By Jide Orintunsin – ABUJA
A support group APC-Legacy Awareness Campaign (APC-LAC) in the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that despite global economic downturn and social challenges, the country is on a steady march towards economic and political renaissance.
The group also predicted that in few months to come, the country would witness more progress on all fronts.
These were the verdicts passed by the group in its weekly report of achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari released in Abuja on Tuesday to newsmen.
The report was jointly signed by APC National Youth Leader, Barrister Ismael Ahmed, APC former National Publicity Secretary, Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu and two other leaders of the group.
APC-LAC statement noted while recent development in the country have started to give hope to average Nigerians for better tomorrow under the APC-led administration of President Buhari, it has also silent most critics of the administration.
“Things are looking up once again across the Nigerian landscape. In the past few weeks, it has been one success story after the other. The Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is revving up the engine in the areas of security, infrastructural renewal, and the economy. Not even the most virulent critics can pretend otherwise anymore.
“The avalanche of positive stories has brought some palpable sense of hope to Nigerians. The hope is not misplaced. The optics are sterling. President Buhari was physically present in Lagos on Thursday, June 10, 2021 to commission the Lagos – Ibadan Standard Gauge Rail. The inauguration of that huge project is a further attestation to the commitment of the present administration to reinvigorate the rail transportation system, which had been in comatose for many decades.
“Combined with the earlier commissioned Itakpe to Warri rail line, the Abuja to Kaduna rail and the about to commence rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri rail and Kaduna to Kano Standard Gauge Rail, there is no gainsaying the fact that President Buhari has achieved what many thought impossible.”
The group further noted the President also launched of multi-billion-naira security equipment under the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Strategy code-named Deep Blue, to secure the country’s maritime domain and the entire Gulf of Guinea, which have been troubled by pirates and other criminal elements.
APC-LAC itemised some of the security assets commissioned to include two Special Mission Vessels; three Special Mission Helicopters; 17 Interceptor Boats; two Special Mission Aerial Aircraft, 18 Armoured Vehicles.
The group also noted the Buhari administration recorded another huge achievement on the economic front by given new life to the LNG Sector with the long-awaited kick-off of the multi-billion-dollar NLNG Train 7, stalled for many years under the PDP administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
It said: “Under this government, the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, which hitherto operated at a loss, has also moved from a loss of N14.6m in 2014 to N14.3bn profit in 2018, while its turnover improved from N17.8bn in 2014 to N61.4bn in 2018.
“The aviation sector is not left out of the good news that many Nigerians have been savouring lately, with a new wave of private and public sector investments in the sector. United Nigeria Airlines debuted earlier in 2021, with ValueJet, Green Africa, Cally Air and others set to commence operations in the coming months, in addition to those inaugurated in the last three years.
” All together, these new airlines would launch dozens of new aircraft into the market, creating much-needed jobs and economic opportunities for Nigerians. A booming aviation industry is a testimony to an economy on an upward swing.”
The group noted with admiration the fear that has gripped the nation in recent times is receding while confidence is being renewed as the security agencies are chasing down the criminals, taking the battle to the bandits, gunmen, kidnappers, and other criminal elements who have been holding the country by the jugular and turning Nigeria to a killing field.
“From the South-East to the South-South up to the North-East and North-West, bandits, insurgents, kidnappers and other criminal elements are being given bloodied noses, in fulfilment of President Buhari’s pledge to speak to these undesirable elements in ‘a language they would understand.’
“In the South-East, for instance, members of the IPOB that have been terrorising many communities, razing down public properties including police stations and killing security agents in the process, have almost been completely decimated.
“For the North-West where kidnapping and banditry are prevalent, the gallant troops are giving the perpetrators a hot chase and neutralising them in large numbers.
“Terrorists in the North-East are also feeling the heat as the military continue to decimate them. We commend our gallant security personnel and call on all Nigerians to support Nigeria’s armed forces for the war against insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, abduction and all crimes to succeed in Nigeria.”
Predicting more progress in the months to come, the group concluded stated “with the additional security assets under way for the military to boost its operations and ensure the security of lives and property, coupled with the country’s quick exit from recession occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic and the gradual return to normalcy on the economic front, this nation is surely on a steady march towards economic and political renaissance.”
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