President Buhari’s Scorecard: Records of performances are available – Minister

Nigerian Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed says regardless of insinuations and misinformation aimed at downplaying the achievements of the federal government, records and evidence of credible performances of President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administrations are available.

The Minister who stated this at the ministerial briefing of President Buhari’s scorecard in Abuja on Monday participated alongside the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu

Social Investment Programmes

In the area of Social Investment Programmes, the Minister said there have been 29,641 beneficiaries, from Adamawa alone, of the N-POWER Programme of the Buhari Administration.

“Under the Home Grown School Feeding Programme, some 162,782 pupils from Adamawa are benefitting from one meal a day. That programme employs 2,259 cooks in Adamawa and has covered 1,236 schools in the state. How many school children did the Peoples Democratic Party feed in Adamawa or anywhere in the eight years that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar held sway as Vice President in Abuja! We are not done. Under the Conditional Cash Transfer, some 64,607 vulnerable people have benefitted in Adamawa alone, while Trader Moni and Market Moni have reached a total of 38,000 people in the state.”

Roads Rehabilitation

Mohammed said in the area of infrastructure, some road projects totalling 714 kilometres are currently being rehabilitated or constructed in the state. That’s out of 43 road projects in the North East alone.

“These are not phantom projects. We have the full list of the roads and can make it available to anyone who so wishes. Similarly, the North East Development Commission (NEDC) has either completed or is currently working on 140 projects, including construction of classrooms, healthcare facilities and ICT training centres, in Adamawa alone. Overall, NEDC has a total of 593 projects in the entire North East. Again, we have a full list of the projects.”

The Information and Culture Minister made particular reference to statements credited to the Presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the federal government had underperformed

He used the opportunity to comment on the increasing tendency of some opposition presidential candidates to downplay the achievements of the Administration, in their desperation for power, ahead of the 2023 elections.

On the presidential candidate of the PDP, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the Minister said; “During his recent campaign in Akure, the former VP was quoted as saying the APC had not done anything for Nigeria in eight years. What a preposterous statement from somebody who should know. I guess we can excuse His Excellency the former Vice President who, until recently, had fully relocated to Dubai, thus losing touch with Nigeria. And if anyone would accuse the APC-led Federal Government of doing nothing, it should not be Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Why? Because for the 16 years of the PDP rule, eight of which Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was Vice President, there was no motorable road to the former VP’s hometown and indeed to key local governments in the Southern Senatorial zone that served as Adamawa’s food basket and economic nerve centre until the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office. Today, gentlemen, the Mayo Belwa- Jada- Ganye- Toungo road has been constructed fully and it’s the road that Alhaji Atiku uses to get to his hometown of Jada.”

Security

In the area of security, the Minister said before this Administration came into office, all the five local government areas in Adamawa’s Northern Senatorial District were effectively under the control of the Boko Haram terrorists.

“All state institutions, the local government administration, the police, the judiciary, schools, hospitals and markets had been sacked. Traditional rulers, including Emirs and Chiefs, had been displaced with their palaces taken over by the terrorists as their headquarters… In the Central Senatorial zone, two local governments were effectively under the control of the Boko Haram but today, not an inch of these local governments in Adamawa, the home state of the former Vice President, is under the control of terrorists. All institutions of state have relocated back and are operational. All Emirs and chiefs have returned to their palaces. Schools and markets have opened. Please note, gentlemen, that throughout that period, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar could not even go home.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Water Resources, while reeling out his Ministry’s scorecard stated that the present administration has strategically achieved a milestone in infrastructural sustainable infrastructural development like dams, irrigation schemes, water supply sanitation and hygiene among others.

According to him, the National Water Resources Bill will be a viable project for all stakeholders when it comes into effect adding that the same bill could serve as a remedy for the environmental problem caused by the indiscriminate construction of boreholes across the country.

PIAK