Atiku decries worsening poverty, warns public office holders

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has congratulated Nigerians on the incoming New Year and urged them to face the future with optimism that the new year will bring good tidings.
In a New Year message by his Media Office in Abuja, Abubakar thanked God for keeping Nigeria together despite its myriad of security, political and socio-economic challenges.
He said:
“Despite our challenges in the area of security, infrastructure, politics and economy, I am grateful to God for keeping us together as one. It is my hope that we all will face the future of our country with confidence and fervent hope that God will grant us the better tomorrow we are working for.”
The former vice president, however, urged leaders in political offices at different levels to brace up to the challenges of nation-building and economic prosperity for the nation and its people.
He described as unacceptable worsening poverty in the country, which is daily taking its toll on the ordinary citizens of Nigeria, adding that leaders should not take the continued patience of the Nigerian people for granted.
Abubakar said: “With hard work and dedication, elected leaders and public servants can rise to the expected challenges of national development and economic prosperity to redress the deepening poverty of ordinary Nigerians in 2014.
“Public office holders should not take the magnanimity of the Nigerian people for granted.”