These days, so many people are saying so many things; indulging
mostly in the abuses of others and as official spokespersons, we
make the deliberate choice of staying out for the most part.
![image](/2020/10/lawreport.jpg")
But it is hard to ignore the shameful and disgraceful claims
made by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP which is
making the false claims that Nigerians are dissatisfied with the
present and wished for the return to the years of locusts.
![image](/2020/10/NWLRland.jpg")
At the rate they are going, it is not for fetched to agree with
another politician in describing the PDP as a “university of
falsehood”, in which the bigger the lies their functionaries can
tell, the higher in rank they are promoted to.
It is too soon for their evil records to be washed away or
forgotten. They held onto the throne of power for sixteen years
fighting for their own happiness, not that of the majority of
Nigerians. They turned the country into a nation of scams promoting
corruption to an industrial scale; exploiting the country’s oil,
mineral and land resources for selfish reasons.
PDP’s lasting legacy will be the catastrophe that was the power
expansion program in which USD 16 billion was taken from the
treasury without a megawatt of electricity added to the grid
system.
The Buhari-led administration is on the other hand fighting for
the happiness of the majority of Nigerians; rebuilding a battered
economy, putting in place long-delayed infrastructure and managing
a novel coronavirus pandemic in a very competent and impressive
manner as to earn the commendation of the World Health
Organization, WHO.
In those their 16 years, a period in which a barrel of oil sold
for as high as USD 140 Dollars, they blew a golden opportunity to
grow the economy to soaring heights. They could have used the
enormous earnings to increase power generation, modernise the rail
and fix roads and bridges as the present administration is
currently struggling, with lesser incomes to do. About 800 road
projects are currently ongoing in the six geopolitical zones of the
country.
The malaise of the PDP’s administration is manifested in the
collapse of local food production, replaced by a daily average
spending of USD 5 million in rice importation. Today, not a kobo
from the Central Bank of Nigeria is used to fund the importation of
food. In effect, we eat what we grow. PDP broke the economy by
killing industrialization. In those 16 years, textile industry, the
largest employer was killed. Thirty eight major textile companies
closed down business in Nigeria between 1999 and 2009.
They killed the nation’s manufacturing competitiveness. The
nation’s budding industry virtually fled to neighbouring countries
– Ghana, Cote D’Ivore and far away Kenya were all are transforming
into manufacturing hubs at our expense. In 2006, two of Nigeria’s
leading tyre manufacturers, Michelin and Dunlop, relocated their
factories to Ghana citing epileptic energy supply in Nigeria as the
chief reason.
Over those 16 years, PDP told stunning tales of economic growth
and peddled rates as high as the windmill without industrial
growth; without agricultural growth, without investment and without
jobs for the teeming youths.
In sum total, they gave the nation a lost half-generation.
In terms of ease of doing business, we have, as of today, gained
39 places up the ladder in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business
Index from where we were 2015 and in two of these years; we were
adjudged as being in the top ten of the reforming economies of the
world.
The Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) in 2017
completed a long-overdue revision of the list of activities that
can benefit from Nigeria’s Pioneer Status Incentive, which grants
beneficiary companies a 3 to 5-year tax holiday. The revision, done
more than 10 ten years after the last one, has modernized the list,
expanding the tax holiday incentives to qualifying companies in
E-commerce, Software Development, Animation, Music, Film and
TV.
The main reason for the defeat of the PDP in 2015 was
corruption. The present administration at the center led by
President Muhammadu Buhari has so far presented a corrupt-free
image of itself. It has succeeded in abolishing grand corruption at
the top. Today, you are sure that no one will call the Governor of
Central and ask him to bring hard cash- Naira, Pounds, Dollars,
Euro or Renminbi.
This is attested to by world leaders including the outgoing
American President, Donald Trump who commended President Buhari for
“significantly bringing down the level of corruption in the
country.”
Today, we have given the world its best performing stock market.
COVID economy notwithstanding, Nigeria stands as the number one
country in Africa in the International Monetary Fund, IMF 2020
Economic Outlook’s rating of countries. Using countries’ GDPs, the
IMF lists Nigeria among the world’s first 26 countries.
There are many today who take for granted, the declared victory
over the Boko Haram terrorists, forgetting the reign of the bombers
who made it almost impossible for regular attendance in markets,
churches and mosques in many of our cities, including the Federal
Capital City, Abuja.
With increased procurement of military aircrafts, weapons,
equipment and ammunitions, the remaining task of ridding Borno
State of Boko Haram is well on course.
Military procurements and increasing recruitment will ensure the
momentum of ridding the North-Western and North Central States are
equally rid of kidnapping, cattle rustling and banditry.
Yet, the so-called Nigeria’s major opposition party, the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) says many Nigerians who are already fed up
with the “Misrule” of President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) and are-hold your breath- yearning for
its (PDP) return to power in 2023.
Don’t believe their toxic statements.
