By Hosea Parah, Abuja
The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, has debunked claims by opposition parties that the Buhari-led administration had no achievements under the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to campaign with.
The minister made the counter argument in his welcome address, during the 14th edition of the presidential scorecard series, held at the National Press Center in Abuja, on Tuesday.
Mohammed proceeded to list some of the achievements of the administration, including the National Social Investment Programmes to feed 10 million children a day, the now functioning Abuja-Kaduna, Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri modern rail systems, the recent opening of the Second Niger Bridge, several other achievements of the administration, under Buhari.
The minister added that the administration was “spoilt for choice” on which of its achievements to campaign with, as it had several.
Part of the address reads, “Permit me to quickly respond to the preposterous claim by the opposition, on the campaign trail, that this administration has not achieved anything and hence has nothing to campaign with.
“Are these people living in a cave? If they haven’t seen, have they not heard of our National Social Investment Programme that is unprecedented in the history of this county? No administration in the history of Nigeria has had a Social Investment Programme that feeds 10 million school children a day; a cash transfer scheme that has enrolled 1,632,480 households (households, not individuals); a scheme that empowers and pays stipends to unemployed graduates and an Enterprise Empowerment Programme that provides easily-accessible microloans to those at the bottom of the pyramid, who engage in commercial activities but face significant challenges with access to finance/credit?”
“Before this administration came into office in 2015, several past Administrations had started and completed – on paper – the all-important Second Niger Bridge.
“Only last week, this bridge became a reality when it was opened to motorists. Is the opposition pretending not to have heard of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK), 614-km-long gas pipeline project that will ferry gas from southern to Northern Nigeria, and which represents phase 1 of the 1,300-km-long Trans-Nigerian Gas Pipeline Project? Can they deny the crude oil found in the Kolmani Field spanning Bauchi and Gombe states where drilling was flagged off by Mr. President last month?
“Can the opposition deny that we have put in place the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protectio Infrastructure, otherwise known as Deep Blue Asset that has seen a drastic decline in piracy attacks?
“Can an administration with at least one road construction in every state of the Federation, and the one that has completed housing projects in 35 states, be labelled as non-performing?
“What about the liberation of Nigeria’s territory from insurgents and the re-equipping of our security forces, the same security forces that were left stranded when money meant to equip them were looted silly by rampaging officials, some of whom admitted to spending 2.2 billion Naira to pray against Boko Haram? Who gave Nigeria the Petroleum Industry Act, the most ambitious attempt at overhauling the petroleum sector in Nigeria?”
“Please, don’t get me started, otherwise we won’t leave here today. As I have said on more than one occasion, we are spoilt for choice regarding the achievements we will pick upon to campaign. This is a fact, as you have heard from all the 13 ministers who have presented their scorecards here so far.
“The confused opposition should look for another campaign line, instead of the ludicrous claim that we have nothing to campaign with. That will not wash!”
The recent scorecard event, is the 14th in the series, having previously held 13 editions that had presentations from the Ministers of Works and Housing, Transportation, Aviation, Interior, Agriculture and Rural Development, Finance, Budget and National Planning, and the Minister of Water Resources, among others.