National airline not my priority, says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari says that establishing a new national airline is not on the federal government’s list of priorities at the moment.

Buhari, who made the statement in Malabo on Tuesday at an interactive meeting with Nigerians resident in Equatorial Guinea, declared that his administration’s main area of focus now is reducing the level of poverty in the country.

The president said his administration would continue giving priority to the infrastructure needed to boost production in all sectors of the economy and create more jobs for young Nigerians, as well as other actions that would directly improve the living conditions of ordinary Nigerians.

Buhari was responding to complaints by members of the Nigerian community on the absence of direct flights between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea.

He assured them that his administration’s war against corruption would remain “fearless, relentless and merciless”.

“We will be merciless and relentless in pursuing all those who abused public trust. Nigerians will see how some of the elite conspired to run the nation down,” he said.

He also said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would be encouraged to explore the possibility of Nigerians abroad voting in the 2019 general election.

Noting that some African countries had started allowing their citizens resident abroad to vote in national elections, the president said that he fully empathised with the voting aspirations of Nigerians.

He pledged that he  would therefore do all within his powers to fulfill that desire.

“I want all Nigerians to know that I respect them and their right to choose their leaders,” he said.

He condemned the recent political violence in Rivers state, saying that the killing of people over political differences is primitive, barbaric and unacceptable.

“We will deal decisively with all sponsors of violence. I have given the security services clear directives in this regard,” he said.

“We will show that violence in any form will no longer be tolerated before, during or after elections.”

A statement issued by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, on February 28, in the course of the president’s visit to Qatar had said: “Nigeria has commenced discussions on partnerships towards establishing a national airline for Nigeria”, but it did not go into details.