The Federal government on Tuesday said President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has achieved so much despite paucity of funds.
This is even as the federal government recalled that when the current 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.
The minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who disclosed this while addressing a press conference in Abuja on the Mid-term Report (second term) of the President Buhari administration, said 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.
The minister said it was, therefore, monumental that the Buhari administration has done “so much for the nation with so little.”
Alhaji Mohammed said while more attention has been given, especially in recent times, to the security challenges facing the country, those challenges were fleeting and will not define the legacy of President Buhari administration.
He said that President Buhari’s legacy is assured, and will be defined by his massive achievements in office.
Alhaji Mohammed said in spite of its best efforts, the naysayers have continued to say they have not seen what the current administration has achieved.
According to him, “In spite of our best efforts, the naysayers have continued to say they have not seen what this Administration has achieved. They have continued to deny the obvious by pretending that these achievements are not real.
“Even when they have travelled on the new standard gauge rail from Abuja to Kaduna, Lagos to Ibadan, and Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri, they still deny that any progress has been made in modernizing the country’s rail infrastructure.
“They travel through the ultra-modern airport terminals in Abuja and Enugu, yet they deny any progress has been made in modernizing our airports.”
To mark the May 29 anniversary, he said the federal government decided to, once again, change its strategy.
He said since 2016, the federal government heralded every anniversary, as well as every end of the year, by giving massive publicity to the achievements of the administration.
“We have leveraged our Town Hall Meetings, 18 of which we have held, to showcase the achievements. We have also undertaken media tours of federal government projects covering many sectors across the country.
“In the run-up to the 2019 general elections, we introduced a novel idea when we launched our ‘Testimony Series’, under which we showcased the Administration’s achievements from the perspective and prism of Nigerians who have benefitted from the various government projects and programmes, ranging from infrastructure to school feeding system.
“The ‘Testimony Series’ was so successful that it rattled the opposition into issuing a statement calling for a probe of the funds spent on it.”
Alhaji Mohammed noted that this year, 2021, which marks the halfway point of the second and final term of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, the federal government has decided to once again change its style for more effectiveness.
“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’.”
He noted that ahead of the anniversary, the federal government commissioned an all-encompassing and unprecedented documentary on the projects and programmes of the current administration.
He said the documentary is ready, and it’s coming to your television sets and your telephones (via Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, etc).
He said 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,” he said.
He said 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.
He said while some of the projects have been completed, many of the projects are still ongoing.
The projects include, “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, Airport upgrades in Abuja, Lagos and Enugu, agriculture (rice and chicken farming, among others), Apapa Standard Gauge Line, Ebute Metta-Ibadan Standard Gauge Line and Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Aladja Standard Gauge Line.
Others according to him are, “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.
