Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to correct the lapses he has encountered in his first tenure in office during his second term which begins on May 29.

 Buhari gave the assurance on Thursday when he received the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) led by the National President, Chris Isiguzo at the State House in Abuja.

Responding to the many issues raised by the journalists which bordered on insecurity, lopsided appointments, freedom of speech among others, Buhari pledged to improve on what he has done in the last four years.

While describing journalists as a unique set of professionals who have played vital roles in sustaining the country’s democracy, he assured them of a positive change in his second term in office.

Speaking to State House Correspondents after the visit, Isiguzo said they came to congratulate Buhari on his re-election as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to also make it clear to him that to whom much is given, much more was expected.

“He’s gone through the first-four years. By May 29, he will be through with that and he’s been given yet another mandate to lead Nigeria for another four years.

“We also made it clear to him that some of the major challenges we have had in the past four years, this is an opportunity for him to correct them, especially when it comes to the area of inclusiveness, carrying everybody along.

“That is the spirit of federal character principle that is enshrined in our constitution; that he’s got to carry people along and of course, we talked about the security problem that we have, not just in the North-East but even the banditry in the North-West, in Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto.

“We challenged him to ensure that the security architecture is overhauled to be able to effectively tackle these challenges that we have.

“We commended him for the fact that, as we speak now, there is no part of the country that is under the control of insurgents which is good, unlike when he came on board.

“But we also told him that it is very very important that terrorism is completely stamped out, effectively tackled and not technically degraded. We want it to be out of our national life.

“That was what we told him. Coming to us, we drew his attention to the fact that journalism profession has become more like a challenge to all of us.

“The problem that we are having every now and then, are of course freedom of expression. It does appear that it is taking flight and we said if we are indeed a democratic nation, journalists must be given free hands to ply their trade.

“A situation where there is clampdown and harassment doesn’t speak well for Nigeria as a democracy and we told the president that,” Isiguzo added.