President Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s (retired) New Year’s address for 2023, which also happens to be his final term in office.
Below is the whole text:
A very happy and prosperous New Year to you, my fellow citizens.
The Almighty, who gave us the chance to live through another year and saw us through 2022, deserves our gratitude and respect first. Every New Year offers the chance to take stock of the previous year, realign, and start fresh.
2. As we celebrate the privilege to be alive in 2023, we must also remember our brothers and sisters who did not make it into this new year. May their souls find eternal peace.
3. This year is very significant for me because this message is essentially concluding. After having the honor of serving you, my fellow citizens, for the past seven years, my service as your President must inevitably come to an end in the most honored tradition of our ongoing and evolving democracy. We would have gone to the polls in the next five months and chosen a new president, as well as new governors and a slew of other elected officials at both the national and state levels.
4. All of these democratic and electoral ideals are in harmony because you, the great citizen of Nigeria, have transcendent beliefs that go above partisan politics. Additionally, I personally and personally guarantee to follow through on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s rigorous efforts to conduct free and fair elections in 2023. Even in the final hours of my watch, the collective electoral will and votes of Nigerians will be fulfilled.
5. Looking ahead to 2022 allows us as a government to analyze our successes and difficulties. As we celebrate our victories and reflect on our challenges, we must all remember that governance is a process, and this administration still bears a transitional obligation to create a nonpartisan and impartial blueprint for the future administration in 2023. We, as Nigeria, one country unified under God’s will and actively evolving as an indivisible organism, have been able to weather all rough waters year after year, decade after decade, and emerge stronger and better where others have crumbled and dissolved. This has distinguished us as a distinct nation around the world and on our continent.
6. In 2023, Nigerians will go to the polls to exercise our right to vote and elect a new administration; this is a critical year for our country to ensure another seamless transition of government to whoever the people have chosen. This administration’s historic Amended Electoral Act will secure free and fair elections across the country. We, as Nigerians, must also take responsibility for ensuring that the 2023 elections are free and fair by refraining from anti-state activities and other malicious acts that could disrupt the polls.
We must also thwart any attempts by politicians to stir up unrest in any way in order to scuttle the elections. Government officials will make sure that such actions are dealt with the full weight of the law.
7. We must support our patriotic forces by supplying the critical local intelligence as our security agencies continue to uphold the nation’s honor. We must all work together to keep Nigeria a safe and secure place for all of us. In order to support our military and intelligence agencies, we therefore have a responsibility to stay vigilant and report anything suspicious. Over the past year, the North-East area has consistently won resounding victories in the war against militancy.
The Federal Government and the government of Borno State have begun the process of relocating internally displaced people to ancestral homes previously occupied by rebels. In addition, about 82,000 rebels and their families had surrendered to Nigerian forces. The rehabilitation (Operation Safe Corridor) program is currently processing a number of surrendered insurgents. In the North-West and other regions, the war against banditry, kidnapping, and other crimes is gaining traction and yielding highly visible results. One of these is the restoration of train service between Kaduna and Abuja.
8. Following the #EndSARS campaign, our administration took notice and launched the ongoing Police Reform project, which is based on a new Presidential Vision for Policing in Nigeria. This new vision is articulated in a clear road plan that transcends the administration’s duration and is founded on six principles: a) Establishing Trust and Legitimacy; b) Leadership, Accountability, and Oversight; c) Technology and digital media; d) Community Policing and Crime Reduction; e) Officer Training and Education; and f) Funding, Officer Welfare, Wellness, and Safety.
9. Although this reform effort is still very much in its infancy, it has made notable progress in enhancing police welfare and pay. The continued training of 500 police cadet trainers has also been successful in improving the training program for the initial 10,000 new cadets, with an additional 10,000 expected in 2023. The Nigeria Police has been given new tools to gradually improve on its constitutional duties to uphold law and order, safeguard lives and property, and maintain general security on the streets in support of these reforms.
10. We have been able to weather the storms despite the ongoing global economic crisis. While global inflation is at an all-time high, the Federal Government has been steadfast in its economic interventions to keep the country afloat during this moment. The year 2022 saw the combined impact of continuous hostilities and the aftereffects of COVID-19. Despite the fact that it has created its own budgetary issues, we have continued to subsidize our energy prices in order to protect households from the inflationary pressures of high energy bills. In 2023, we intend to expand our Gross Domestic Product and maintain the massive spike in non-oil GDP growth.
11. The Nigerian Startup Bill has been enacted into law. This is regarded as a significant step in lowering our unemployment rates by increasing job creation and encouraging our youths’ entrepreneurial spirit. If you recall, I mentioned in my 2021 New Year’s speech the importance of securing the future of our children, understanding that our youth are our most significant natural resource, both at home and abroad. In this regard, we collaborated with legislators to create an enabling law that allows them to turn their passions into ideas that can be supported, nurtured, and grown across regions. The Nigerian Start-Up Act will be implemented countrywide in 2023.
12. We would endeavor to secure the accomplishment of key strategic targets within our “SEA” (Security, Economy, and Anti-Corruption) Agenda in 2023. Some of the top priorities in which we would focus our efforts and strengths are as follows:
Focus on SECURITY; we will keep up the fight against internal and external extremist and criminal organisations that are waging war against our communities around the country. Additionally, we’ll work to make sure that in February 2023, free and fair elections will take place. To ensure that the victories we have achieved in the fight against insurgency, banditry, secession, and other crimes are maintained and new victories are attained, our security forces collaborate.
b. For the ECONOMY, we would focus on maintaining and expanding economic growth through a national economic diversification strategy that supports the aim of national food self-sufficiency and non-oil growth. Our administration’s ongoing infrastructure revolution will see us deliver significant projects across the country in power, train, roads, ports, and technology.
c. ANTI-CORRUPTION: As part of our administration’s anti-corruption push, we have set new records in this fight, increasing from 117 convictions in 2017 to 3,615 convictions by December 2022. We, as a government, are determined to ridding our country of all types of corruption by working with all branches of government to effectively prosecute this struggle.
13. As we celebrate the New Year, let us look forward with optimism to 2023, a year in which we will develop as a nation toward unity, progress, and prosperity. I extend my personal congratulations, conscious of the many perspectives and interpretations of our executive legacies. I welcome and accept both accolades and criticisms in equal measure, certain that I did my best to serve our dear country Nigeria, and I hope that the next President would pick up the baton and continue the race to make Nigeria one of the world’s top countries before the end of this century.
14. Long Live the spirit of unity, cohesion, and oneness in Nigeria. The Federal Republic of Nigeria is eternal. Happy and successful new year.
God’s blessings on you
