• 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.