The Presidential Support Committee (PSC) has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s trip to Sochi, Russia as an antidote to the devastating effect of the 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) misgovernance in the country.
In a statement by its Director of Communication and Strategic Planning, Mallam Gidado Ibrahim, the PSC reviewed the outcomes of Buhari’s four-day official trip to Russia, where he attended an African summit, and their benefits to Nigeria and its economy, saying the next level agenda was already manifesting in all the pacts signed by Nigeria and that country.
Ibrahim stated that the Buhari administration is determined to change the economic fortunes of the country, citing the recent World Bank’s rating of Nigeria as one of the top 10 most improved economies in the world for the second time in three years as another testimony.
The PSC noted: “Nigerians have every reason to be optimistic about the next level because President Buhari is ready to turn things around and ensure that the citizens wriggle out of poverty. This he has demonstrated by the heavy bag of economic and infrastructural gains he came back with from Russia.
“The decision by the Russian government to sign a government-to-government understanding with Nigeria to return to complete the Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill and commission it is an industrial boom for Nigeria. The steel company had gulped a whopping $5 billion under past PDP administrations with nothing to show for it. With the president’s trip, the completion of the Ajaokuta Steel Complex, no doubt, will herald the kind of industrial revolution never seen before in the country.
“President Buhari was able to get his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to commit to a renewed relationship between Nigeria and Russia, which will boost cooperation in respect of the energy sector, petroleum and gas, trade and investment, defence and security, mining and steel development, aluminium and phosphate, education and agriculture.
“In a bid to return Nigeria back to the era of oil boom, President Buhari’s delegation also signed an agreement and MoU between the NNPC and Russia’s Lukoil, with the two oil companies agreeing to upgrade their commercial relationship to a government-to-government backed partnership, to work together in upstream operations and in revamping Nigeria’s ill-functioning refineries.
“On securiry, the President also struck a deal for the technological upgrade and timely delivery of the balance of seven, out of an existing order for 12 Attack Helicopters. This has renewed the Nigeria-Russia Military Technical Agreement. With the renewal of this pact, the procurement of military hardware will be on a government-to-government basis, eliminating middlemen and reducing cost, as well as the training of military personnel, modernization of the armed forces, refurbishment and renewal of infrastructure and equipment”.
Upraiding critics of President Buhari’s diplomatic shutles, Ibrahim urged Nigerians to be wary of political propagandists in the opposition camp who are bent on wielding the country back to the era of massive looting by “attempting to destroy the goodwill President Buhari enjoys among the Nigerian populace” in order to install another corrupt regime.
Noting that the era of siphoning funds eant for infrastructural development was over, the PSC spokesman said, “Those who think they can sabotage the Buhari administration through malicious allegations shall soon take their own tea with salt. It is very disappointing and disturbing to see people with bad records in leadership taking Nigerians for a ride. Sadly for them, their campaign of calumny against the President has failed woefully because Nigerians can now read between the lines with his recent trip to Russia”.
