From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

All Progressives Congress (APC) Legacy Awareness and Campaign group, has urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to discredit President Muhammadu Buhari’s achievements with its 16 years stewards.

The group in a statement signed by the quartets of Barr. Ismail Ahmed, Lanre Issa-Onilu, Tolu Ogunlesi and Salihu Moh. Lukman, charged the opposition to criticize President Buhari fairly.

It maintained that since President Buhari assumed office six years ago, it has boldly pursued reforms aimed at laying a solid and sustainable foundation for the greatness of the country.

“A lot of the investments being made today should have been done long before now, but as the Chinese proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
“Developing Nigeria’s infrastructure, in rail, roads, ports, power: More road and rail infrastructure are built and/or completed since 2015, than in the 16 years between 1999 and 2015.

“Criticisms and opposition are integral requirements of democracy. But if PDP and its leadership want to join in criticising and opposing the APC, they must do so by presenting to Nigerians what they did comparatively during their 16-year stewardship.

“PDP and its leadership must never imagine that Nigerians have a short memory of how destructive they were as managers of Nigeria. APC is working to rebuild Nigeria after years of neglect and destructions. President Buhari is laying solid and sustainable foundation for Nigeria’s greatness!,” the group noted in the statement.

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Itemising his achievements, APC-LAC wrote: “Several landmark infrastructure initiatives are being implemented by the Buhari Administration, from the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) to the Infrastructure Company (InfraCo), the Highway Development Maintenance Initiative (HDMI), the Sovereign Sukuk Bonds (that have collectively raised close to a billion dollars), and the Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme. All of these are unprecedented efforts in developing and upgrading national infrastructure.

“Equally unparalleled is President Buhari’s commitment to completing abandoned and unfinished projects inherited from previous administrations.
“Achieving Agricultural Self-Sufficiency: Through landmark initiatives like the Anchor Borrowers Programme and the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, millions of farmers across the country have benefited from improved access to land, input, credit and fertilizers; and private sector players have invested more than a billion dollars in cultivation, milling and processing.

“Entrenching Technology in Government Processes and Service Delivery: The presidential mandates to expand the coverage of the Treasury Single Account and the Integrated Public Payroll Information System (IPPIS) to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Automation of the Federal Budgeting Process, Automation of Import Duty Exemption, Electronic Visas, the launch of the Open Treasury Portal, National Digital Identification, and so on.

“Creating the first truly national Social Safety Net in the history of Nigeria: Nigeria has since 2016 built the largest social investment programme in Africa, with more than 10 million beneficiaries receiving one or more of the following: Cash Transfers, Micro-Credit, School Feeding, N-Power Stipends and a Special Public Works Programme across all 774 Local Government Areas of the country.
“Enabling the Private Sector: Under the watch of APC controlled federal government under President Buhari, the largest single-train refinery in the world is being constructed, in Lagos, as well as the first new Deep-Sea Port in the country in decades.

“Across the Niger Delta, several private-sector-led Modular Refinery Projects have kicked off since 2016 and are being completed; as well as the long-awaited Train 7 that will expand the NLNG’s capacity by a third,” the statement read.

“Billions of dollars have been invested in every part of the country by private investors in Agriculture, Mining, Oil and Gas, Manufacturing, Logistics, and other areas, since 2016.

Governance Reforms: No administration since 1999 has assented to as much transformative legislation: the first Police Reform Bill since 1943, the first Prisons Reform Bill in almost fifty years, the first reform of Companies legislation (CAMA) in thirty years, the first reform of Fiscal Terms for the Oil and Gas Industry since 1993, the first legislation in West Africa aimed at criminalising Maritime Piracy, Clearing of longstanding Petroleum Joint Venture (JV) Cash Call Arrears, Restoration of the Budgeting Calendar to a January-December cycle, take-off of the Ogoni Clean Up, after several years of delays, and many more,” the statement read.