“Security challenges will not define President Buhari’s Legacy”-Minister

The Nigerian government has said that despite the security challenges facing the country, the achievements of the present administration is unprecedented, considering the fact that it has done so much with little available resources.

This was disclosed by the country’s Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

Speaking on the midterm report of President Mohammadu Buhari’s second term in office, the Minister said when the government came into power in 2015, the price of crude oil which provides 80% of the Nigeria’s budgetary revenues and 95% of foreign exchange earnings dropped drastically.

He said, “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 Minister said the roads, rails, bridges, mass housing, port development, improvement in power supply and other massive infrastructural development would last for generations to come and would help propel economic growth and national development.

However, the Minister said in spite of all the best efforts, the naysayers have continued to say they have not seen what the 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,” he said.

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

* Airport upgrades in Abuja, Lagos and Enugu

*Agriculture (rice and chicken farming, among others)

* Apapa 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

* Acquisition and upgrade of military platforms

The Minister concluded by saying the list is by no means exhaustive.

 

Confidence Okwuchi