Despite her myriad and multifaceted challenges, Nigeria has great potentials for economic growth and national development but the President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government needs to do more than mere rhetoric to unravel and harness these potentials.

This was the thrust of an independence anniversary message to Nigerians by a former House of Representatives aspirant on the platform of the People Democratic Party (PDP), George Banigo.

In the independence message personally signed by him and made available to Kristina Reports, Banigo hailed Nigerians for their implicit and unwavering faith in the country and their resilient pursuit of egalitarian nationhood despite the gloomy pictures before them,” asserting that their “firm belief and commitment to make the country work will surely be rewarded”.

According to him, “the economic indices from the various data management agencies in the country bear gloomy images of despair and generate serious cause for concern,” maintaining that “until the government at the centre gets down to the business of implementing policies that will uplift the living standards of the people, Nigerians will continue to suffer”.

He challenged the Buhari led Federal Government to match words with action in actualizing its campaign promises, emphasizing that “promises don’t fulfil themselves, and political talk is not the same as implementing policies that will positively impact lives”.

George Banigo, who hails from Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State and a member of the Bonny Kingdom Security Committee, also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take urgent action to curb the threat of sea piracy on the Bonny waterways, noting that “it is a shame that a community such as Bonny Island, which is host to the economic food basket of Nigeria can be subjected to the terror of sea pirates”.

“Mr. President should, as a matter of urgency, direct the Chiefs of Army, Naval, and Air Force Staffs, and Director General of the DSS to take swift action to curtail the activities of these criminals, fish them out and make them face the full consequences of their actions. It is unacceptable that a community that hosts NLNG, Shell, Mobil, Chevron, and several other big economic boosters for the country is left at the mercy of sea pirates”.

Banigo commended the people of Bonny LGA for their patience in the face of unrelenting attacks by criminals on the Bonny Sea, assuring them that everything possible was being done to address the situation and bring to a stop.