The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola on Monday said President Muhammadu Buhari’s foreign trips was meant to fix Nigeria’s reputation which was severely damaged by the immediate past administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
In an article titled,
“PMB’s foreign trips, My takeaway,” Fashola also noted that the Presidents
intervention in the global oil and gas sector led to the recent stability in
crude oil prices.
Fashola said, “This is
why PMB is travelling. To repair our reputation severely damaged by the last
government, and to assure our partners that Nigeria has changed. From there, to
renegotiate an existing funding agreement to complete critical transport
infrastructure.”
The former governor of
Lagos State said Nigeria currently had the support of the world’s seven most
powerful countries, which he attributed to the visit the President made during
a meeting of the G7 countries in Germany, last year.
Fashola, while
explaining the Presidents recent trip to China, said six collaborative
agreements were signed.
He said, “This last
mentioned agreement was a legitimate coup by PMB, because the intelligence was
that some West African countries were going to sign before us. PMB seized the
moment. Of course, he had to apologise for our previous failures on our
agreement made to part-fund four airport projects in Lagos, Kano, Abuja and
Port Harcourt and the Abuja-Kaduna rail project.
“The Chinese had
provided their agreed part of 85 per cent but the remaining 15 per cent Nigeria
did not honour during the last administration. Some of the recent revelations
about financial scandals estimated at $2.1bn in the Office of the National
Security Adviser alone during the last administration suggest how impactful
such funds would have been in delivering these critical infrastructures; but we
all know what happened.”
Comments