OPENING REMARKS BY THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND CULTURE, ALHAJI LAI
MOHAMMED, AT THE 7TH EDITION OF THE ”PMB ADMINISTRATION SCORECARD
SERIES (2015-2023)” IN ABUJA ON MONDAY, DEC. 5TH 2022
PROTOCOL
- Welcome to the seventh edition of the ‘PMB Administration
Scorecard Series (2015-2023)’. Recall that we launched this series in
October to showcase the numerous achievements of the Buhari
Administration. Till date, six honourable Ministers have given the
scorecard of their ministries. They are the Honourable Ministers of”
- Works and Housing
- Transportation
- Aviation
- Interior
- Agriculture and Rural Development
- As well as Finance, Budget and National Planning
- Today, we will host the honourable Minister of Water Resources. In
what will be a busy week for us, we will also host the Honourable
Minister of Environment on Wednesday Dec. 7th and then
the Honourable Minister of Mines and Steel Development on Thursday Dec. 8th. - Before I call on today’s Speaker, let me use this opportunity to
comment on the increasing tendency by some opposition presidential
candidates to downplay the achievements of this Administration, in
their desperation for power, ahead of the 2023 elections. The worst
offender in this regard has been the presidential candidate of the
PDP, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. During his recent campaign
in Akure, the former VP was quoted as saying the APC had not done anything
for Nigeria in eight years. What a preposterous statement from
somebody who should know. I guess we can excuse His Excellency the
former Vice President who, until recently, had fully relocated to
Dubai, thus losing touch with Nigeria. - And if anyone would accuse the APC-led Federal Government of
doing nothing, it should not be Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Why? Because
for the 16 years of the PDP rule, eight of which Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
was Vice President, there was no motorable road to the former VP’s
hometown and indeed to key local governments in the Southern
Senatorial zone that served as Adamawa’s food basket and economic
nerve centre until the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari
assumed office. Today, gentlemen, the Mayo Belwa- Jada- Ganye- Toungo
road has been constructed fully and it’s the road that Alhaji Atiku
uses to get to his hometown of Jada. - What about security? Before this Administration came into office,
all the five local government areas in Adamawa’s Northern Senatorial
District were effectively under the control of the Boko Haram
terrorists. All state institutions, the local government
administration, the police, the judiciary, schools, hospitals and
markets had been sacked. Traditional rulers, including Emirs and
Chiefs, had been displaced with their palaces taken over by the
terrorists as their headquarters.
The affected 5 local governments in the Northern Senatorial zone are: - Madagali
- Michika
- Mubi North
- Mubi South and
- Little Gombi
In the Central Senatorial zone, two local governments were effectively
under the control of the Boko Haram terrorists: These two local
governments in the Central Senatorial zone are:
- Maiha Local Government
- Hong Local government.
- Today, not an inch of these local governments in Adamawa, the home
state of the former Vice President, is under the control of
terrorists. All institutions of state have relocated back and are
operational. All Emirs and chiefs have returned to their palaces.
Schools and markets have opened. Please note, gentlemen, that
throughout that period, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar could not
even go home. As a matter of fact, when one of his right hand men, Mr.
Adila, was killed by the terrorists, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar could not
even go to condole with the family of the deceased. It was that bad.
Now that he can travel home freely, thanks to the Buhari
Administration, it is not sweet in his mouth to accuse the same
Administration of doing nothing. As they say, the bedwetter should not
join those who are insulting the washerman. - In the area of Social Investment Programmes, there have been
29,641 beneficiaries, from Adamawa alone, of the N-POWER Programme of
the Buhari Administration. Under the Home Grown School Feeding
Programme, some 162,782 pupils from Adamawa are benefitting from one
meal a day. That programme employs 2,259 cooks in Adamawa and has
covered 1,236 schools in the state. How many school children did the
PDP feed in Adamawa or anywhere in the eight years that Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar held sway as Vice President in Abuja! We are not done. Under
the Conditional Cash Transfer, some 64,607 vulnerable people have
benefitted in Adamawa alone, while Trader Moni and Market Moni have
reached a total of 38,000 people in the state. - In the area of infrastructure, some 8 roads projects totalling
714 kilometres are currently being rehabilitated or constructed in the
state. That’s out of 43 road projects in the North East alone. These
are not phantom projects. We have the full list of the roads and can
make it available to anyone who so wishes. Similarly, the North East
Development Commission (NEDC) has either completed or is currently
working on 140 projects, including construction of classrooms,
healthcare facilities and ICT training centres, in Adamawa alone.
Overall, NEDC has a total of 593 projects in the entire North East.
Again, we have a full list of the projects.
- Gentlemen, you can now see that we didn’t even need to go far to
disprove the former VP’s soap box statement.
You can also see the irony of someone who held the number two position
in the country for all of eight years but could not positively impact
on his own hometown, state or region now condemning an Administration
that has made it possible for him to even access his hometown –
anytime he flies in from his new hometown of Dubai! The Administration
of President Muhammadu Buhari has had a positive impact on all parts
of this federation. No amount of fallacious soap box rhetorics can
change this fact. - On this note, It is my pleasure to invite the Honourable Minister
of Water Resources to make his presentation. Honourable Minister
please!
