By our correspondent
The Federal Government has chided the opposition parties for downplaying achievements of the ruling party since inception of the Buhari administration in 2015, saying the legacies of the party in power are too numerous to undermine.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed berated the opposition elements in his opening remarks at the 14th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration’s Score Card Series which held in Abuja yesterday.
The Series was launched on October
19 2022, to showcase and document the achievements of the Buhari Administration. So far, 13 Ministers have presented their stewardship at the series.
The Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed in a response to the claim by the opposition that the Buhari Administration has not achieved anything and hence has nothing to campaign with, drew their attention to key projects done by the Buhari government which can be basis for 2023 campaign.
He cited the National Social Investment Programme describing it as unprecedented in the history of this country, and said no administration in the history of Nigeria has had a Social
Investment Programme that feeds 10 million school children a day. This, he said, is added to a cash transfer scheme that has enrolled 1,632,480 households.
He also cited a scheme that empowers and pays stipends to unemployed graduates and an Enterprise Empowerment Programme that provides easily-accessible microloans to those at the bottom of the pyramid, who engage in commercial activities but face significant
challenges with access to finance/credit.
Lai said before the Buhari administration came into office in 2015, Nigeria did not have a functioning modern railway system, but that today, the country has a well-functioning Abuja-Kaduna, Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri modern rail systems. “They lay claim to starting Abuja-Kaduna but forgot that Itakpe-Warri was also started by another Administration over 30 years ago, but abandoned until this Administration assumed office in 2015,” he said.
He said prior to 2015, several past administrations had started and completed, on paper, the all-important 2nd Niger Bridge, but that only last week, this bridge became a reality when it was opened to motorists.”What about the 40-kilometre Bonny-Bodo road that has a total of 13 bridges?” he asked rhetorically.
He recalled some of the projects finished by the Buhari government to include the new terminals at airports in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Enugu, the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK), 614-km-long gas pipeline project that will ferry gas from southern to Northern Nigeria, and which represents
phase 1 of the 1,300-km-long Trans-Nigerian Gas Pipeline Project.
He questioned: “Can they deny the crude oil find in the Kolmani Field spanning Bauchi and Gombe states where drilling was flagged off by Mr. President last month? Can they deny that the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme has helped to move Nigeria closer to attaining self sufficiency in many staples?”
He also questioned whether the opposition can deny that the APC government has put in place the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, otherwise known as Deep Blue Asset that has seen a drastic decline in piracy attacks.
“Can an Administration with at least one road construction in every state of the Federation, and the one that has completed housing projects in 35 states, be labelled as non-performing?” he asked.
“What about the liberation of Nigeria’s territory from insurgents and the re-equipping of our security forces, the same security forces that were left stranded when money meant to equip them were looted silly by rampaging officials, some of whom admitted to spending 2.2 billion Naira to pray against Boko Haram? Who gave Nigeria the Petroleum Industry Act, the most ambitious attempt at overhauling the petroleum sector in Nigeria?” he also added.
