The opposition, according to Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, has lied about President Muhammadu Buhari's successes ever since he assumed office in 2015.
The Minister made this declaration on Monday in Abuja at the 16th annual PMB Administration Scorecard event.
He asserted that while some government detractors claim Buhari has accomplished nothing, others reluctantly acknowledged that improvements in infrastructure have been made under the current administration.
Mohammed asserted that President Buhari, not just in terms of infrastructural development, has enhanced the performance of the Nigerian economy overall.
“Between the last edition of the PMB Administration Scorecard Series on Dec. 22nd, 2022, and today’s opening edition for 2023, a lot of things have happened in the polity.
“But the most significant have been naysayers and the opposition trying to distort the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari for their selfish ends.
“While some of the administration’s fiercest critics said we have achieved nothing, others have admitted, though seemingly tongue in cheek, that it’s only in the area of infrastructure that the administration has performed.
“Well, I want to say that both groups are wrong, very wrong. Yes, infrastructure development under the Buhari Administration is unprecedented since the nation’s return to democratic rule in 1999, and it has set the country on the path of development. But no, our legacy is more than infrastructure”, the Minister said.
According to him, the people who benefited from the Buhari administration’s social investment initiative now live better lives than ever on the continent.
“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.
“The Buhari Administration is leaving a legacy of putting Nigeria on the path of self-sufficiency in many staples, including rice. Fertiliser blending plants in the country have increased astronomically from 10 in 2015 to 142 today, and the number of rice mills in the country has increased markedly from 10 in 2015 to 80 today.
“Little wonder that Nigeria, which was the number one export destination for rice in 2014, according to Thai authorities, is now ranked as number 79,″ the Minister noted.
He voiced his disapproval of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to open land borders if he is elected president.
He predicted that “we would lose all of the progress made over the preceding seven years and beyond by taking this one step. ”
The Minister went on to say that the successes in the war against terrorism were primarily due to the administration’s efforts to bolster the morale of the Military by re-equipping them.
When asked about Buhari’s role in the nation’s infrastructure, Mohammed said the president must guarantee that everyone benefits from the country’s progress toward prosperity.
According to the Minister, Nigeria has begun the nationwide deployment of 5G and increased 4G base stations from 13,823 in 2019 to 36,751 today. President Buhari has signed the Startup Bill into law to make Nigeria a global digital talent and investment hub.
“Irrespective of the antics of the opposition, President Muhammadu Buhari’s legacy is assured. Naysayers, most of whom are closet opposition members masquerading as objective analysts, can continue to
“They can continue to trumpet only the negatives, both real and imagined But they cannot erase these legacies. They cannot rewrite the history of these past seven years plus”, the Minister added.