Buhari: An Undersold President

By Tom Ohikere

In his words, “Between 1999 and 2015 when we came in, I will like people to check the Central Bank and the NNPC. The average production was 2.1 million barrels per day at the average cost of $100 per barrel. So, Nigeria was earning at this time 2.1 million times 100 times the number in those years.

“But look at the state of infrastructure; some of the roads since the good old PTF days. Look at the railway; it was virtually killed. Power, we are still struggling.
“But when we came, it was an unfortunate incident — the militants in the south-south were unleashed; production went down to half a million barrels per day. Again, unfortunately, the cost of petroleum went down from $28 to $37.

“Look at the problem in the north-east. Check with anybody from Borno or Adamawa. How many local governments were in the hands of the government and how many were in the hands of Boko Haram? Bloody fraudulent people, whoever they are; they are fraudulent.

“But now, go and ask the hardworking governor of Borno state — a very hardworking governor. The federal government is in charge now.

“So, in relative terms of time and resources, this administration has done extremely well. I have to say it because those who are supposed to say are not saying it. I don’t know why.

The president’s position is no doubt an indictment of his media team and their inability to circumvent and overcome the ever-vibrant propaganda mill of the erstwhile ruling party, which since their ouster from power in 2015, have been hell bent on discrediting the administration as a mean to pave their way back to power. While perception is one thing, reality is another thing, and perception of reality can be undermined through a determined disinformation campaign steeped in parochial thinking.

While the PDP may be reeling out obsolete facts commensurate to that time they often overlook the short comings that provoked Nigerians into rejecting them such as the persistent insecurity, demoralized military, the pervasive and blatant corruption. To embrace the APC particularly at this cross road of our national political transition with the 2023 general election just around the corner, Nigerians must decipher between perception and the reality on ground. A perception that is been distorted amid a fog of disinformation.

Under the erstwhile regime, Nigeria was a den of corruption, which reached an unprecedented level under former President Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan was even quoted as saying that most of what is referred to as corruption is not really that at all. He said, “Over 70% of what are called corruption (cases), even by EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) and other anti-corruption agencies, is not corruption, but common stealing,” the president told national television, saying the corruption claims appeared “politically motivated”.

It was under that infamous administration that former senate president Bukola Saraki led the Governors’ forum to share large slices of funds approved by the Federal Government to reimburse states for the excessive deductions charged to them on account of the Paris Club and other international loans. It was even later alleged by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development that under the six years administration about $32bn was lost to corruption.

This is why the government of Buhari made the tripod of its policy thrust, war against corruption, the war against terrorism (insecurity), and economic transformation through infrastructural revival and consolidation.

So far, on the anti-corruption drive, the government has recovered over N200 billion from final forfeiture cases as at 2019, and has secured over 890 convictions in economic and financial crime cases. In the area of checking leakages, which is also an aspect of corruption, the government through the Treasury Single Account (TSA) initiative has reportedly saved about N10 trillion.

In the area of insecurity, the Nigerian military has recorded extraordinary successes against the insurgents recovering large swathes of lands previously under the stranglehold of the Boko Haram. The insurgency is no longer active in most places and are now restricted to the fringes.

Economically, which most Nigerians are overly interested, the Buhari government has been laying a solid and sustainable ground work through massive investment in infrastructures to support the economic base of the nation.

Like the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola said during a recent interview with me, that the infrastructural commitment of the Muhammadu Buhari administration will be its enduring legacy.

Fashola said while the second Niger bridge will be one of the President’s infrastructural legacy, it cannot be limited to that, as his infrastructural legacy cuts across ministries.

He noted that the value of the administration’s investment in infrastructure can only be felt after the president has exited power as these assets would continue to provide value and services.

His said, “This is where you will see the impact, and you will also see the impact as we become a more competitive nation. You will see our broadband roll out, you will see a new port in Lekki. You will see a refinery that will be completed with government support behind the Dangote group. So, the pain is going to ease continuously and progressively. That will be the real defining impact of the Buhari administration, focusing on bridging our infrastructural gap, Fashola stated.

As underlined above the change administration of President Buhari has without doubt made significant investment on transport infrastructure. Through the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), the government invested over a billion dollars in three flagship projects: Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (for completion in 2022), Second Niger Bridge (for completion in 2022), Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway (first phase for completion in 2023).
Also, more than a trillion Naira was mobilised through Executive Order 7, for road projects across all six geopolitical zones of the country, like Bodo-Bonny in Rivers and Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki – Ojota in Lagos.

The Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI), a public-private partnership program to mobilise, in its first Phase, over a Trillion Naira in private investment into the development and maintenance of 12 Roads, amounting to 1,963km in length. In addition, more than 600 billion Naira worth of Sukuk Bonds raised since 2017 for more than 40 critical road projects across all six geopolitical zones. Between November 25 and December 13, 2021, the Federal Government handed over to benefiting communities 941 km of completed Sukuk road projects connecting 10 states in five geo-political zones of the country.

The administration has also made tremendous progress on railway projects in the country, particularly the upgrading of the railway networks. The 156km Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Rail completed and commissioned, within a Nigerian-record-time of 4 years (2017 to 2021). The 8.72km extension to Lagos-Ibadan Rail Line, to Lagos Port Complex, completed in 2021.

The 186km Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge Rail Line, completed and commissioned in 2016. The 327km Itakpe-Warri Standard Gauge Rail was completed and commissioned in 2020, 33 years after construction began. Even as part of this project, there was the full rehabilitation of the Railway Village, Agbor, as well as the construction of a Railway Ancillary Facilities Yard, also in Agbor. In 2021 the Line commenced commercial freight haulage, transporting pipelines for the AKK Gas Pipeline project.

Similarly, in July 2021 construction commenced on the Kaduna-Kano Standard Gauge Rail Line, following the ground-breaking by President Buhari. Also, preliminary works started for the construction of 284km Kano-Maradi Standard Gauge Rail (with a branch line to Dutse). Early this year work also kicked off for the complete revamp of Port Harcourt–Maiduguri Narrow Gauge Rail. 377 Wagons, 64 Coaches, and 21 Locomotives (including DMUs) were purchased for the Standard Gauge network, between 2016 and 2021. It is even estimated that more than 11,000 new jobs were created from the ongoing rail modernization projects in the country and more than 100 qualified young Nigerians were awarded full international scholarships for undergraduate/graduate courses in rail engineering and transport in China, in 2018. In addition, dozens of Nigerian Engineers have been trained as part of the railway modernization projects.

Three thousand tons of cement are reportedly transported monthly through train freight service from Lagos to Kano.

Furthermore, the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp) was established by President Buhari in February 2021, with initial seed Capital of N1 Trillion, provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC). InfraCorp’s goal is to catalyse and accelerate investment into Nigeria’s infrastructure sector by originating, structuring, executing and managing end-to-end bankable projects in that space. In addition to the 1 trillion Naira equity seed capital, InfraCorp is expected to mobilise up to an additional 14 trillion Naira of debt capital.

In the flight and maritime sectors, the completion of New Terminals for International Airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt. The construction completed on New Runways for the Abuja and Enugu International Airports. The Abuja International Airport Runway was reconstructed in 2017, for the first time since the Airport was built in the early 1980s. In 2019 President Buhari approved a special fund of 10 Billion Naira for the reconstruction of the Enugu Airport Runway; it was completed and reopened in August 2020). Presidential approval for four International Airports as Special Economic Zones: Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

Also, the Lekki Deep Sea Port – the first new Sea Port in Nigeria in decades – is now more than 90 percent completed. Ground-breaking has done for Bonny Deep-Sea Port in March 2021. In a similar vein, construction of Kano and Katsina Inland Dry Ports is ongoing, for completion in 2022. Commissioning of the ‘Deep Blue’ Maritime Security Project, was completed in 2021. The project includes 17 Special Mission Vessels, 2 Special Mission Aircraft, and 3 Helicopters. The dredging of Warri Port (Escravos Bar—Warri Port channel) was completed in 2018 and on October 30, 2019, an LPG Tanker operated by NLNG, berthed in Port Harcourt – the first time ever an LPG ship berthed in any of the Eastern Ports. In December 2017, Calabar Port commenced the export of bulk cement to Tema Port in Ghana. In 2019, 3 container ships berthed at Calabar Port, for the first time in eleven years
In March 2021, the export of 7,000 metric tonnes of cocoa through Calabar Port to the United States, for the first time in about 14 years.

In the area of power supply, an incremental 4,000MW+ of power generating assets will soon be completed, including the Zungeru Hydro, Kashimbila Hydro, Afam III Fast Power, Kudenda Kaduna Power Plant, the Okpai Phase 2 Plant, the Dangote Refinery Power Plant, and others. Also, the energizing Agriculture Programme, launched in May 2022, to catalyze economic development and improve rural livelihoods in Nigeria through exploring the nexus between mini-grids and agricultural productivity. Also, the national Mass Metering Programme: Nationwide rollout of electricity meters to all on-grid consumers, was launched in August 2020. The Central Bank of Nigeria is providing 200 billion Naira for this, and so far, more than one million meters have been rolled out, in the first phase. This first phase generated more than 10,000 new jobs in meter installation and assembly.

