BUHARI OUTLINES ACHIEVEMENTS IN 3 YEARS

Emmanuel Thomas l Tuesday, October 30, 2018

LAGOS, Nigeria – Ahead of the 2019 general election, President Muhammadu Buhari has outlined what he has been able to achieve in the last three years. Buhari who was speaking at the 75th annniversary of Island Club in Lagos said his adminsitraiton has completed the Abuja-Kaduna Rail, the Abuja Business District to Airport intra-city rail and the New Port Harcourt International Airport Building. He said the projects were delayed previously because the government then failed to pay the counterpart funding when Nigeria was earning about $100 per barrel of oil.

Buhari who was represented at the event by Minister of Power, Works and Housing, said his administration paid these monies when the price of oil dropped to about $50 per barrel, and simultaneously committed to the Construction of the Lagos- Abeokuta- Ibadan- Kano Rail which has started.

“We have revived most of the road contracts that were abandoned and started new ones and I can say to you confidently that there is no state in Nigeria where our Government is not constructing at least one Road. In Lagos for example, the Ikorodu-Sagamu and the Lagos-Otta-Abeokuta Roads are long abandoned roads we have revived and contractors are now back to work while I have inaugurated an Infrastructure Development Fund to ensure that the Lagos-Ibadan, Second Niger Bridge and Abuja-Kano roads are not affected or delayed by funding problems again.

“We have also awarded the Tin-Can Island, Mile 2, Oshodi – Oworonshoki Expressway which is contributing to the gridlock in the State and work should start in November this year. With significantly less resources we are getting a lot more done”, he said. On power supply, Buhari said his government has been able to move things forward from where he met them.

“A significant number of Nigerians admit that the hours they run their generators, and the amount they spend on diesel and petrol to power their generators is reducing. That is progress and we are not finished. We know there is a lot of work to do but we are inspired by the progress in generation from 4,000MW to 7,000MW ; in transmission from 5,000MW to 7,000MW and in distribution from 2,690MW to 5,222MW.

“Compared to the 4,000 MW of generation that we inherited after 16 years which did not start from zero in 1999, it means that we are averaging 1000 MW per annum of incremental power Generation every year since 2015 when we took office. This is change for the better, compared to 4,000 MW after sixteen years (which as I said did not start from zero in 1999), which is an average of 250 MW per annum”, he said.

He said the policy of Eligible Customers to provide power to industrial customers working with the Manufactures Association of Nigeria is bearing encouraging results, with 5 industries already connected to reliable power and 14 more industries are being processed while many more new applications are coming in.

“The policy of Meter Asset Providers to facilitate increased supply of meters excited 103 applicants, out of which 80 no objections have been issued. As you all know, the only thing that stands between Policy, Impact and Results is time. We can only now wait to see how the solutions we have designed trickle down and bear fruit. But this is only one side of the Power story. The on-grid side.

“On the Off-grid development side, another policy outcome of our Government will imminently bear fruits in 9 Federal Universities which are the pilot phase of supplying independent power to our children‘s places of learning.

“Two markets, Ariaria in Abia State with 37,000 shops and Sabon Gari market in Kano with 13,000 shops are the pilots of 15 markets comprising 85,000 shops and 255,000 micro small and medium Enterprises that will get reliable and uninterrupted power.

“Last week Friday, the Vice President was here in Lagos to inaugurate the Sura Independent Power Project , a product of our Mini Grid policy that has delivered uninterrupted power to 1,047 shop owners in Sura market. The feedback from the shop owners, that they have not used their generators for the last 70 days since the project was completed and that their businesses are growing , they are employing more people , confirm to me that we are on the right track”, he said.

He siad that in 2014, Nigeria was in a situation where insurgents had actually captured local governments and hoisted flags with a view to setting up their own parallel government.

“We have retaken all of that from them. But because crime is rewarding to its perpetrators, they do not give up easily. They now attack soft targets and we will not stop our pursuit of them until they give up their nefarious acts and are brought to justice.

“As we deal with new challenges and the dynamic nature of crime and indeed life as a whole, I understand that it is sometimes easy to forget what we overcame and have achieved when we face new challenges. We overcame a situation where government activity like National day parades could not hold in the open.
They were held inside the villa in Abuja. That has changed since my assumption of office.

“We rescued 107 children from Chibok incident and reunited them with their families, although 112 children still remain to be rescued, as very painful reminders that our work is not done.

“We had a set back with the abduction of our children in Dapchi, but our response was quicker than Chibok, as we recovered all the children except unfortunately Leah Sharibu, the young girl for whom I will not rest until we bring her home, to the care and love of her anxious and traumatised parents”, the president said.

As he put it, “Change is not an event, it is a process and requires time”, he said, adding this iis another reason why “I am offering myself to serve again. I believe that these problems can be solved and our choices are moving us in the right direction, which is forward”, he said.