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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has called for unity as the country celebrates its 60th anniversary of independence.
Nigeria gained independence from Great Britain on October 1, 1960. Seven years later, a civil war broke out when the southeastern region tried to form the breakaway state of Biafra.
Millions of people are believed to have died before the war ended in 1970.
Tensions have persisted between the north and the south and there have been rivalries between ethnic groups.
“An underlying cause of most of the problems we have faced as a nation is our constant insistence on the artificial faults that we have harbored and allowed to rot unnecessarily,” President Buhari said in a televised address Thursday.
He promised to consolidate Nigeria’s democracy and called for patriotism.
The president suggested that Nigeria’s population, now around 200 million and projected to be the third highest in the world by 2050, is a challenge and an asset for the country.
The president said Nigeria’s revenue fell 60% this year, largely due to falling world oil prices in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
He defended his government’s decision to withdraw a fuel subsidy that sent fuel prices up 11% in recent weeks. He said the subsidy was unsustainable.
Buhari said his government had managed to keep the economy moving despite limited resources and what he called “disproportionate” spending on security concerns.
Source: BBC
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