LAGOS — SIX serving ministers in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, appraised the nearly one year of the administration with a match of his promises and performance and concluded that remarkable progress had been made.
MEETING: From left, Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Idiat Adebule; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Ibe Kachikwu; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyema; and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Okechukwu Enelamah, at a Town Hall Meeting organised by Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, in Lagos, yesterday. They also reviewed the key programmes of the administration within the context of the current expectation of Nigerians for the actualization of the government’s change agenda and urged the populace not to despair. The ministers, who said this in Lagos at a Town Hall meeting organised by the Ministry of Information, noted that the government was being nudged by the pains of Nigerians to find not just solutions to the various national problems but sustainable responses. The event, which was the maiden edition in the series of the government’s town hall meetings that would be held across the six geo-political zones, was a platform for the ministers to present their scorecards since coming on board. The ministers, who spoke in the light of the public mood over critical national concerns include Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu; Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Minster of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyema; and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah. Also at the forum were Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Oluranti Adebule; former governor of the state, Alhaji Lateef Jakande; Chief Femi Okunu; members of the National Assembly and traditional rulers. Others include representatives of the following groups: Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC; Trade Union Congress, TUC; Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU; Non Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU; National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE; National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS; leaders of market associations and artisans, among others. Why fuel is still scarce —Kachikwu In his remarks, Kachikwu disclosed that 30 per cent of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, supplied in the country was often diverted to neighbouring countries, noting that the practice was responsible for the substantial absence of the commodity in the country. He said: “Understandably, most times people define what we have done in the context of fuel supply. But what is the problem with fuel supply? It is simple: by the time we started last year, the government owed marketers N600 billion in unpaid subsidy arrears. The effect of that was that many of them went out of business as they didn’t have the liquidity and stopped importation. “Now the traditional model that always worked for this country is that NNPC will bring you 50 per cent of the supply and the balance 50 percent is always provided by the marketers. So if you, therefore, have zero percent supply from the marketers, you have 50 percent deficiency in the supply. And NNPC had to struggle to fill that gap. “But this was a capacity that we did not have and the funding that we did not have. The second was that after we struggled and did that payment in November, there was no sufficient forex line to open up letters of credit.” Fuel is being diverted to neighbouring countries “Sadly, even for the short term measures that we put in place, over 30 percent of whatever it is that we supply in this country is diverted. Lagos, for example, in the last five days has been pumped with 400 trucks of products into the state. But the maximum consumption of Lagos State is 250 trucks. Most of those trucks are diverted from Lagos. They move from the cities into the hinterlands and cross to neighbouring countries. Some go to Chad, some go to Cameroun, etc.” We need to deliver more power incrementally, sustainably —Fashola On his part, Fashola stated that delivering more power incrementally and sustainably remained the solution to the power crisis in Nigeria. His words: “I have been looking on some of the things that have been done well, some of the things that could have been done better but I will summarise the power issue simply in one word. There is not enough power. 5,000MW for 170 million people is not just enough. The solution is delivering more power in an incremental and sustainable basis. “As far as the roads are concerned, especially for road workers, road transporters, the unions, and ultimately as an index of doing business, the cost of transportation ultimately affects how cheaply or expensive food reaches the table, how efficiently services are delivered. “As far as housing is concerned, that perhaps is my most difficult responsibility. I am working and very close now to delivering a housing model that some majority of Nigerians can say, if I get this kind of house, I will live there.” Why we went for change —Ameachi On his part, Amaechi said: “The reason we went for change was that things were becoming impossible for the country. Everyone agreed that the only solution was to change the government by bringing in new set of public officials to ensure that you and I can eat. “But you will also agree with us that the results you expect will not happen in one year. You will also agree with us that we just only want you to be patient, we understand your pains. If I were in your shoes, we will feel the same pains. If anybody here tells you that we don’t understand your pain, that will be wrong.” Buhari’s trips not randomly selected-Onyema Also speaking, Onyema dismissed mixed reactions trailing the President’s foreign trips, stating that the trips were carefully chosen to align with the priorities of the administration. He said: “The trips of Mr. President are not something that are selected on random basis. They are carefully selected and designed to fit into the priorities and objectives of the government.” Similarly, Lai Mohammed said: “This town hall meeting is a testimony that this administration takes very seriously the concept of participatory democracy. This government is committed to ensuring that there is no communication gap between the government and the governed. No other platform is more potent and direct than this town hall meeting as it brings closer the officials of the government in direct contact with representatives from all works of life.”
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