President Muhammadu Buhari said his
Administration has recorded concrete achievements which are there for all to
see, contrary to the opposition’s statement that the Administration is running
on propaganda and lies. President Buhari The President, who was represented by
the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the
assertion at the opening of the two-day Nigeria Governors’
Forum Conference for Media Handlers
of States’ Chief Executives in Abuja on Monday. ”For our Administration, our
achievements are there for all to see. We are delivering in the broad areas
that formed the plank of our policies: Security, fight against corruption and
the economy, which includes the massive provision of infrastructure, ease of
doing business and agriculture, just to mention a few,” he said.
Providing facts and figures, the
President listed the Administration’s achievements in ending subsidy and yet
ensuring the availability of petroleum products; in raising power generation,
transmission and distribution, in the massive provision of infrastructure; in
tackling insecurity and making a success of the agriculture revolution, among
others.
”Those who accused this
Administration of ‘propaganda and lies’ in the fuel supply sector, for example,
did not tell Nigerians that whereas they paid between 800 billion and 1.3
trillion Naira as ‘subsidy’ yearly in their time, without making the products
available even at regulated prices, this Administration is not paying any
subsidy, yet all products are currently available at competitive prices and
fuel queues are now history. In their time, they paid subsidy of 3.7 billion
Naira daily in 2011; 2.2 billion Naira daily in 2012 and 2013, and 2.5 billion
Naira daily in 2014, all for products that were never available.
”Those who accused this government
of ‘propaganda and lies’ also said we have not achieved anything in the power
sector. Comment is free, facts are sacred, as they say. When this Administration
assumed office on 29 May 2015, available power on the grid totalled 2,690MW,
transmission capacity was around 5,000MW and distribution capacity was 4,000MW.
”As at 4 September 2017, the
available power that can be put on the grid was 6,619MW; the transmission
capacity was simulated at 6,700 MW (up from 5,000 MW in 2015) but the
distribution capacity was 4,600 MW, which was what was put on the grid. On
September 12, 2017, production of power reached an all-time level of 7,001MW,”
he said President Buhari said it is an irony that those who presided over a
budget of 18 billion Naira for roads, 5 billion Naira for power and 1.8 billion
Naira for Housing in 2015 are now
accusing those who spent 198.25 billion Naira on roads, 91.2 billion Naira on
power and 71.559 billion Naira on housing in the following year of
non-achievement? ”Because of the increased spending in these areas, the massive
debts owed to contractors are being settled so they can recall workers who were
laid off and re-open closed work sites. As a matter of fact, during the
implementation of the 2016 budget, we paid 103 construction companies executing
192 projects, and they, in turn, employed 17,749 people directly and 52,000
people indirectly in works. ”So far this year, 47.169 billion Naira has been
paid to 62 contractors working on 149 projects to continue work on roads and
bridges and keep people at work. Similar payments are being made to supervising
consultants and to contractors in Housing and Power Sectors of the Ministry,”
he said.
The President also said highlighted the
achievements that have been recorded by his Administration in the area of the
Economy, wondering whether it is ‘propaganda and lies’ that headline Inflation
has now fallen for the eighth consecutive month; that foreign exchange reserves
are up to $32 billion, from $24 billion a year ago: that oil production is at
nearly 2 million barrels per day and that Home-grown School Feeding Programme
now being implemented in 17 States is benefiting more than 3 million public
primary school children and more than 30,000 cooks across 20,000 schools.
He said close to 200,000 youths are
now benefiting from the N-Power Programme, which recruits unemployed graduates
to work as teachers, agricultural extension workers, and health extension
workers; that the Government Enterprise & Empowerment Programme (GEEP),
which provides micro-credit to farmers, traders, and artisans, now has in
excess of 1 million beneficiaries, with women accounting for 56% of that
number, and that at about $1.8 billion, the capital inflows in the second
quarter of 2017 were almost double the $908 million in the first quarter. ”
If our achievements are based on
‘propaganda and lies’, as they claim, why is our agricultural revolution
achieving so much success: We have commissioned the 120,000 MT per annum WACOT
Rice Mill in Argungu, Kebbi State. We have commissioned the 60,000 MT per annum
Edo State Fertilizer Company Limited. What about the commissioning of OLAM’s
750,000 MT per annum Integrated Poultry Facility in Kaduna State?
Do you know that 15 moribund
Fertilizer Blending Plants have now been revived and in operation across
Nigeria, under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, creating 50,000 direct
jobs and 70,000 indirect jobs?” the President asked. He said when the
Administration assumed office in 2015, Boko Haram was active in at least 10
states, could stroll into Abuja at a time and target of their own choosing to
cause maximum havoc, in addition to holding territories and collecting taxes.
”Today, Boko Haram has been so
degraded that it lacks the capacity to carry out any organized attack, while
also increasingly losing the capacity to even attack soft targets.
Importantly, Boko Haram no longer
holds any territory. The same vigour is being used to address the herdsmen-farmers’
clash, kidnapping for ransom and other crimes,” the President said.
He said the biggest challenge facing
government information managers is how to project the achievements of their
principals against the background of worsening cases of disinformation and fake
news, adding that the best way to tackle the problem is to remain focused,
refuse to be distracted or intimidated and also to use facts and figures to
counter the purveyors of disinformation and fake news.
Vanguard News
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