Despite meeting a penniless purse, Buhari achievements laudable – Minister Lai

Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has claimed that not minding the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari met a terrible economic downturn and an empty purse, that his administration has recorded laudable achievements.

A statement released by the minister’s aide, Segun Adeyemi on Friday, said that the minister made the remarks at the launch of a book chronicling the Buhari administration’s achievements in Abuja.

He said, “Despite those who are daily trying to muddle the waters, this administration has, through fidelity to discipline, determination and transparency, recorded landmark achievements that are putting our country on the path of sustainable growth.

“Taking a broad view, this administration is delivering in the broad areas that form the plank of its policies: Security, fight against corruption and the economy, which includes the massive provision of infrastructure, ease of doing business and agriculture, just to mention a few.”

Alhaji Mohammed said with the fact that nothing can be achieved without security, the administration has successfully tackled the menace of Boko Haram, which had crippled the North-east and even put the residents of the Federal Capital Territory on tenterhooks, following attacks on the UN Complex, the police headquarters and crowded motor parks, all in the FCT.

He reeled out the administration’s achievements in several sectors, including power where he said generation has increased from 2,690MW on 29 May 2015 to 6,619MW; transmission capacity from 5,000MW to 6,700MW and distribution capacity from 4,000MW to 4,600MW as at September 2017.

On Infrastructure, the Minister said the administration has increased, many times over, the budget allocated to roads (from 18 billion to 198.25 billion Naira), power (from 5 billion to 91.2 billion Naira) and housing (from 1.8 billion to 71.559 billion Naira), hence was able to construct or rehabilitate a total of 766 kilometres of roads across the country in 2017.

On the economy, he said headline inflation has fallen for nine consecutive months this year and that foreign reserves are up to $3 billion, from $24 billion a year ago.

READ ALSO: 2018 BUDGET: Buhari, Osinbajo to spend N1bn on travels, N83m for tyres, N67m for internet

“Nigeria is out of recession and the economy is on the growth trajectory again, after the economy contracted for five consecutive quarters. Despite the downturn in oil prices, this administration was able to invest an unprecedented sum of over 1.2 trillion Naira in capital projects through the 2016 Budget, the highest ever in the history of this country.

“Our Sovereign Wealth Fund, which was established in 2011 with US$1 billion, did not receive additional investment for four years when oil prices were as high as US$120 per barrel. This administration was able to invest an additional US$500 million into the fund,” Mohammed said.

Mohammed had recently claimed that because his father named him Lai, that people always see him as a liar even when he has never told lie in his entire life.

 

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