In the same vein, the Solar Power Naija (SPN), launched in April 2021 to deliver 5 million off-grid solar connections, impacting more than 20 million Nigerians, and financed through Central Bank of Nigeria loans, as well as through partnerships with NDPHC, NNPC and the NSIA. The program is expected to generate an additional N7 billion increase in tax revenues per annum and $10 million in annual import substitution. Also under Solar Power Naija and NDPHC’s partnership, ASolar is rolling out 100,000 Solar Home Systems across the country, while the NSIA (partnering under SPN) has announced a N10 billion fund for developers, targeting more than 250,000 solar connections.

In May 2021, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) announced the planned deployment of solar-powered grids to 200 Primary Health Centres (PHC) and 104 Unity Schools nationwide. The Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) is a $550 million programme being implemented by the Federal Government of Nigeria in partnership with the World Bank and African Development Bank. NEP is a combination of subsidies, direct contracts and technical assistance to support Electrification across Nigeria. NEP has so far deployed more than 20,000 Standalone Solar Systems (SHS), as well as Solar Hybrid Mini-grids in more than 250 locations across the country.

The Rural Electrification Fund (REF), created by the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act of 2005, was operationalized by the Buhari Administration in 2016. Since 2016, the REF under REA has executed more than N4 billion in projects, with more than N5 billion of Off-Grid (mainly Solar) projects slated to be executed across Nigeria in 2022.

Federal Government also has many key grid initiatives with more than N125.2 billion budgeted between 2015 to 2021 for TCN, and Development Finance Funding through the likes of World Bank, AFDB, AFD, JICA and others of up to $1.7 billion. The Central Bank of Nigeria is also funding $250 million for the rehabilitation of critical interfaces between Transmission and Distribution to increase and stabilize power delivery.
Additionally, through the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), aka Siemens Power Program, an additional $2.0 billion or more will be invested in the Transmission Grid.: PPI is a Government-to-Government initiative involving the Governments of Nigeria and Germany, and Siemens AG of Germany, to upgrade and modernize Nigeria’s electricity grid.

The Contract for the pre-engineering phase of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) was signed in February 2021, following the 2020 approval for the payment of FGN’s counterpart funding for that phase, while the first set of equipment contract awards were made in December 2021, comprising 10 Mobitra Transformers and 10 Substations. In all the PPI will encompass as many as 127 individual Transmission and Distribution projects (Brownfield and Greenfield).

There are, as of Q1 2022, 135 ongoing projects for transmission lines, substations and other associated grid infrastructure. TCN has completed 30 key Substation Projects and 12 important Transmission Lines.

Some of the critical grid interventions across the NESI include the resuscitation of the second Egbin-Ajah Transmission Line and the recently commissioned NDPHC Lafia 2X150 MVA & 2X60 /132/33/330 KV Transmission Substation (under NIPP). Other ongoing interventions include 330kV Quad Lines in Alaoji to Onitsha, Delta Power Station to Benin as well as the Kano to Katsina 330kV line (respectively).

The $200 million Lagos/Ogun Transmission Infrastructure Project, financed by JICA. It entails the construction of about 200 km of high-voltage transmission lines and a number of high voltage substations, benefiting several communities in the two States.

Through a special CBN intervention for Transmission Distribution interfaces, contracts have been awarded for more than 30 Substation Rehabilitation and 1,570MVA transformer capacity upgrades, with 34 critical transformers to be installed or replaced.

The Buhari government has also made massive stride in the area of modernizing and digitizing the Nigerian economy. They include the extension of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) ‘Pioneer Status’ to e-Commerce and software development companies. The Stipulation of N145 per linear meter cap on Highway Right of Way (RoW) for fibre optic cabling, to incentivize investment in the rollout. The Launch of new national 5G policy in 2021, and successful licensing of two private companies to rollout 5G nationally. Establishment of a new National Data Protection Bureau, which is expected to develop “primary legislation for data protection and privacy. The Establishment, in 2021, of a National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR). The ongoing implementation, starting in 2021, of the National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone Phase 2 (NICTIB-2) Project. The goal of NICTIB is to roll out a nationwide fibre infrastructure network. The ongoing construction of a Tier-4 Data Center in Kano, to join existing infrastructure in Abuja (Tier-3 Data Center) and Enugu (A Disaster Recovery Site). The Kano Data Center is expected to be completed in 2022.

President Buhari’s assent to the Petroleum Industry Act on August 16, 2021, broke a two-decades-old jinx and is setting the stage for the unprecedented transformation of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. Under the new Act, the NNPC has transformed into a Limited Liability Company which was recently unveiled in July 2022.

