Mohammed said the position of Atiku in the blueprint that “reducing infrastructure deficit will enhance economy, unleash growth and wealth creation’’ is not new.
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Federal Government says the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, simply copied President Muhammadu Buhari’s achievements in preparing his so-called economic blueprint.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, told newsmen in Abuja on Thursday that Atiku’s economic blueprint is a poor version of the present government’s economic strides.
He said the blueprint did not offer anything new in job creation, infrastructure financing and relationship with the private sector.
According to the minister, other areas poorly copied by Atiku in the blueprint were the rejuvenation of the power sector, poverty reduction, debt management and the overall management of the economy.
“It is shocking that an opposition that has condemned all that this administration has done will turn around to weave its so-called economic blueprint around the same things that are currently being done.
“This news conference is aimed at exposing the hypocrisy in an opposition that condemns an administration while showcasing a blueprint that is nothing, but a poor version of what’s on ground,’’ he said.
Buttressing his point, Mohammed said the position of Atiku in the blueprint that “reducing infrastructure deficit will enhance economy, unleash growth and wealth creation’’ is not new.
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“Across the country, we have constructed 8,352.94 kilometres of roads, rehabilitated 7,936.05 kilometres of roads, constructed 299 bridges, maintained 312 bridges and created 302,039 jobs in the process.
“We have also delivered houses in 34 states of the federation under the first phase of the National Housing Project.
“We were able to achieve these through a combination of budget increase and innovative infrastructure financing methods,’’ the minister stressed.
Mohammed recalled that before the Buhari administration came to power, budget for roads component of the Federal Ministry of Works was a meagre N18.132 billion.
He added that when Buhari got into office in 2015, the budget for the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing increased exponentially to N260.082 billion in 2016.
The budget also increased to N274.252 billion in 2017; to N356.773 billion in 2018; to N223.255 billion in 2019; to N227.963 billion in 2020 and to N241.864 billion in 2021, he added.
“Therefore, for anyone using this as a campaign stunt without acknowledging what we have done so far is cheap and disingenuous,” he said.
Mohammed noted that he was not surprised that Atiku only reeled out in his economic blueprint what Buhari’s administration had achieved in the last seven years.
“That’s what you get from someone who leaves the country after losing an election, only to parachute into town when another election is due,’’ Mohammed stressed.