* Backs FG’s Decision to Source Oxygen Locally
The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has described the reduction in the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria by more than three million as a major achievement by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The group said in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke that it was not an easy task anywhere in the world to reduce the figure of out of school children from 10.1million to 6.9 million in one year.
“We see it as a fulfilment of a promise by a key member of the Buhari administration in the aftermath of a 2015 United Nation (UN) report that rated Nigeria as the country with the highest number of out-of-school children in the world.
“We recall that the Education minister Adamu Adamu acknowledged at the end of his first tenure in office that he was not able to ensure any reasonable reduction in the 10m children of school age who were on the streets across the country.
” As a result of that frank admission of truth, the Buhari administration was the butt of criticism by many naysayers who saw it as yet another ammunition to use to deride the government.
“We invite Nigerians to note that the brutally honest assessment of the out- of-school-children situation has within a 15-month period paved way for a gradual rollback of that negative trend.
“This is a milestone achievement that the Buhari administration would be remembered for, especially as one out of every five out-of-school children was said to be from Nigeria before this feat was achieved.
“It speaks to the dynamism and capacity of the current government to achieve items on its political agenda as well as its promises to the people”, it added.
BMO explained that the reduction was achieved through the Ministerial Strategic Plan (MSP) on out-of-school children which was introduced at the onset of President Buhari’s second term in office.
“Like Malam Adamu said at the 2020 annual ministerial press briefing, the reduction is as a result of a Federal Government initiative tagged ‘Better Education Service Delivery for All(BESDA) through which a World Bank credit facility of US$611 million was disbursed to 17 States with the most endemic cases.
“It proved to be a game-changer in the quest to boost school enrolment as impressive figures were recorded in all the states where BESDA was being implemented.
“In addition to this is an adolescent girl initiative for learning and empowerment also supported by the World Bank to pave way for millions of girls who were out of school or had never been in school, to be taken off the streets.
“These are verifiable steps taken by the Federal Government which have proved to be successful in boosting school enrolment figures.
“So this, to all intents and purposes, is one remarkable achievement that the Buhari administration can easily beat its chest”.
The group also assured Nigerians that the Buhari administration will not relent in efforts to ensure that the number of out-of-school children keeps going down.
FG Decision to Source Oxygen Locally, a Welcome Departure from PDP-era Practice
The Federal Government’s decision to establish gas plants locally rather than bankroll an importation spree has been described as patriotic and a major difference between the Muhammadu Buhari administration and its predecessors.
“The nation’s dire oxygen need would have presented another God-sent opportunity for unscrupulous officials in previous PDP-led administrations to indulge in a procurement binge with the attendant embezzlement of funds and depletion of the country’s external reserves,” the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) noted in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke.
“We welcome the decision of the Federal Government to set up gas plants in 38 locations across the country and approval of funds for the repair of oxygen plants in five hospitals as the Federal Government tackles the resurge in Covid-19 infections across the country. It is a commendable and timely response befitting the patriotic posture of the Buhari administration.
“It is a decision that signals this administration’s intent and resolves to mobilize every available human and material resource to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. In this regard, the efforts of the Nigerian Government have been nothing other than exceptional.
“The approval given on Wednesday by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbanjo to source badly-needed oxygen from domestic sources rather than from overseas is heartwarming and a brave show of confidence in our ability as a nation to meet critical industrial requisition on which human lives depend.
“This is how the government response to national emergencies is conducted. Apparently, the President is working with data and proactively taking this decision to provide the capacity to anticipate the needs for oxygen. More impressively, the President, rather than take the easy path of resorting to importation that a party like PDP in power would have preferred, ordered for local production. That is President Muhammadu Buhari for you, unapologetic in his confidence in the Nigerian spirit. The advantages are job opportunities, deepening operations in the gas manufacturing subsector, easy accessibility for users, and cheaper purchase costs. With one masterstroke, the President has eliminated the incubation of a corruption value-chain around this commodity while conserving our external reserves.
Bemoaning the previous PDP-controlled administrations’ profligacy, BMO noted that there would be no scarcity of oxygen, a basic medical and scientific supply if previous governments had chosen to be responsible with our country’s resources. “We are, yet again, doing more with less—and during a pandemic.
“A time comes when a nation takes the less glamorous path to self-reliance, believing in itself and its ability to solve its own problems without seeking external help. Nigerians should celebrate this ‘Yes, We Can’ moment as we applaud President Buhari and his administration for investing in ourselves. Let the oxygen flow from within and Nigeria will emerge healthier and stronger.
“Taken alongside other reforms which this administration has initiated in the nation’s oil and gas sector to improve local content capacity, we are confident that this country is on the right path to self-sufficiency and prosperity.”