The Presidency, on Sunday, released its 90-page Fact Sheet chronicling the high points of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd)-led regime as it winds down May 29.
According to a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the Fact Sheet highlighted the 37 bills signed into law, 12 executive orders, several infrastructure projects, bilateral agreements, fiscal reforms as well as the appointment/election of eminent Nigerians into the leadership of several global organisations.
The statement which is titled ‘Buhari’s footprint on the sands of time,’ read in part, “In about four weeks, President Muhammadu Buhari touches down as the country’s Number One citizen. For Eight years, he has served, making a salutary impact on nearly all sectors of the National landscape: security, economy, anti-corruption, infrastructure – rail, roads, air and sea ports, power, housing, water resources, the oil and gas sector, legislative matters, foreign affairs, sports, youth development, and many others.
“The Presidential Communications Team here brings a one-stop shop of achievements under the Buhari administration covering eights years of two terms. It’s a collector’s item, an answer to the questions of those who would rather cavil, looking at a half-empty cup, rather than a half-filled one.
“Those who are objective, taking a dispassionate look at this Fact Sheet, would admit that President Buhari came, and served meritoriously. As he had promised many times, he would not be leaving Nigeria the way he met it,” Adesina remarked.
In the area of legislation, the Fact Sheet highlighted 37 bills signed into law by the president, the most recent of which include the 16 Constitution Amendment Bills – Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2022; The Defence Research and Development Authority Act, 2022; Nigerian Copyright Act, 2022; National Health Insurance Authority Act, 2022; Nigerian Startup Act, 2022; Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022; Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022, which repeals the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended.
Others include – the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority Act, 2022; Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau Act, 2022; and the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, which repeals the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 as amended in 2013, and provides for the effective implementation of international instruments on the prevention and combating of terrorism and suppression of the financing of terrorism.Related News
On infrastructure, Adesina noted that the regime has, and still constructing, over 961km stretch of rail lines crisscrossing the nation.
The Fact Sheet further highlighted other infrastructural gains in terms of power, roads, healthcare, housing, oil and gas, and digital economy.
It noted the launch of a new national 5G policy in 2021 and the successful licensing of two private companies to roll-out 5G nationally, adding that Nigeria’s 5G spectrum auction has generated $547m in license fees.
On the foreign scene, the President’s media aide noted that the Buhari-led government has struck profitable ties and signed various MoUs across infrastructural, security, economy and humanitarian lines.
These foreign entities include – the United Nations, China, Saudi Arabia, United Arabs Emirates, Morocco, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Germany, among others.
The regime, the Fact Sheet stressed, has also been instrumental to the appointment of several Nigerians as heads of various global organisations. They include the Designation of the President as the African Union Anti-Corruption Champion for 2018; Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, appointed 2017; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organisation (first African and first woman to hold the position, elected 2021); Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, elected in 2015 and re-elected 2020; Benedict Oramah, President of African Export-Import Bank, re-elected for a second term in 2020; Mohammad Barkindo, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries; elected 2016, re-elected 2019; Chile Eboe-Osuji, President of the International Criminal Court, 2018-2021.
Others are – Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, 2019–2020; Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner, African Union Commission’s Department for Political Affairs & Peace and Security, elected 2021; Funke Adeyemi, elected Secretary-General of the African Civil Aviation Commission in 2022; Mustafa Shehu, elected President of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations in 2022; Osahon Enabulele, elected President of the World Medical Association, in 2022, among others.
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