The Senior Special Assistant to Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari in the last four years has done more than his predecessors, in developing Nigeria.
Akande made this known in an interview where he spoke on the developmental activities of the Buhari-led government, in the last four years, especially in the areas of economy, job creation, and infrastructural development.
Speaking on the economy, Osinbajo’s Spokesperson revealed that the inflation figures have reduced. He also spoke on the impact of the government’s social intervention schemes.
“Food prices have actually gone down. If you look at the inflation figures, you will see that it is going down. The pupils we are feeding in public primary schools are also Nigerians. The 500,000 unemployed graduates in N-Power who are also Nigerians, will tell you the impact of these policies on their every day lives.
“They are part of the average Nigerians on the streets, whose lives have been changed. This was done such that they will have something to do before they get better more permanent jobs. From 500,000, we are going to go to 1,000,000 in the next iteration of N-Power.
“The over two million petty Traders and small scale business owners we have given loans to, are also Nigerians. All these social investment programmes are meant for Nigerians on the streets. And these Nigerians have the success stories to tell”, he said.
Akande specified that in the area of poverty alleviation, the Buhari administration has performed better than the previous governments.
“When you compare that to the extent of the problem we have, and the number of Nigerians that are poor, but we have only touched a part of it, considering the direct and indirect beneficiaries. And yes, there is still a lot of work to be done, but if you look at the figures empirically, you will see that we have done so much in four years, better than what previous governments have done in the area of poverty alleviation. We will soon be releasing an empirical survey showing that about 70 percent of Nigerians support the progress so far recorded with the SIPs”, he said.
Akande added the current government has done more for Nigerians in the area of economic diversification, infrastructural development, and social investment.
He said: “No government has done more than what we have done on diversification, infrastructure, and social investment. By the grace of God, we will do more to ramp up these programmes in the next four years.”
Also, speaking on Security, Akande said that President Buhari’s approach to the Security challenges are yielding positive results.
He said: “When the President came in 2016, about 18 Local Government Areas in 3 States in the North-East were under the control of boko haram. They have hoisted their flags, imposed taxes on people. They were completely in charge, but that is not happening anymore. The terrorists attacked the UN Headquarters in Abuja.
“That is not happening anymore. In Borno, people are now living their lives, unlike what we met on ground. As for the current Security challenges, we will overcome them as the Lord lives!”
