Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has been in politics since the Second Republic when he was elected into the Oyo State House of Assembly as a young lawyer. In this interview with DARE ADEKANMBI, he speaks on the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari, his grouse with Governor Abiola Ajimobi, why he believes he will get the 2019 All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket, among others. Excerpts
IN a matter of weeks, it will be two years since Muhammadu Buhari became the ‘change president.’ What would you list as his achievements?
His campaign was based on three focal points. The first one is that he committed himself to fighting insurgency and criminality in the North-East and the South-South respectively. Secondly, he committed himself to fighting corruption to a standstill. Thirdly, he committed himself to reviving the economy. He has made awesome achievements on all these points. You will agree with me that the level of criminality in the North-East and the South-South was at its highest before we came on board. About 14 local government councils in three states were firmly in the hands of Boko Haram criminals. But less than two years after his coming in, you’ll agree that he has virtually eliminated Boko Haram insurgency and no territory of Nigeria is under the rule of the Boko Haram sect.
As of today, everything has virtually returned to normal in the Niger Delta. We have left the stage of war-war for the stage of jaw-jaw. Also in the area of corruption,if you have been constant with the news and I am happy you are a newsman, you know very well and you will agree that a lot of the rot of the PDP days is being uncovered and a lot of stolen monies are being recovered. Through the whistle-blowing policy of the Buhari administration, billions of dollars, not just naira, are being recovered from all over. Aside from that, a lot of leakages have been plugged through the Treasury Single Account policy of the Federal Government.
Before Buhari came on board, the production level of crude oil was about 2.2 million barrels per day and crude oil was selling for about $140 a barrel. By the time he came on board, the price of oil had crashed to about $38 and production level dropped from 2.2 mbpd to about 900, 000 mbpd. It was that bad. But through effective checkmating of criminality in the Niger Delta, the production level has almost got to its pre-Buhari era. Again, I am happy to say that the price of oil has gone up to between $50 and $60 per barrel. Government has shifted focus to diversifying the economy from crude oil. A lot of work has been done in the agric sector about this. Today, the average farmers in Kano, Oyo, Benin are smiling to the banks. I have got evidence in Kano; the common indicator of a new lease of life for farmers is that when they come from their farms with their produce, they go back to the farms riding new motorcycles. Even in Oyo State, a very responsible person told me that in Iseyin, what now makes people to realise that farmers have a new lease of life is that Iseyin farmers, like in many other places, are building new houses; some of them are building more than one house. There has been a rejuvenation of economic activities around agriculture. Again, in regard to trade, there has been a campaign towards bringing about the culture of consuming what we produce locally. Of course, we must also export and which is why the Buhari government is ensuring that a lot of farm produce is made so that we can export a multiplicity of local products to earn foreign exchange. The mining sector is also having rejuvenation. Of course the ICT sector, in the last one year alone, has added more than 1o per cent to the GDP and all these are through the various efforts of government. This government has achieved so much and I believe all that remains is for these achievements to be really publicised. I am strongly optimistic that in another six months, Nigerians will see things better with regard
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