In his closing remarks at the first year ministerial review retreat at the State House Conference Centre, Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari has charged his ministers, permanent secretaries and appointees to make bold to publicize the glaring achievements of his administration. He said they should be proud to defend his government against those he described as politically motivated activists who seek to drown his government’s message of successful performance.
Listed among his major achievements, included the Anchor Borrower Programme for food security; the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative; the completed and on-going Railway projects; the controversial rehabilitation and reintegration of repentant Boko Haram members into the society; the Second Niger Bridge to be commissioned by 2023; the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano(AKK) Gas pipeline project; the N2.3 Trillion Economic Sustainability Plan to further cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on citizens and business owners; and many others.
In his words: “We have worked to address emergent cases of insecurity and insurgency in the country with innovative approaches such as ‘Operation Safe Corridor’, which aim to deradicalize, rehabilitate and reintegrate willingly surrendered Boko Haram members into the larger society. Our security operations in the Niger Delta, North central and Northwestern states are yielding desired results. We hope to get rid of bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements in these regions”.
The ministerial retreat is an annual stocktaking and performance assessment get together for ministries departments and agencies (MDGs). For this year, while a few ministries can be said to have performed above board, the majority have little to show in their assessment score sheets.
John Daniel Obioma.