Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina says critics of President Muhammadu Buhari are pained “like mad” because they want a “return of those days when the country earns billions of dollars from oil, and it is used to oil their pockets.”
He said this in an article titled, “From 7 To 70: Why Are They Not Talking About This?” the latest installment of his weekly column, From The Inside…Fridays With Femi Adesina.
The presidential aide said that Buhari’s critics fail to acknowledge his giant strides in various sectors of the economy including agriculture but only focus on the security challenges in the country.
He recalled a recent courtesy visit paid on President Muhammadu Buhari by members of the Fertilizers Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN).
Adesina quoted the President of FEPSAN, Mr Thomas Etuh as telling President Buhari during the visit: “Mr President, before you created the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative in 2016, Nigeria’s fertilizer production base was almost zero. We had less than 7 companies producing at 100% of their installed capacity. Nigeria’s Urea output was reported at less than 300,000 tons.
“Today, Nigeria can boast of having some 70 NPK blending plants. 95% of this investment is from the private sector. This is a clear sign of the confidence investors have in Mr President’s policies and programs.”
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Adesina said that the critics did not talk about the development because it negated their narrative that Buhari is doing in office.
“From 7 to 70 blending plants just under Buhari! But why are they not talking about it? Because it doesn’t fit into the narrative they want Nigerians to buy and imbibe. The country is broken under Buhari. It is divided. He has made a poor job of leading the country. That is what the poor salesmen sell.
“I hear! When you hate a baby, you claim that the midwife that begat him is a witch. What has that got to do with the innocent tot? Their snouts have been yanked from the honeypot, so they are throwing tantrums. Politicians, so-called civil rights activists, priests, talk show hosts, and many others. All they want is to have the illicit bread back. So they must create the impression that Buhari did nothing
“From 7 to 70. Why are they not talking about it? No, it doesn’t serve their interests, so they would pretend it didn’t happen,” the presidential aide wrote.
Adesina added, “But they said Nigeria was broken, and that the only thing happening was insecurity. How then did the 63 new blending plants spring up? If the investors didn’t believe in the country, would they invest such humongous resources? Would you put several millions of naira in a polity that could go up in smoke at the next minute? No, you wouldn’t. So, the fact that investors continue to put their funds here belie their narrative that Nigeria was broken, and nothing was working. They lie through their teeth just because of the lust for power, and filthy lucre. They pine and hanker after those days that you did nothing, and government just brought bags of money to you at home. Buhari wouldn’t do that, so they must badmouth him, paint him black, and run him out of town, if possible.
“From 7 to 70 fertilizer blending plants in 7 years. Why are they not talking about it? No, they wouldn’t, because they want a return of those days when the country earns billions of dollars from oil, and it is used to oil their pockets. The rich get richer, and the poor gets prison. The new order pains them like mad.”