The Presidency has released a list of politically-difficult-to-achieve activities done by the Buhari-led Administration.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, says the most recent feat is the announcement of the first-ever profit of N287 billion made by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, in its 44 years of existence.
Another jinx broken by the administration, according to the statement, is President Buhari’s signing of the Petroleum Industry Bill into law, which became obstinate for about two decades.
It says the administration has in 2019 been able to amend the Act of 1993 establishing the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin, in addition to the clearance of over 6 billion dollars of inherited Cash Call Arrears, lying fallow since 2016.
It explains that payments of over 3 billion dollars of the arrears due to International Oil Companies have since been effected, noting that the administration has overseen the first successful Marginal Fields Bid Round in almost 20 years.
The administration says the launch of the first National Social Investment Programme in the country is one of the thorny feats it has achieved, noting that the investment programme is the largest Social Investment Programme in Africa and one of the largest in the world.
The statement boasts of the restoration of Federal Budget to a January-to-December cycle, after more than a decade of disruption of the trend.
It says Nigeria Center for Disease Control was established in 2011, and that for its first seven years did not have an enabling Act of the National Assembly, until 2018 when President Buhari assented to the NCDC Act.
In the list of the jinxes broken by the administration is the Nigeria Police Act of 2020, which it explains is the first overhaul of the Police Act since it was originally enacted in 1943.
It mentions that the Nigeria Correctional Service Act of 2019, which overhauled the existing Prisons Act, enacted about 50 years ago, as an achievement worthy of note.
The government also says the Finance Acts of 2019 and 2020 are dedicated and specific reform legislations that support effective budget implementation.
The statement says the government has been able to effect the Suppressing of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Bill of 2019, explaining that it is the first of its kind in the entire Gulf of Guinea, dedicated to prosecuting maritime offences.
The Police Trust Fund Act of 2019, according to the statement, is the first-ever legislation dedicated to addressing the financing of the Police Force, just as the Company and Allied Matters Act of 2020 is the first attempt at overhauling the business environment.
Another milestone achievements of the administration, the statement points out, are the passages of the Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities Prohibition Act of 2018, and the Treasury Single Account, started in 2012, expanded across the entire government by President Buhari.
BELLO WAKILI