President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday hit back at former President Goodluck Jonathan, saying his achievements are neither lies nor propaganda.
The former President last week alleged that the government had been running on lies and propaganda.
Buhari also reminded the former president that unlike during his regime, when t between N800 billion and N1.3 trillion was paid out yearly as “petrol subsidy” without making the products available even at regulated prices, his Administration had not been paying any subsidy, yet the product is available and queues disappeared from filling stations.
Speaking at the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Conference for media handlers of state’s chief executives, the President, represented by Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed, said: “Those who accused this Administration of ‘propaganda and lies’ in the fuel supply sector, for example, did not tell Nigerians that whereas they paid between 800 billion and 1.3 trillion Naira as ‘subsidy’ yearly in their time, without making the products available even at regulated prices, this Administration is not paying any subsidy, yet all products are currently available at competitive prices and fuel queues are now history.
“In their time, they paid subsidy of 3.7 billion Naira DAILY in 2011; 2.2 billion Naira DAILY in 2012 and 2013, and 2.5 billion Naira DAILY in 2014, all for products that were never available.”
Describing disinformation and fake news, as ”evil twins” in the public space, the president said that they have become potent weapons in the hands of opposition, expressing worry that they will be the biggest obstacle as the 2019 general elections.
He said, “Let me be straight: This is the most difficult time for anyone to find himself or herself in your position. Why? Because in addition to working with a tight budget, you face the double tragedy of disinformation and fake news, buoyed to a large extent by the advent of Social Media. Never before have these ”evil twins” of disinformation and fake news permeated the public space as they have now and, make no mistakes about it, they have become potent weapons in the hands of naysayers. Sadly, they will be the biggest obstacle facing you from now till the 2019 general elections, whether you believe it or not.
“In recent days, you have all seen the dangers posed, not just to you but even the general public, by those who have chosen to deploy disinformation and fake news as a weapon of choice. First, they created unnecessary panic in the society by claiming that Monkey Pox resulted from the Federal Government’s deliberate injection of people with the virus in certain states. We had hardly dispelled that when they claimed that the military, which is going beyond the call of duty to support the civilian populace, has been injecting school children with Monkey Pox, forcing many parents across a number of states to withdraw their children from school for days. Imagine the implication of this on the affected children’s education and health.
“Now, the disinformation is that ahead of the forthcoming election in Anambra, the government has been providing IPOB uniform to some people to cause mayhem, so they can in turn blame IPOB, and that many roads leading to Anambra will be closed before and after the elections, hence they advised Anambra residents to stay at home and not come out for the election. This is all disinformation, pure and simple. There is no such plan.
“Now, going hand in hand with disinformation and fake news is the new strategy of the naysayers to label the achievements of the government of the day as ‘propaganda and lies’ in order to discredit them. It is for you, at your level, to use concrete facts to showcase the achievements of your principals. Nigerians are brilliant and discerning, and won’t be taken in by such deliberate denigration. But they also need facts and figures.
“For our Administration, our achievements are there for all to see. We are delivering in the broad areas that formed the plank of our 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.”
He added: ”Those who accused this government of ‘propaganda and lies’ also said we have not achieved anything in the power sector. Comment is free, facts are sacred, as they say. When this Administration assumed office on 29 May 2015, available power on the grid totalled 2,690MW, transmission capacity was around 5,000MW and distribution capacity was 4,000MW.
”As at 4 September 2017, the available power that can be put on the grid was 6,619MW; the transmission capacity was simulated at 6,700 MW (up from 5,000 MW in 2015) but the distribution capacity was 4,600 MW, which was what was put on the grid. On September 12, 2017, production of power reached an all-time level of 7,001MW,” he said
President Buhari said it is an irony that those who presided over a budget of 18 billion Naira for roads, 5 billion Naira for power and 1.8 billion Naira for Housing in 2015 are now accusing those who spent 198.25 billion Naira on roads, 91.2 billion Naira on power and 71.559 billion Naira on housing in the following year of non-achievement?
