- Buhari has delivered -Minister
From Taiwo Amodu, Abuja and Jubril Amita
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday reacted to Tuesday commissioning of the Abuja – Kaduna Standard Gauge Rail Line Project by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement by spokesperson of the Ahmed Makarfi led caretaker committee, Dayo Adeyeye, the main opposition party accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of appropriating and taking credit for the project which it noted “was
conceptualised, awarded and constructed by the PDP administrations.”
The former Minister of State, Works, under the Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration said, the rail project was conceptualised by
the Obasanjo administration and successive PDP administrations of late President Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan commenced work and built the project to 99 percent completion, saying the only work done by President Muhammadu Buhari on the project was yesterday’s commissioning.
The party further said “the usual rhetoric of the APC had always been that the 16 years of PDP’s rule were years of waste and wondered whether the railway project was also a waste.
“The truth which history will bear out is that the PDP in its 16 years of rule successfully completed numerous projects that substantively changed the infrastructure landscape of Nigeria.
“Every one of those 16 years were years of great productivity with remarkable achievements. This is very much unlike the APC which has already wasted one full year without even scratching one square meter of ground anywhere in the country”.
“If morning truly shows the day, then we can say that Nigeria is now really in the era of waste and stagnation.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in a meeting with members of staff of the Nigerian Embassy in Madrid Spain, yesterday, said the Buhari-led administration had fulfilled its campaign promises to address insecurity, fix the economy and fight corruption.
The meeting was part of the minister’s two-day official visit to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
“I believe that we are on the right way; there will be some pains, but there is no alternative to what we are doing,” the minister said.
In the area of security, the minister said when Buhari came on board, 14 of the 20 Local Government areas of Borno, four in Adamawa and three in Yobe were under the sovereign authority of Boko Haram.
He said with proactive measures and soft diplomacy with neighbouring African countries, the US, France and the G-8, the country has “decisively dealt with Boko Haram.’’
“All the major highways leading to Maiduguri were opened about two months ago, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) played a league match in Maiduguri stadium,’’ he said.