Buhari has excelled in fight against corruption, terrorism -Presidency insists

Lists infrastructure, increased exports, special works programme, others as landmark feats Says Nigerians will remember him for good

By Egena Sunday Ode

ThePresidency Wednesday insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari has scored an excellent mark in his anti corruption and anti terorism fights, regardless of what anybody thinks or says.

Accordingly, it decared that President Buhari came, saw and conquered, leaving Nigeria in a better position than he met it in 2015.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement on Wednesday noted also that the landmark achievements of the out-going President in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, social investment among a myriad of others are not contestable by any impartial observers of the affairs of the country.

Government’s medium-term Economic Plan, launched by President Buhari in April 2017, successfully ushered in a macroeconomic environment and helped the country to achieve food security.” states and the FCT; the beneficiaries of Nigeria’s Micro-Pension Scheme which allows self-employed persons and persons working in organisations with less than 3 employees to save for the provision of pension at retirement or incapacitation.”

The Presidency also argued that President Buhari should be given credit for the “massive success” of pushing through the Petroleum Industry Bill – a staggering achievement attempted but failed by myriad previous administrations – as well as the vast improvements to national infrastructure that have set the country on course for sustainable and equitable growth.

“But President Buhari is not a North Korean dictator. He would be scornful of any world leader who claimed a perfect record and would be the last person to make such claims for himself.

“He had his strengths and his weaknesses, and applied the former and mitigated against the latter to achieve his overarching goal: to leave Nigeria a better place than he found it. In that he succeeded.

National

Senior citizens Center (NSCC) in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is holding a 2-day workshop for desk officers on the implementation of NSCC Strategic Roadmap on Ageing 2022-2032 and National Plan of Action on Ageing in Nigeria and project activities 2021-2025.

Speaking at the workshop in Abuja, the Director General (NSCC), Emem Omokaro stated that the number of persons 60 years and above is increasing and it is projected to double by 2030 according to the Global Age Watch Index.

In her welcome address, Dr. Omokaro stated that the objectives of the 2-day workshop for desk officers was to increase the understanding of Ageing Desk Officers in all relevant MDAs on their roles and responsibilities in the implementation of NSCC strategic roadmap and to develop Desk Officer engagement framework towards increasing feedback and Desk Officers’ effectiveness.

She also added that a Desk Officers’ engagement framework will be developed to outline the model of engagement, key actions, approach to capacity building and performance measurements and principle of engagement.

Accordingly, she said, “So far, NSCC has through partnership successfully mainstreamed older persons into the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) Matured People Program, signed an MoU with FMoH, NPHCDA, NOA, NHCRC, LACON, NAPTIP and more to come.

“With the desk officers, we should be able to strengthen NSCC’s partnerships with the various MDAs, where they already exist and to leverage on the enhanced understanding of ageing and issues of older persons to evolve more effective partnerships and collaborations on mainstreaming ageing into specific programs and services”, she stated.

This, according to the Preaidency, is in spite of the fact that President Buhari inherited a prostrate economy and multiple security challenges at the inception of his adminstration.

It also listed the COVID-19 Pandemic, global food crisis and the ongoing war in Ukraine as natural impediments to global leaders, but noted that the Nigerian government under Buhari’s watch has successfully navigated the country’s economy to over come these challenges.

The statement said: “In this postelection period of heightened tension and disinformation, we see it fit to set the record straight.

“First let’s start with the one thing: that President Buhari inherited an economy in disarray. Corruption ran rampant, oil-prices were nose-diving and – astoundingly – an international terror cell, the Boko Haram controlled territory the size of Belgium within our country’s borders.

“That so-called country, the Caliphate is unrecognizable from today’s Nigeria.

“Today, corruption is thrust out in the open by Buhari’s landmark whistleblowing policy, empowering Nigerians to report it without fear and seeing the repatriation of hundreds of millions of dollars stolen by corrupt politicians and stashed in banks abroad.

“Terrorists no longer hold any territory in Nigeria whatsoever, and their leaders have been neutralised by our security forces.

“Economy has witnessed growth. External reserves have maintained a healthy growth throughout these eight years.

“Within two years of the Buhari administration, exports more than doubled from the 2015 records. Agriculture exports grew 180.7% by 2017 above the value in 2015.

“Raw material exports grew 154.2% in the same period; solid minerals grew 565% and exports of manufactured goods 26.8%.

“The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the Federal

It dismissed insinuations in some quarters that Buhari as a leader “failed to demonstrate any real grasp of modern economic ideas, and lacked the presence of mind or leadership acumen required to turn the ailing economy around”.

The presidency in the statement therefore quarried: “Which economic miracle worker...can turn round an economy which suffers from collapse of oil prices, COVID-19 lockdown and associated supply chain crisis and the Russia-Ukraine war?”

Noting that Preident Buhrai is not foing any less than other renowned global leaders, and had done well in the face of prevailing obstacles, the Preidency said:

“Look around the world and see how practically every country struggles from these disasters.

“He presided over the most turbulent period in modern Nigerian history, helping our nation navigate through global shocks such as volatile oil prices, the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the global cost of living crisis.

“He kept the ship steady, and paved the way for his successor, Presidentelect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to take the reins at the end of this month and build upon what he has already achieved.

The Presidency also insisted that not a few group of Ngerians would miss the President as takes his bow from the office.

Such groups, the statement said would include “countless Nigerians whose futures he has improved, the two million poor and vulnerable Nigerian households that are currently benefiting from the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, which pays a bimonthly stipend of N10,000 per household; the 355,000 vulnerable persons have received a special oneoff grant of N20,000 each in the 36

It listed the National Youth Investment Fund, and National Special Public Works Program (774,000 beneficiaries across 774 LGAs nationwide), and the Central Bank’s COVID-19 N300 billion Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) to support millions of small businesses, households, and young people, with federal grants, loans, and stipends among those that will remember Buhari for good.

“This Survival Fund has provided grants (Payroll Support, Artisan and Transport Sector grants, and General MSME grants) to more than 1.2 million beneficiaries, since the last quarter of 2020. It has also provided free business registration to 250,000 MSMEs across the country,” the Presidency said.

It insisted that President Buhari will not also “be forgotten by the owners of the new 40 plus fertilizer companies and the thousands of people they employ, producing locally to service the more than 12 million new rice growers who in turn provide six million tons of paddy processed by more 100 new rice mills with Kano alone having 62, and others spreading far and wide to Ebonyi, Lagos, Ekiti, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Katsina and others.”