Buhari's legacies beyond infrastructure devt, says Fed Govt

• Published date: 10 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

Beyond unprecedented infrastructure development, the Muhammadu Buhari administration has said it is leaving behind legacies of revamped security, social investment, self-sufficiency in staples and probity, among others.

Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed stated this yesterday in Abuja at the resumption of the 'PMB Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023)'.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the scorecard initiative, which was launched on October 18, 2022, to showcase the achievements of the Buhari administration, featured 15 editions last year.

NAN also reports that the current edition featured the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, who listed the achievements of the ministry in the past seven years of the administration

In his opening remarks, Mohammed said critics claiming that the Buhari administration has not achieved anything and those saying that it is only in the area of infrastructure that the government had performed, are wrong.

The minister stressed that beyond infrastructure, the Buhari administration was leaving a legacy of a social investment programme that is unprecedented in Africa and had enhanced the quality of life of the beneficiaries.

'Our pace-setting social investment programmes, like N-Power, School Feeding, Conditional Cash Transfer and GEEP (Government Enterprise Empowerment programme), have benefitted millions of our citizens, both young and old, and this can neither be trivialised nor denied,' he said.

According to him, the Buhari administration is also leaving a legacy of putting Nigeria on the path of self-sufficiency in many staples, including rice.

Mohammed said fertiliser blending plants in the country had increased astronomically from 10 in 2015 to 142 while the number of rice mills had increased from 10 in 2015 to 80 currently.

The minister said based on the achievements, Nigeria, which was the number one export destination for rice in 2014, according to Thai authorities, is now ranked as number 79.

He faulted the campaign promise of a former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, that he would throw open the country's borders, if elected.

Mohammed also said the Buhari administration would be leaving a legacy of a revamped security sector in the face of unprecedented challenges across the country.

'Today, the Nigerian military is being restored to its glorious past, thanks to Mr. President's foresight and doggedness in re-equipping...