug­gestion by the Governors for him to add more rest, but insisted that he would remain relentless in the pursuit of the interest of the Nige­rian people at all times.
The Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Abdul-Aziz Yari of Zamfara State, assured the President, on behalf of his colleagues, that they will contin­ue to support his policies and ac­tions which they had adjudged as being in the nation’s best interest.
The governors of Imo, Akwa Ibom, Osun and Abia States had in the course of the meeting thanked President Buhari for sav­ing the day for states through the first tranche of the London-Par­is Club refunds while calling for the immediate release of the sec­ond one.
They also commended the trust the President reposed in the Vice President, Yemi Osinba­jo, whom they said did not disap­point when he acted as President.