The Presidency has said
that the Nigerian elite always criticise the administration of
President Muhammadu Buhari of poor performance because they do not care
about the ordinary people.
According to a statement made available to journalists on Sunday, the
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba
Shehu, stated this in an interview on Pyramid Radio in Kano State.
He said the government was doing a lot to improve the lot of the
ordinary people who the elite did not care for.
Shehu said, “Because the elite do not care for the ordinary people, they
are saying that government is doing nothing. But we are doing a lot for
the ordinary people.
“They don’t want us to talk about the 14 solar power projects that have
been licensed to boost electricity supply in the country; the Mambila
power project which will soon leave the drawing board and the many
Chinese projects including the standard gauge railway.
“This country has more important things to talk about instead of
dwelling on trivia.”
Shehu said the price of a bag of fertiliser had reduced from between
N9,000 and N10,000 to N5,500.
He said the country had about 32 fertiliser blending plants that had
remained idle for many years but that about half that number had started
production with many of them running three shifts a day.
According to him, some of them employ as many as 100 workers.
Speaking about the government’s initiative to boost rice production in
the country, the presidential spokesman said while the government bought
1.2 million tonnes of rice from Thailand in 2014, only 58,000 tonnes
were imported in 2016.
“As a result of the country’s growing rice production, assisted by the
decision of the government to deny foreign exchange through the Central
Bank for the importation of rice, parboiled rice mills in some Asian
countries are shutting down production because Nigeria, one of the
world’s largest importers, is not buying.
“Five of such mills in Thailand servicing Nigeria have stopped
production due to the withdrawal of our patronage.
“Currently, government is watching with keen interest the growing
investment in rice milling by the private sector and will continue to
give encouragement through the Ministry of Agriculture to such efforts
by BUA Industries in Jigawa, Dangote in Kano, OLAM and WACOTT in
Nasarawa and Kebbi and what a consortium of businessmen led by a former
governor in Anambra State are doing.
“The increase in the volume of rice production and processing is already
saving this country a lot of money,” he added.
Garba also said the administration’s agricultural revolution was
bringing about other socio-economic changes in the country.
“A recent survey in two urban areas in Jigawa State, the capital Dutse
and Kiyawa showed that jobless young men are migrating from motorcycle
taxi, achaba business into farming.
“In Kiyawa, it takes a long wait to catch a motorcycle taxi because they
are rapidly disappearing. The young men are moving to the farms.
“These are development issues in the country that our media should pay
attention to,” he said.
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