2019 In Review: Buhari’s Govt Has Performed Excellently Well In Revamping Critical Infrastructure., Says Lai Mohammed

TAIWO ADELU

For anybody who cares to listen, Minister of Information and Culture, Alahji Lai Mohammed is making a loud noise about some of the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari in the outgoing year 2019.

The Minister used the occasion of the year-ending press conference which was held in Lagos on Monday to roll out those achievements the government considered its has made in 2019.

According to the Minister, one of such areas is building and revamping critical infrastructure.

“If there is any area in which this administration has been consistent in terms of development, it is in the area of building and revamping critical infrastructure. As we speak, infrastructural projects – roads, rail, power, dams etc – are ongoing in all the six geo-political zones. No administration has ever embarked on such a massive infrastructural renewal, more so at a time of dwindling earnings

“This year, Nigeria and Siemens signed an agreement to generate 11,000 MW by 2023. The Power Agreement is to support the activities of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the 11 Distribution Companies within the country, including software maintenance and
support for four years.

“The laying of rail tracks on the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge rail line has almost been completed and test run has commenced.
“Contractors were mobilized to various construction sites across the country to deliver on the road projects. There are heightened activities on the Lagos-Badagry, Port Harcourt-Enugu and Port Harcourt-Aba, Onitsha-Enugu, Ilorin-Kabba, Loko-Oweto Bridge, Okene-Auchi Road, Kano-Katsina Expressway, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway rehabilitation and Obajana-Benin Road, among others.

Mohammed also posited that Buhari’s administration also made a landmark achievement by signing into law the amended deep offshore act. “This Act means that Nigeria will now receive its fair, rightful and equitable share of income from our own natural resources for the first time since 2003. All these years, Nigeria has failed to secure its equitable share of
the proceeds of oil production, because all attempts to amend the law on the distribution of income have failed. But this Administration has broken the jinx.

“For the first time under our amended law, 200 million Nigerians will start to receive a fair return on the surfeit of resources of our lands. Increased income will allow for new hospitals, schools, infrastructure and jobs,” he said.