FG in aggressive drive to showcase Buhari’s achievements

• Says digital documentary on projects coming

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

“Our new strategy is to suffuse the airwaves and the social media with unmistakable video evidence of the various achievements, to such an extent that even the blind can ‘see’ and the deaf can ‘hear’”

Those were the words of Alh Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture while briefing the media in Abuja yesterday on the new approach of governnent to mark the mid term report of the second and final term of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

This new strategy, he said, is to showcase the developmental efforts of the current government under President Muhammadu Buhari across various sectors.

The Minister said ahead of the anniversary to mark the event, the FG has commissioned an all-encompassing and unprecedented documentary on the projects and programmes of this Administration.

“Gentlemen, the documentary is ready, and it’s coming to your television sets and your telephones (via Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, etc). Because of the sheer enormity of the achievements, the documentary will be aired in three parts, and will run for months.

“When we started, we envisaged a two-part documentary, but in order to accommodate a large chunk of the achievements, we decided to extend it to three parts.

“The documentary, which will be updated from time to time until the end of the Administration’s tenure, covers roads, rail, housing, power, aviation, agriculture, ports, bridges, health, fight against Covid-19, water resources and the economy generally.

“Let me list some of these projects (please note that while work has been completed on many of the projects, work is still ongoing on others): Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Apapa-Oworonsoki Expressway,

Enugu-Port Harcourt dualization, Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja dualization, Abuja-Kaduna- Zaria Expressway, Kano-Maiduguri Expressway dualization,

Suleja-Minna highway,

Milliken Hill Ngwo & Bonny-Bodo-Road, Second Niger Bridge, Loko-Oweto Bridge,

Zungeru Hydroelectric Dam,

Goronyo Dam and Airport upgrades in Abuja, Lagos and Enugu.”

In Agriculture, the Minister listed rice and chicken farming, among others as part of the areas receiving attention. Other areas witnessing transformation he said are theApapa Standard Gauge Line, Ebute Metta-Ibadan Standard Gauge Line, Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Aladja Standard Gauge Line, Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Natural Gas Pipeline,

Onitsha and Lekki Deep Water Ports, the fight against Covid-19, Digital Switch Over in Broadcasting, the 1,000-village Star Times Project,

FHA Hoisng Projects in Ajoda New Town (Oyo State)/FHA Kwali Mass Housing Project, NSIA-Umuahia Diagnostic Centre,

NSIA-Aminu Kano teaching Hospital, NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre and acquisition and upgrade of military platforms.

According to te Minister, “Never in the history of our country has any Administration done so much with so little. It’s easy to forget now, but when this Administration came into office in 2015, the price of crude oil, which provides 80 per cent of Nigeria’s budgetary revenues and 95 per cent of foreign exchange earnings, dropped drastically and, along with it, the fund available to the government.

“It is therefore monumental that this Administration has achieved so much despite the paucity of fund,” he said.

He added: “I want to state emphatically that while more attention has been given, especially in recent times, to the security challenges facing our country, those challenges are fleeting and will not define the legacy of President Muhammadu Buhari. Let me say that President Buhari’s legacy is assured, and will be defined by his massive achievements in office. The roads, rails, bridges, mass housing, port development, improvement in power supply and other massive infrastructural development will last for generations to come and will help propel economic growth and national development.”