Garba Shehu is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on
Media and Publicity
These days, so many people are saying so many things; indulging
mostly in the abuses of others and as official spokespersons, we
make the deliberate choice of staying out for the most part.
But it is hard to ignore the shameful and disgraceful claims
made by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP which is
making the false claims that Nigerians are dissatisfied with the
present and wished for the return to the years of locusts.
At the rate they are going, it is not for fetched to agree with
another politician in describing the PDP as a “university of
falsehood”, in which the bigger the lies their functionaries can
tell, the higher in rank they are promoted to.
It is too soon for their evil records to be washed away or
forgotten. They held onto the throne of power for sixteen years
fighting for their own happiness, not that of the majority of
Nigerians. They turned the country into a nation of scams promoting
corruption to an industrial scale; exploiting the country’s oil,
mineral and land resources for selfish reasons.
PDP’s lasting legacy will be the catastrophe that was the power
expansion program in which USD 16 billion was taken from the
treasury without a megawatt of electricity added to the grid
system.
The Buhari-led administration is on the other hand fighting for
the happiness of the majority of Nigerians; rebuilding a battered
economy, putting in place long-delayed infrastructure and managing
a novel coronavirus pandemic in a very competent and impressive
manner as to earn the commendation of the World Health
Organization, WHO.
In those their 16 years, a period in which a barrel of oil sold
for as high as USD 140 Dollars, they blew a golden opportunity to
grow the economy to soaring heights. They could have used the
enormous earnings to increase power generation, modernise the rail
and fix roads and bridges as the present administration is
currently struggling, with lesser incomes to do. About 800 road
projects are currently ongoing in the six geopolitical zones of the
country.
The malaise of the PDP’s administration is manifested in the
collapse of local food production, replaced by a daily average
spending of USD 5 million in rice importation. Today, not a kobo
from the Central Bank of Nigeria is used to fund the importation of
food. In effect, we eat what we grow. PDP broke the economy by
killing industrialization. In those 16 years, textile industry, the
largest employer was killed. Thirty eight major textile companies
closed down business in Nigeria between 1999 and 2009.
They killed the nation’s manufacturing competitiveness. The
nation’s budding industry virtually fled to neighbouring countries
– Ghana, Cote D’Ivore and far away Kenya were all are transforming
into manufacturing hubs at our expense. In 2006, two of Nigeria’s
leading tyre manufacturers, Michelin and Dunlop, relocated their
factories to Ghana citing epileptic energy supply in Nigeria as the
chief reason.
Over those 16 years, PDP told stunning tales of economic growth
and peddled rates as high as the windmill without industrial
growth; without agricultural growth, without investment and without
jobs for the teeming youths.
In sum total, they gave the nation a lost half-generation.
In terms of ease of doing business, we have, as of today, gained
39 places up the ladder in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business
Index from where we were 2015 and in two of these years; we were
adjudged as being in the top ten of the reforming economies of the
world.
The Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) in 2017
completed a long-overdue revision of the list of activities that
can benefit from Nigeria’s Pioneer Status Incentive, which grants
beneficiary companies a 3 to 5-year tax holiday. The revision, done
more than 10 ten years after the last one, has modernized the list,
expanding the tax holiday incentives to qualifying companies in
E-commerce, Software Development, Animation, Music, Film and
TV.
The main reason for the defeat of the PDP in 2015 was
corruption. The present administration at the center led by
President Muhammadu Buhari has so far presented a corrupt-free
image of itself. It has succeeded in abolishing grand corruption at
the top. Today, you are sure that no one will call the Governor of
Central and ask him to bring hard cash- Naira, Pounds, Dollars,
Euro or Renminbi.
This is attested to by world leaders including the outgoing
American President, Donald Trump who commended President Buhari for
“significantly bringing down the level of corruption in the
country.”
Today, we have given the world its best performing stock market.
COVID economy notwithstanding, Nigeria stands as the number one
country in Africa in the International Monetary Fund, IMF 2020
Economic Outlook’s rating of countries. Using countries’ GDPs, the
IMF lists Nigeria among the world’s first 26 countries.
There are many today who take for granted, the declared victory
over the Boko Haram terrorists, forgetting the reign of the bombers
who made it almost impossible for regular attendance in markets,
churches and mosques in many of our cities, including the Federal
Capital City, Abuja.
With increased procurement of military aircrafts, weapons,
equipment and ammunitions, the remaining task of ridding Borno
State of Boko Haram is well on course.
Military procurements and increasing recruitment will ensure the
momentum of ridding the North-Western and North Central States are
equally rid of kidnapping, cattle rustling and banditry.
Yet, the so-called Nigeria’s major opposition party, the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) says many Nigerians who are already fed up
with the “Misrule” of President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) and are-hold your breath- yearning for
its (PDP) return to power in 2023.
Don’t believe their toxic statements.
Garba Shehu is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on
Media and Publicity