Lai Mohammed, Nigeria's minister of Information and Culture, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has fulfilled its campaign promises to Nigerians despite dwindling revenue.
Alhaji Mohammed made the pronouncement at the Presentation of National Social Investment Programmes (N-SIP) Report Card event to mark the second anniversary of President Buhari’s administration in Abuja on Monday, May 29.
The theme of the report card presentation, according to the News Agency of Nigeria, was 'Showcasing the Achievements of National Social Investment Programmes: A Smile for Every Nigerian'.
At the event, Mohammed said through N-SIP, the federal government provided employment to 200,000 unemployed graduates, engaged 57,000 people through the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and empowered about 26,000 ordinary Nigerians through Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT).
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| Information Minister- Lai Mohammed on President Bihari success on campaign promises |
He added that under the National Home Grown School Feeding Programmme (NHGSFP), the government was able to serve about 25 million meals to 1.2 million pupils all over the country in order to make leaning conducive.
He also said that the APC-led federal government under its school feeding programme had employed no fewer than 12,000 cooks across 36 states and the FCT.
“This is a government that promised and delivered on its promises and the unique thing about this particular N-SIP is that it has been achieved in an era when there has been no revenue.
“It would have been very perfect excuse to say that because oil revenue dropped drastically, therefore, we are not able to deliver on our promises.
“But despite the dwindling revenue, we are able to deliver on our campaign promises and then this is not related just to the social investment programmes alone.
“I am happy that we are here today to prove that this government is not a government of propaganda; this is a real government that is dealing with the real people,”
Mohammed said adding that the programme was designed in such a way that it was easy and accessible to all Nigerians.
According to him, “one of the unique selling points of the programmes is the transparency in it."
“I am happy that many of the beneficiaries have testified to this and this is a new dawn. “My appealed to all the beneficiaries is to please let them not limit their testimonies to this hall please say it louder and clear at every time to all Nigerians.
“Let Nigerians know how this government has impacted positively on your lives,” he said adding that in spite of dwindling resources between October, 2016 and now, the government was able to add an additional seven billion dollars to its foreign reserves.
Mohammed disclosed that the the Buhari administration had been able to attract 500 million dollars to the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), and increased the Excess Crude account with 87 million dollars.
“All these we did despite the very tight resources,” the minister said. On his part, the minority leader of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, commended the government for putting smiles and restoring hope on the lives of ordinary Nigerians through its intervention initiative, social investment programmes.
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| Akpabio Also Lauds Buhari's Success |
Akpabio assured that the senate was ever ready to support anything that would alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians either through budgeting process or approvals.
“I am standing here to endorse this programme and to commend the President, the Acting President and Coordinators of this programme for this very laudable initiative,
“ he added. Speaking also, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said President Buhari had fulfilled his major campaign promises to Nigerians by decimating Boko Haram insurgency.
According to him, there is nothing as good as focusing on the social investment programme of the federal government.
He expressed belief that the initiative would eradicate poverty and take children off the street.