”Because of the increased spending in these areas, the massive debts owed to contractors are being settled so they can recall workers who were laid off and re-open closed work sites. As a matter of fact, during the implementation of the 2016 budget, we paid 103 construction companies executing 192 projects, and they, in turn, employed 17,749 people directly and 52,000 people indirectly in works.
”So far this year, 47.169 billion Naira has been paid to 62 contractors working on 149 projects to continue work on roads and bridges and keep people at work. Similar payments are being made to supervising consultants and to contractors in Housing and Power Sectors of the Ministry,” he said.
The President also said highlighted the achievements that have been recorded by his Administration in the area of the Economy, wondering whether it is ‘propaganda and lies’ that headline Inflation has now fallen for the eighth consecutive month; that foreign exchange reserves are up to $32 billion, from $24 billion a year ago: that oil production is at nearly 2 million barrels per day and that Home-grown School Feeding Programme now being implemented in 17 States is benefiting more than 3 million public primary school children and more than 30,000 cooks across 20,000 schools.
He said close to 200,000 youths are now benefiting from the N-Power Programme, which recruits unemployed graduates to work as teachers, agricultural extension workers, and health extension workers; that the Government Enterprise & Empowerment Programme (GEEP), which provides micro-credit to farmers, traders, and artisans, now has in excess of 1 million beneficiaries, with women accounting for 56% of that number, and that at about $1.8 billion, the capital inflows in the second quarter of 2017 were almost double the $908 million in the first quarter.
”If our achievements are based on ‘propaganda and lies’, as they claim, why is our agricultural revolution achieving so much success: We have commissioned the 120,000 MT per annum WACOT Rice Mill in Argungu, Kebbi State. We have commissioned the 60,000 MT per annum Edo State Fertilizer Company Limited. What about the commissioning of OLAM’s 750,000 MT per annum Integrated Poultry Facility in Kaduna State? Do you know that 15 moribund Fertilizer Blending Plants have now been revived and in operation across Nigeria, under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, creating 50,000 direct jobs and 70,000 indirect jobs?” the President asked.
He said when the Administration assumed office in 2015, Boko Haram was active in at least 10 states, could stroll into Abuja at a time and target of their own choosing to cause maximum havoc, in addition to holding territories and collecting taxes.
”Today, Boko Haram has been so degraded that it lacks the capacity to carry out any organized attack, while also increasingly losing the capacity to even attack soft targets. Importantly, Boko Haram no longer holds any territory. The same vigour is being used to address the herdsmen-farmers’ clash, kidnapping for ransom and other crimes,” the President said.
He said the biggest challenge facing government information managers is how to project the achievements of their principals against the background of worsening cases of disinformation and fake news, adding that the best way to tackle the problem is to remain focused, refuse to be distracted or intimidated and also to use facts and figures to counter the purveyors of disinformation and fake news. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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PMB simple question for you. Now the subsidy you removed where is the money going to???? Your pocket or for APC campaign in 2019???
ReplyDeletePDP also saved but they failed,Yours in APC will be worst for all the hide and seek play you are playing to Nigerians. We are watching
Please nobody should be telling us about megawatts anymore. What is important to us is the number of hours the average Nigerian has electric supply per day and how much he is paying for it. Let us also talk about how much we are paying for fuel per litre subsidy or no subsidy. If the money recovered from subsidy cannot make us more comfortable then forget it. There has been no increase in salary and EVERYTHING is now more expensive. These figures are not meaningful to the common man!!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSo where is the money?
ReplyDeleteIt is quite unfortunate that we now take about disinformation and fake news when this was the same thing the ruling party was doing then.In terms of spending N1 trillion on subsidy,fuel then was sold at N65 per litre unlike now that it is been sold for N145.Don't you think the difference in price would have accounted for the subsidy paid by the former government. I remember vividly that the opposition then were saying that the fuel price @ N65 was very high but the same people set their own price @ N145.As regards spending more on than the PDP government on Housing,Electricity,road construction,i am yet to see the projects that accounted for the increase spending.
ReplyDeletePresident where is your savings then? $1 to #400 is a monster!!!!! no economy can stabilise under this exchange rate. Where are the industries, no employment, those under employment commit suicide for owning them salary for 9 - 11 months haba are you really a President or a Devil?
ReplyDelete