NEWSDIARY
Some Nigerians have expressed divergent opinions on the performance of President Muhammad Buhari’s administration in the last eight, with some commending his achievements and others describing some of his policies as disastrous.
The residents of the South-South expressed their feelings on the performance of the outgoing administration in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The Chairperson of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in Rivers, Mrs Adata Bio- Briggs, said in Port Harcourt that Buhari’s administration achieved a lot in deepending the country’s democracy by assenting to the Electoral Bill, 2022.
She said that the signing into law of the electoral bill by the president brought a lot of positive changes to the country’s electoral process.
Bio-Briggs said Buhari recorded a milestone achievement in the contrary’s democratic journey with the passage of the electoral, financial independence of state houses of assembly and state judiciary, among other laws.
The FIDA chairperson called on the incoming administration to uphold the current laws which she said had impacted positively on the nation.
Also, a lawyer based in Port Harcourt, Mr Mankie Tambari, commended the passage of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019.
According to him, the act aims at developing appropriate correctional methods for reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates into the society.
Tambari said the act had opened up Nigerian correctional service to a global perspective, thereby empowering inmates through educational and vocational skills programmes, facilitating incentives and ensuring income generation.
In the same vein, Mr Jaspa Jumbo, an indegine of Bonny Local Government Area of the state, commended the outgoing administration for the construction of Bodo-Bonny road.
The Bodo-Bonny road project was a collaborative effort of the Federal Government and the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG).
“The Bodo-Bonny road project is a 37.9km single-carriageway road with nine bridges.
“The road is a historic project that will not only enhance transportation and economy of the state, but will drive development, civilisation and peaceful co-existance across the local communities,” he said.
The Port Harcourt-based businessman commended the president for uplifting the international terminal of the Port Harcourt International Airport, a project which, he said, was co-funded by the Nigerian and Chinese governments.
On agriculture, an agro industry and value chain expert, Dr Chijioke Osuji, said in Calabar that the outgoing administration achieved a lot, noting that Nigeria’s integrated rice mills grew by about 100 per cent in the last eight years.
Osuji, an associate professor at the Federal University of Technology (FUTO), Owerri, said the immediate past administration that started the rice revolution only recorded between 20 to 25 per cent integrated rice mills.
He said the present administration must be given credit for its huge investment in the agro industry, especially in rice production and milling.
“The momentum that was gained in the distribution of improved seeds and good quality fertiliser continued in the present administration. If not for this, the 2016 recession would have been more devastating.
“The continuation and expansion of the Anchor Borrower’s Programme from the previous administration ensured that Small and Medium Scale Enterprise (SMEs) rice millers expanded and improved in technology,” he said.
