LIST OF SOME OF THE HISTORIC ISSUES TACKLED By PMB led FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SINCE 2015. By By Zara Gift Onyiye
1- Nigeria govt agreed to out of court settlement of 88 billion naira for BIAFRA reconstruction.
2- Ex biafra police officers paid their pensions.
3- civil service pension arrears being tackled back to 1994
4- Ex Nigerian airways workers pensions approved for payment.
5- Bailouts to states to help with clearing humongous salary arrears in over 20 states
6- June 12 recognized as democracy day, MKO honoured along with Kingibe and Gani.
7- June 12 struggle hero’s honoured.
8- History returned as a Subject to Nigerian curriculum
9- Christian Religious studies restored as a Subject in curriculum
10- Historic disparity between polythecnics and universities and lack of value for HND qualification solved and laid to rest. Polythecnics now universities of Technology.
11- Abandoned infrastructure projects revamped
– 40 year abandoned mambila plateau power plant
– abandoned Ajaokuta steel projects
– Esan water project awarded in 1997 and completed in 2018.
– Dadin Kowa dam project Gombe, started since 1975, on track for completion October 2018.
– key federal highways abandoned and now under construction e.g. Lagos Ibadan, Lagos Abeokuta, Ikorodu Sagamu, Apapa port road, Port Harcourt Enugu, east west highway, and many others, over 300 federal roads in total.
– hundreds of roads in Niger delta.
– 2nd Niger Bridge construction on about 60%completion.
12- North East insurgency suppressed, territories recovered, rebuilding commenced.
13- over 20,000 kidnapped people By boko haram recovered.
14- many kidnapped chibok girls recovered.
15- restoration of barracks, highways, stadia, other services to North East.
16- Ogoni clean up commenced
17- abandoned cancer centre projects set up and opened. Equipment for the Abuja cancer centre was abandoned in shoppingcontainers since 2012, yet Nigeria had no functional public cancer centre.
18 -Unfinished rail way projects restarted and.some completed
– kaduna abuja rail started since 2007 now operational
– abuja light rail started since 2007 now undergoing testing
– warri itakpe rail started and abandoned 35 years ago now under construction
– Lagos Ibadan railway under construction and.due to be completed December 2018.
19- Repair of Over 25 year old abuja airport runway overdue for over 10 years.
20 – payment of cash gifts promised to Golden Eaglets of 1983
21- fulfilment of.promise of house made to Bonfrere Jo, super Eagles coach of 1996
22- Issue of title deeds of property donated to Christian Chukwu led eagles of 1980.
23- Construction of second Niger bridge a promise long made.
24- Attempt to tackle thousands of projects out of Nigeria’s 58,000 abandoned projects.
– airports in Lagos, Port Harcourt (voted world’s worst in 2015 and now has a brand new airport), Abuja, Benin, Kaduna, etc.
25- correction of the over decade long injustice of estimated electricity billing through provision of electricity meters for homes.
26 – Payment of portions outstanding debts to contractors estimated to have been worth over 2 trillion as at 2015.
27- Payment of significant portions of debt owed to oil marketing companies.
28- order of the inspector General of police to revisit the issues surrounding the death of Bola Ige and other political assassinations.
29- Restocking and re equipping of the Nigerian military, something abandoned for many years
– New fighter jets acquired as against ZERO fixed wing jet in 2015.
– 6 New helicopters, the first time in almost twenty years
30- approval for dredging warri ports, something agitated for in the region for decades.
31- Recognition of Anambra as oil producing state.
32- Return of key assets such as stadium etc to Lagos state.
33- clearing of over 500 out of 800 containers of power sector equipment abandoned in Nigerian port.
34-‘correction of the trend of depletion of foreign reserves and savings by growing foreign reserves from 29 billion dollars to above 47 billion, and adding fresh funds to sovereign wealth fund for.the first time since he inception.
30. Establishment of long over due development bank of Nigeria.
31- correction of the injustice of lack of.data roll over meted by mobile companies to consumers.unused data was cancelled at the end of the month. Today the government has ordered that to stop. This touches the masses right away.
32- Clamp down on the Islamic movement of Nigeria, a group thAt has for over two decades shown itself as not.recognizing government and severely terrorized citizens.
33- Estabismemt of Petroleum University in okeronkoko Niger delta region,a project long sought.
34- order to oil majors to relocate headquarters to Niger delta region, another long sought move.
Slowly but surely Nigeria is beginning to reestablish a culture where government cares for its people.
It’s still a long long way to go, but we are evidently in an upward swing.
As States, local governments and private sector buy in, JUSTICE will return to the land and Nigeria will become a desirable nation.