The regulatory framework for the sector has also changed, with the establishment of (a) the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and (b) the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), which merged the hitherto-existing Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Petroleum Equalization Fund (Management) Board(PEFMB), and the Midstream and Downstream Divisions of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). Historic Signing Ceremony, in May 2021, of the Execution of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118 Agreements between NNPC Limited and its Contractor Partners: Shell, Exxon Mobil, TOTAL and NAOC. These Agreements settled long-standing disputes that stalled development and will unlock more than $10 billion of new deep-water investment in Nigeria.

Similarly, construction is ongoing on the 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas Project, the largest domestic gas project in the country. The US$45 million financing secured from the Islamic Development Bank, for the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) Study for Nigeria–Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) project. The Agreement for the Pipeline project was signed by the two countries during President Buhari’s State Visit to Morocco in June 2018. When completed it will be the longest offshore pipeline in the world, and the second-longest pipeline in the world, running across 13 countries, 11 of them in West Africa. The successful completion of Nigeria’s first Marginal Field Bid Round in almost 20 years, expected to raise in excess of half a billion dollars, and open up a new vista of investment in oil and gas.

Also, the financial close and signing of the contract for NLNG Train 7, which will grow Nigeria’s LNG production capacity by 35% – Nigeria and Morocco in 2021 signed an agreement to develop a US$1.4 billion multipurpose industrial platform (Ammonia and Di-Ammonium Phosphate production plants) that will utilize Nigerian gas and Moroccan phosphate to produce 750,000 tons of ammonia and 1 million tons of phosphate fertilizers annually by 2025. It will be located in Ikot-Abasi, Akwa-Ibom State.

Commissioning, in December 2020, of the new NPDC Integrated Gas Handling Facility in Edo State, the largest onshore LPG plant in the country, with a processing capacity of 100 million standard cubic feet of gas daily, producing 330 tonnes of LPG, 345 tonnes of propane and 2,600 barrels of condensate, daily. Establishment of a $350m Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, to finance manufacturing, contracts and assets in the oil and gas industry.

In the area of mining and the steel, the federal government has made some unprecedented achievements all in a bid to solidify the foundation for a future dynamic and diversified economy. They include the approval, in 2020, of a new national policy on local production of bitumen. In April 2022, the Federal Government announced the selection of PwC as Transaction Adviser for the concession process for Nigeria’s bitumen blocks. (Nigeria has one of the largest bitumen reserves in the world, mostly undeveloped). The Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI) is a Buhari Administration scheme to enumerate (deploying BVN and NIN data), organize/formalize, ‘skill’, equip, and finance (by guaranteeing offtake—with fair pricing) artisanal gold miners in Nigeria. Also, construction was completed on the first phase of the Segilola Gold Project, Nigeria’s first large-scale commercial gold mine, and most advanced gold exploration project (also currently the largest defined gold deposit in the country). The private sector project, built during the pandemic, began exporting gold in late 2021. In Kaduna, a $600 million integrated iron ore mining, processing and steel production company is being completed, in Gujeni, Kagarko LGA of the State – a wholly private sector investment. Licensing by the Federal Government of 3 companies to build the first set of gold refineries in Nigeria.

In 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) added Nigerian gold to its reserves for the first time. Similarly, the ongoing development of the following Mining-related clusters in the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria, as part of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development’s Covid-19 economic intervention programme: That is the Gold Souk in Kano, Kaolin-processing plant in Bauchi, Gemstone market in Ibadan, Lead-smelting plant in Ebonyi, Barite-processing plant in Cross River and Gold-smelting plant in Kogi.

Also, the administration launched the Nigeria Innovation Fund by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), with the aim of addressing investment opportunities in the domestic technology sector: data networking, datacentres, software, Agri-tech, and Bio-tech.

Similarly, the Petroleum Industry Act signed into law on 16th August 2021.

The federal government has also made efforts to empower the youth and other vulnerable groups by enhancing investments in the Social Intervention Programmes, the President even approved the expansion of the National Social Register (NSP) by 1 million additional households. The NSP is the official database for the implementation of the Conditional Cash Transfer programme. The Buhari government even established the N75 billion Nigerian Youth Investment Fund created to boost the Nigerian economy through leverage and access to finance for youths.

So those who are colour blind or deliberately blind or brainwashed by the disinformation techniques of the opposition rumour and propaganda mills, if they love the country should strive hard to open their eyes to the hard truth if we must salvage our country and the dear hope of our posterity.

Dr Tom Ohikere is the Publisher of the APCNewsOnline
Abuja