Going by the antecedents of a Nigerian-born journalist, David Hundeyin, for sending anyone to the cleaners who refused to succumb to his blackmail, it is not surprising that he has recently turned his smear campaign against the APC administrations of President Muhammadu Buhari and incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
While calling them ‘lackeys of the West’ who were imposed upon Nigerians to strictly implement policies that promote Western interests in Nigeria and the subregion as part of the West’s war against China’s burgeoning global political and economic influence, Hundeyin in his X handle further alleged that PMB and PBAT pursued the interests of America to severely reduce the value of Nigerian wealth and curtail local purchasing power of Nigerians.
In his usual biased, selfish and narrow minded assessment of people, things and events, Hundeyin further claimed: “since the US puppets were successfully installed in 2015, Nigeria – a developing economy – has not started a SINGLE major economic infrastructure project.”
Nothing can be farther from the truth. This is the most uncharitable and insincere assessment i have ever seen about the PMB government.
To refresh David Hundeyin’s memory, Buhari came to power in 2015 to tackle corruption, revamp the economy through policies and the provision of infrastructure as well as the fight against insecurity.
One can confidently say that APC presidential candidate in the 2015 elections scored 15,424,921 votes representing 53.96% to defeat Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP who scored 12,853,162 votes representing 44.96%.
Again, Buhari of the ruling APC won the 2019 presidential election with 15,191,847 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, with 11,262,978 votes.
It is an undisputable fact that the country has never had it so good in terms of infrastructural development since the country’s return to democracy in 1999 like the PMB administration did from 2015-2023.
From roads, railways, airports, education, agriculture, health care, water resources and ports development, among others, the PMB administration gave the country its best and laid the foundation for serious infrastructural development across all sectors of the economy.
Talk about the completion and commissioning of the 2nd Niger Bridge; Lagos – Ibadan standard gauge railway line and Lagos-Ibadan expressway; Abuja – Kaduna railway; Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport terminal and runway; Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2; upgrading of the Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kano, Owerri and other airports; partial completion of Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway, among others.
Another key strategic project of the Buhari administration is the $600 million (N216billion) Port Harcourt International Airport terminal funded by the Export-Import Bank of China and the Nigerian Government.
The multi billion dollar Lekki Deep-Sea Port, funded under PPP, where construction started in July 2020, during a pandemic and was completed in October 2022 is another legacy project of the PMB administration.
Also on the list of key projects undertaken by PMB or ongoing include the Lagos-Kaduna-Kano-Maradi rail line, the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas project popularly called AKK, several infrastructure projects in our universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and federal government colleges.
After his eight-year mandate, President Buhari creditably delivered on the promises he made to Nigerians during the campaigns. It is advisable that Hundeyin finds time to look through a portal named: “PMB SCORECARD: unfolding President Buhari’s Projects” as a one-stop-shop to access the achievements of the Buhari administration.
Musa Ilallah,
Abuja [email protected]