Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said history would speak more eloquently on the stewardship of the Buhari presidency.
According to him, the many testimonials of beneficiaries of different programmes under the administration are already clear testament that inspire hope and belief that Nigeria can be transformed in the current generation.
Osinbajo made spoke yesterday at the unveiling of the PMB Legacy Assured, a compendium of achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari’s two terms captured by the ministerial scorecard series organised by the minister of information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Speaking at the event held at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja, the vice president noted that the millions of beneficiaries of several people-friendly schemes of the Buhari administration such as the Social Investment Programmes (SIP), among others, “are real people provided with a springboard to do more for themselves and for their communities; real people inspired to hope and believe that Nigeria can be positively transformed in our lifetime.”
Highlighting the social impact of President Buhari’s administration in this regard, Osinbajo stated that “time and history will speak more eloquently of our stewardship.
“I believe I speak the mind of the President when I say that our administration considers it a privilege and an honour to serve the people of our great nation as we have done in the last eight years. These accomplishments are the hard-won dividends of the social contract we entered into with the Nigerian people when we came into office in 2015,” a statement by his media aide, Laolu Akande, quoted the VP as saying.
Noting the continuity in government even after the current administration, the VP observed that “life for the living also offers a continuum, such that even when we are no longer in office, we can and must continue to pursue the fulfilment of our country’s great promise and potential wherever we find ourselves.”
On the PMB Legacy Assured Scorecard series compilations, Osinbajo commended the Information minister and his team for compiling the Ministerial Scorecard series, and the PMB legacy portal which was unveiled at the event.
He described it as a brilliant attempt at keeping a faithful record in audio, video and print of the achievements of the Buhari administration in the last eight years.
Highlighting some star aspects of the compilation/compendium such as the 19-minute teaser of the documentary series played at the event, and the testimonial series, Osinbajo explained that the beneficiaries of some of the administration’s people-friendly policies, including the Anchor Borrowers Programme and the Social Investment Programmes, widely regarded as the largest in Africa, are ample measures of their impact.
He noted examples of ordinary Nigerians who are beneficiaries, such as “the petty trader who was able to expand her business because of TraderMoni (under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP); the unemployed graduate who, benefitting from the N-Power programme discovers a new and profitable path; in addition we see and hear recorded for history; the passengers who could not hide their excitement at the seamless operation of the modern railway system or the state-of-the-art airport terminals; and the President of the rice farmers association who told us how rice production in the country has increased exponentially under the Anchor Borrowers Programme.”
The vice president noted that apart from the significance of the work “as an anthology of the life and times of the Buhari administration, it is also a fascinating and riveting account of unfolding facts and stories of some of the most intriguing events in contemporary Nigeria.”
He said these accounts should be given the widest possible reach across traditional and digital media platforms so as “to engage, provoke and maybe even inspire Nigerians and others who may come across it.”
He said this was important because the PMB Legacy Assured compilation was a detailed historical record captured with accuracy and authenticity.
“This detailed record, even though some will argue is the biased view of active participants in the matters being recorded, will nevertheless provide very useful source materials for researchers and historians in the future whether they are for or against our administration.
“In other words, by undertaking with great diligence and commitment this incredibly difficult task of record keeping, the Minister and his colleagues in this effort have provided a body of systematically structured facts in writing, photographs and film footage on the most recent eight years of almost a quarter of a century of democracy in Nigeria.”
Osinbajo further stated: “The scorecard series is more than a self-report card, it is a programmatic agenda that has provided a platform for Ministers to highlight their challenges, and unfolding plans for their respective ministries.”
Launching the compendium, the VP further commended the ministry of Information and Culture for producing “an impressive, innovative, and robust archival material” that he noted will “provide a veritable template for future administrations.
“As we launch this Compendium, Documentary, Testimonials, and Legacy Portal to the public, we must salute the cross functional effort that has produced these achievements; the tireless input of civil servants, and political appointees, the men and women, young and experienced, who working to reverse the developmental tides against us, in the face of fierce criticism and great sacrifices, have pursued the realization of our promises for better security, laying a foundation for prosperity, and creating a fresh burst of hope for the future.
“The accomplishments rolled out in these documents are a testament to your work, and you should be as proud of yourselves as we are of you,” he said.
The highpoint of the event was the unveiling of the PMB Legacy Assured Compendium and Portal by the vice president.
