Judge Buhari with achievements, not insecurity, minister tells Nigerians

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, yesterday, urged Nigerians to use President Muhammadu Buhari’s achievements to determine the legacies of his administration, as against the insecurity plaguing the country.

Mohammed stated this, while giving mid-term scorecard of the Buhari administration’s second term, maintaining that the President’s achievements were enough testimonies to his legacies.

He decried the fact that in spite of its efforts, detractors had insisted that they were yet to see the achievements of the Buhari administration.

His words: “They have continued to deny the obvious by pretending that the achievements are not real. Even when they have travelled on the new Abuja-Kaduna, Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri standard gauge rail, they still deny that progress has been made in modernising the country’s rail infrastructure.

“They travel through the ultra-modern airport terminals in Abuja and Enugu, yet they deny that any progress has been made in modernising our airports.”

He, therefore, declared that to mark the administration’s six years in office, government had adopted a new style of highlighting its efforts, especially in infrastructure development drive.

“We have decided to change our strategy. Since 2016, we have heralded every anniversary and end of year by giving publicity to the achievements of the administration.

“We have leveraged our town hall meetings, 18 of which we have held up till date, to showcase our achievements. We have also undertaken media tours of Federal Government projects covering several sectors across the country.

“In the run up to the 2019 general elections, we introduced our ‘Testimony Series,’ under which we showcased the administration’s achievements from the perspective and prism of Nigerians who have benefitted from the various government projects and programmes.

“This year 2021, which marks the half-way point of the second and final term of the Buhari administration, we have decided to change our style for more effectiveness. Our new strategy is to suffuse the airwaves and the social media with video evidences of the achievements,” he said.

He added the documentary was ready and would be broadcast in television stations, smart telephones and social media platforms.

“Because of the enormity of the achievements, the documentary will be aired in three parts and will run for months. When we started, we envisaged a two-part documentary, but to accommodate a large chunk of the achievements, we decided to extend it to three parts,” he stated.

He listed some of the projects as the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Apapa-Oworonsoki Expressway, expansion of Enugu-Port Harcourt road, Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja, Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria Expressway and Kano-Maiduguri Expressway.

Others are the Second Niger Bridge, Loko-Oweto Bridge, Zungeru Hydroelectric Dam, Goronyo Dam, Airport upgrades in Abuja, Lagos and Enugu, Onitsha and Lekki Deep Water Ports, as well as Digital Switch Over for broadcasting.